The great TP film scanner test

menthel

menthel

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Jim
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Right, we have had a lot of talk about testing scanners and swapping negatives etc recently, so it may be best that we have a thread in which to organise this and then collate the results (that may require a different thread). I think a good plan is for each person to scan a specific negative on their scanner for each format that it can handle and then pass on the negatives and post the results. We should try to 'equalise' the settings on the scanning software as much as possible. Hopefully in this way we should be able to build a database of scanned photos that allows us to work out which scanners we think best and help answer those eternal 'what scanner' questions.

I am happy to collate this and have 2 sets of 35mm negs in mind that I don't mind posting for this (we should, by the end get these back!), 1 colour and 1 B&W, each with a good photo for the test. If someone else has some MF to donate that would be great. We could include LF but I think only a limited number of scanners will be able to scan this (mine certainly can't).

So, thoughts, ideas and what scanners do you have?

Participants

Scanners
menthel Canoscan 9000f
Sectionate Epson V330
robhooley167 wet prints of B&W and Epson V500
Gandhi epson V700 and nikon coolscan 4
Marvin d martian epson 750 with silverfast ai
zeroeseight Epson V700 and Minolta Dual Scan IV with Vue Scan Pro
puggie Minolta Dimage Scan Dual with vuescan
Bambam Nikon coolscan V
RaglanSurf Nikon Coolscan IV, Coolscan 9000 and and Epson V750
timreeves epson 4490
Fishman Fuji Polaroid Sprintscan 120 with Vuescan
Tricky69 epson 4870 and cheap agfa photo 35mm 5Mp scanner

Here is the thread containing the results:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=392316
 
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Mahoneyd187 said:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=376216

I was kind of already arranging to do this, comparing my V500, with Mart's V750, others including yourself wanted to input and Rob even offered to wetprint.

I can't shoot it until 28th Jan, so if you want to organise something before then crack on
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Danny, I wasn't trying to step on anyones feet, it was just that it had already been mentioned elsewhere and I felt that we could perhaps collate it into one, big effort as we have so many different scanners here. I am happy to wait for your negatives and we can then pass them round from there.

I felt in having a thread we may well get a wider variety of scanners and even more useful results. (y)
 
Don't get me wrong fella I'm not wound up, lol. There's no point duplicating the effort it takes to send negatives over the country though, I honestly don't mind if somebody else organises it. In fact it's probably better :)
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
Don't get me wrong fella I'm not wound up, lol. There's no point duplicating the effort it takes to send negatives over the country though, I honestly don't mind if somebody else organises it. In fact it's probably better :)
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I don't mind doing it at all. I figure we could send out all the negs in one go and pass them around like that. It shouldn't take too much organisation really, just address collating and then getting the results all in one place.
 
menthel said:
I don't mind doing it at all. I figure we could send out all the negs in one go and pass them around like that. It shouldn't take too much organisation really, just address collating and then getting the results all in one place.
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Look forward to seeing the results :)
 
Unfortuanatly it's not practical for me to become involved in this with not being in the UK............I'll be watching the thread with interest as I presently have a Canoscan8800F but looking at upgrading to an Epson V700 or similar which will accomodate larger formats.

Good luck.....I reckon there will quite a few participants!
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
Look forward to seeing the results :)
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Danny, are you also happy to do some scanning on your V500?

Sectionate said:
I have the V330, when I get it setup properly, I can offer it forward...
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Thanks. I will add people and scanners to the first thread.

Asha said:
Unfortuanatly it's not practical for me to become involved in this with not being in the UK............I'll be watching the thread with interest as I presently have a Canoscan8800F but looking at upgrading to an Epson V700 or similar which will accomodate larger formats.

Good luck.....I reckon there will quite a few participants!
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I think a lot of us will be interested. I, for one, think that my 9000f may be causing me some of the image problems I think I am suffering!
 
Yes I can supply 120 negs, acros and Tri-x, and yes more than happy to scan on the V500.

It's probably quite important that the software and settings are standardised for this. I have Vuescan and Epson Scan.
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
Yes I can supply 120 negs, acros and Tri-x, and yes more than happy to scan on the V500.

It's probably quite important that the software and settings are standardised for this. I have Vuescan and Epson Scan.
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Agreed. I have Vuescan as well, I couldn't stand silverfast or whatever that german mostrosity is called! Thanks for agreeing to scan with your V500.
 
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My offer still stands, i can wet print the 35mm and 120 negs (black and white only) :)
 
Nikon Coolscan 4 and V700 offered......

I might have some 6x9 kicking about with not much on them too. Most likely FP4 and Provia.
 
I think I was offering the original scan with Danny, so should be on the list.
V750 with Silverfast Ai.

Mart
 
As well as a list for participants for scanners, fancy a list of contributors for the negs?
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
As well as a list for participants for scanners, fancy a list of contributors for the negs?
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Can do. Do we want as many types as possible? I think it would be best to choose 1 image per set of negs as well or the participants could be there forever! Again, I am happy to collate etc.

Edit: I actually have more 35mm so will be happy to supply a few more too- C41, B&W and framed and unframed E6.
 
