Digital BW, The Print

I'm thinking of buying Polaroid's Sprintscan 120 film scanner so as 
to be able to scan my 35 & 120 film.  I notice that the 35-APS 
version has now dropped to around $500, which is very attractive, as 
most of my film is 35 mm.  I'm currently printing on an Epson 1160, 
Piezography CIS, and HP Photosmart S20 film scanner (2400 dpi max, 8 
or 16 bit).  

I know that this is a personal decision (when to buy), but I'm 
wondering if I should buy the 35mm -APS version, and wait for the 120 
version( by Polaroid or others), also to drop significantly in 
price.  Maybe someone has some information that would signal a wait 
on the 120?  

I also think I read somewhere the Sprintscan 120 is a slightly better 
scanner (quality wise) than the Sprintscan 35-APS, but I don't recall 
why; any truth to this?

Most important, if anyone has the 120, I'd be interested in finding 
out how they like it, and if they have had any problems with it on a 
Windows 98 system?  

It also looks like I will have to order my purchase over the 
Internet.  I've seen recent mention of Ecost.com, for a low price.  
Anybody have any bad experience ordering a film scanner from a 
specific company on the Internet?

And finally, are there other 120 format choices out that in the same 
price range that might be a better choice?

Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.  

Thanks,
George
Sacramento, CA

> I'm thinking of buying Polaroid's Sprintscan 120 film scanner so as
> to be able to scan my 35 & 120 film.  I notice that the 35-APS
> version has now dropped to around $500, which is very attractive, as
> most of my film is 35 mm.

Do you per chance mean the SprintScan 4000?

BTW, unless Polaroid has a fire sale due to economic reasons, I doubt the
SS120 will come down much in the next few years...the reason the SS4k is so
cheap is they have a new version of it coming out soon.

George,

I bought a SprintScan 120 when they first came out in May and have 
been pleased with the quality of the scans. There is a good review at:

http://welcome.to/computerdarkroom

The 35mm holder as shipped is rather difficult to load but a small 
modification with a razor blade turned it into a very good holder.

The 35mm mounted slide carrier is very good and easy to use.

The medium format carrier 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7 and 6x9 works well but is 
not full frame on the long side of my negatives from my Pentax 67.

There is no glass carrier available although one has been promised by 
the end of the year.

I have had problems with Silverfast being able to scan medium format 
in high resolution under Windows 2000 using a Firewire connection. 
There are no problems using a SCSI bus connection.

A caution on system memory. Medium format scans can easily exceed 
500MB the system memory limit for Window 98. Truly moving past that 
barrier requires an upgrade to Windows 2000.

The SS120 is a slightly better 35mm scanner than the SS4000 and 
earlier models. The SS120 is 14-bit rather than 12-bit and you can 
see the improvement in shadow area noise on color slides.

The only competition in this are and price range is the Nikon 8000 
which seems to be in short supply and to be having problems with 
banding in some situations.

Given Nikon's problems there seems to be little pressure on Polaroid 
to bring down the price of the SS120 and my impression is that they 
are selling well. The current low prices on the SS4000 reflect the 
upcoming improved model, which at a guess will be 14-bit also. AS to 
the price direction of the SS120 I have no idea.

I bought from Sparco.com, which seems to have competitive prices and 
good service.

I have had to return my SprintScan 120 to Polaroid twice for service. 
The first occasion was caused by an attempt to use Vuescan, which 
drove the film carrier past it's rear limit stop and crashed it. By 
the time it arrived in Bedford, MA it was working fine and Polaroid 
immediately shipped it back. It was only gone 72 hours.

The second failure occurred after I upgraded to Silverfast 5.5 and 
used the software eject button in Silverfast to eject the film 
carrier. This caused the carrier to jam itself against the front of 
the scanner. This trip to Bedford was 14 days long and I received a 
refurbished unit in it's place. This is working fine under Polacolor 
Insight, which seems to do a much better job finding the film frames 
in medium format than Silverfast. Insight will output a raw file that 
can then be opened in Photoshop or with Silverfast HDR. A lot of 
people do not like Insight but I find that it is quite adequate for 
B&W negs.

I would give the unit 4 out of 5 stars. If I had not had to send it 
back the second time, 4.5 with the -0.5 for film carrier design. In 
all honesty I don't see any alternatives at this price point for a 
medium format film scanner unless you want to wait for Nikon to fill 
the pipeline and sort out their problems.

Martin

 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "George A. Dibble III" 
<gadibbleiii@h...> wrote:
> I'm thinking of buying Polaroid's Sprintscan 120 film scanner so as 
> to be able to scan my 35 & 120 film.  I notice that the 35-APS 
> version has now dropped to around $500, which is very attractive, 
as 
> most of my film is 35 mm.  I'm currently printing on an Epson 1160, 
> Piezography CIS, and HP Photosmart S20 film scanner (2400 dpi max, 
8 
> or 16 bit).  
> 
> I know that this is a personal decision (when to buy), but I'm 
> wondering if I should buy the 35mm -APS version, and wait for the 
120 
> version( by Polaroid or others), also to drop significantly in 
> price.  Maybe someone has some information that would signal a wait 
> on the 120?  
> 
> I also think I read somewhere the Sprintscan 120 is a slightly 
better 
> scanner (quality wise) than the Sprintscan 35-APS, but I don't 
recall 
> why; any truth to this?
> 
> Most important, if anyone has the 120, I'd be interested in finding 
> out how they like it, and if they have had any problems with it on 
a 
> Windows 98 system?  
> 
> It also looks like I will have to order my purchase over the 
> Internet.  I've seen recent mention of Ecost.com, for a low price.  
> Anybody have any bad experience ordering a film scanner from a 
> specific company on the Internet?
> 
> And finally, are there other 120 format choices out that in the 
same 

> price range that might be a better choice?
> 
> Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.  
> 
> Thanks,
> George
> Sacramento, CA

> In
> all honesty I don't see any alternatives at this price point for a
> medium format film scanner unless you want to wait for Nikon to fill
> the pipeline and sort out their problems.

Possibly a used Leafscan or Imacon.  There are other used options, such as
the earlier Polaroid models...

Thanks for the response.  

How much memory is needed under Windows 2000 for the best resolution 
of a 2-1/4 square negative, B&W and Color?

You indicated that the Sprintscan 120 outputs in 12 and 14 bit mode.  
I'm not too literate on when one would use one mode over the other, 
but how is it that Photoshop supports 8 & 16 bit and the Polaroid 
outputs in 12 and 14 bits?

I gather that this isn't a problem scanning into photoshop, but how 
does it work?  MY HP S20 scans in either 8 or 16 bit, so the 
compatibility to Photoshop is clear.  Does Photoshop automatically 
convert it to 8 bit, or what?  How's it work with the Piezography 
software? 

Thanks, 
George

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "George A. Dibble III" 
<gadibbleiii@h...> wrote:
> Thanks for the response.  
> 
> How much memory is needed under Windows 2000 for the best 
resolution 
> of a 2-1/4 square negative, B&W and Color?

George,

I recently did some 6x6 16-bit, color scans for a friend and they 
resulted in a 450MB file. A 16 bit B&W scan would be about 1/3 this 
size or 150MB. Photoshop recommends that your system memory be 5 to 7 
times the size of the file which would put it up at 2.5 to 3.5GB of 
memory for the color and 0.75 to 1GB for the grayscale. 

I am currently running on 1.5GB of PC-133 RAM. The newer generation 
of motherboards using PC2100 or PC800 modules will accommodate up to 
3 and 4GB but the modules are very pricey right now. In six months to 
a year.... 

My 6x7 negs produce 550MB files which I open and I do a basic overall 
levels and curves adjustments. I then change the mode to 16-bit 
grayscale or to 8-bit RGB which brings the files to a more manageable.

> 
> You indicated that the Sprintscan 120 outputs in 12 and 14 bit 
mode.  
> I'm not too literate on when one would use one mode over the other, 
> but how is it that Photoshop supports 8 & 16 bit and the Polaroid 
> outputs in 12 and 14 bits?

The hardware bit depth of the scanner is separate from the standard 8 
to 16-bit working spaces. The scanner software simply maps the raw 
data from the scanner into the space you instruct it to.

> 
> I gather that this isn't a problem scanning into photoshop, but how 
> does it work?  MY HP S20 scans in either 8 or 16 bit, so the 
> compatibility to Photoshop is clear.  Does Photoshop automatically 
> convert it to 8 bit, or what?  How's it work with the Piezography 
> software?

Scanners generally scan at a fixed setting, which is determined by 
its electronics. This is called a raw scan and ideally your software 
will allow you to get a raw scan without any manipulation in 16-bit 
space. Everything else is handled by software. The S20 is a 12-bit 
scanner and the scanning software allows you to receive that in 
either an 8 or 16-bit space.

Photoshop will let you work, to a very limited extent, in 16-bit. 
Only in 8-bit are all the tools available. Most people like to stay 
in 16-bit as long as they can or never leave it. There are ways to 
work around the 16-bit limitations. With the new Piezo you can print 
from 8 or 16-bit space but it must be in grayscale.

Martin

George,

Check out Scan Tips at:

http://www.scantips.com/

There is a lot of information there.

Martin

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "George A. Dibble III" 
<gadibbleiii@h...> wrote:
> Thanks for the response.  
> 
> How much memory is needed under Windows 2000 for the best 
resolution 
> of a 2-1/4 square negative, B&W and Color?
> 
> You indicated that the Sprintscan 120 outputs in 12 and 14 bit 
mode.  

> I'm not too literate on when one would use one mode over the other, 
> but how is it that Photoshop supports 8 & 16 bit and the Polaroid 
> outputs in 12 and 14 bits?
> 
> I gather that this isn't a problem scanning into photoshop, but how 
> does it work?  MY HP S20 scans in either 8 or 16 bit, so the 
> compatibility to Photoshop is clear.  Does Photoshop automatically 
> convert it to 8 bit, or what?  How's it work with the Piezography 
> software? 
> 
> Thanks, 
> George