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Again, no need to work it out how I was intending to, but I figured;

B&W 35mm and 120; 100 and 400 ISO films
Colour Neg 35mm and 120; 160 (or 100) and 400 ISO films
Maybe slides too?

1 neg/image of each
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
Again, no need to work it out how I was intending to, but I figured;

B&W 35mm and 120; 100 and 400 ISO films
Colour Neg 35mm and 120; 160 (or 100) and 400 ISO films
Maybe slides too?

1 neg/image of each
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Sounds good to me. I should be able to fulfil most of the 35mm needs with non critical negs and slides too.
 
I can provide 100 (acros) and 400 (trix) iso black and white 120 from 28th Jan, and 160 and 400 iso (both portra) from 2nd Feb
 
Just a note, i can only wet print the 120 negs up to 6x6 in size, the holder will just miss off the overhanging 1cm on 6x7 etc
 
I've got an old Minolta Dimage Scan Dual (35mm SCSI beast) if you want to compare something old (and cheap). I'm driving it with VueScan.
 
Ok,

So how is this gonna roll then?

We all send the test frames to Jim who then collates them/sorts them out and marks them ready for testing, then we do a pass round list going to each individual tester?

We also need to stipulate:

no colour correction
no sharpening
auto focus and exposure set by scanner software only/ or no auto exposure
DPI to be scanned at
naming convention for files
crop size for 100% crops and where to take them from
 
Gandhi said:
Ok,

So how is this gonna roll then?

We all send the test frames to Jim who then collates them/sorts them out and marks them ready for testing, then we do a pass round list going to each individual tester?

We also need to stipulate:

no colour correction
no sharpening
auto focus and exposure set by scanner software only/ or no auto exposure
DPI to be scanned at
naming convention for files
crop size for 100% crops and where to take them from
Click to expand...

That is the plan. I will gather all of the negatives/slides together and collate a list of those taking part. I will then place this in the envelope (or whatever its all posted in!) and ask that it is passed to the next person on the list. They can then all be posted back to me at the end so I can redistribute.

As for scanning, I porpose scanning as a tiff with no other adjustments made in either the scanning software or in PS etc. I am unsure about hosting the images- we could either host ourselves as we usually do as jpegs (I think that hosting tiffs will just be too difficult)- I use flickr, uploaded as full sized images and then link to a thread here at allowable sizes and then also a crop from a certain part of each image (I don't mind specifying this). If people don't want to upload it themselves I will happily receive their scans on a CD/DVD and post up to flickr.

As for DPI, my scanner works best at 2400 and gets no benefit from scanning any higher- I am not sure how people want to approach this.
 
erm Well I don't think anyone will learn much as there are too many variables esp when a monitor is an equalizer and Photoshop is used for finishing touches and sharpening. A crop would have to be included to see if a scanner can reach the detail in the negs, but for interest without using my V750 or 2480 photo I would take the colour neg to Asda and get a scan for comparison (they said they would do up to 38 frames with CD for 99p so I'll see if this is correct)...... plus I usually adjust in Photoshop.
 
The intention is for no adjustments, and no sharpening to be made. Somebody viewing the images, will view all the files on the same monitor surely?

It's not an exact science of course, everyone's equipment isn't going to be calibrated the same way, but it should show a difference in scanner noise and detail capture at the very least.
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
The intention is for no adjustments, and no sharpening to be made. Somebody viewing the images, will view all the files on the same monitor surely?

It's not an exact science of course, everyone's equipment isn't going to be calibrated the same way, but it should show a difference in scanner noise and detail capture at the very least.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It should show us the good frm the bad and also where we are starting our work from. For example, my 9000f gives relatively fuzzy scans that do need a lot of sharpening and colour scanning is alomst impossible due to the colour problems with it. If someone elses scanner gives a better base to start from then that gives me an idea of what scanner would be better for me. I also agree with the monitor point- we will be viewing on our own monitors- it takes out the variability! ;)
 
It'll be nice to see side by side, the same shots, with different scanners. I can't find anything else like it on the web and considering it's a pretty basic comparison, I'm surprised.

Really looking forward to Rob's wet printing too, I'm not sure I've EVER even held a wet print, let alone one of my own shots (y)

We all know scanned negs take quite a bit of tweaking to get spot on....bare that in mind when you see my poorly exposed muddy b&w negs please :D lmao
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
The intention is for no adjustments, and no sharpening to be made. Somebody viewing the images, will view all the files on the same monitor surely?

It's not an exact science of course, everyone's equipment isn't going to be calibrated the same way, but it should show a difference in scanner noise and detail capture at the very least.
Click to expand...

Ah I thought the idea was to see what each person can achieve with their scanner by posting a picture with a crop like this:-

Hex135mm1000px-1.jpg


crop
hex135mm4crop.jpg
 
excalibur2 said:
Ah I thought the idea was to see what each person can achieve with their scanner by posting a picture with a crop like this:-

Hex135mm1000px-1.jpg


crop
hex135mm4crop.jpg
Click to expand...

The problem is that it adds in another layer of variables. What program you use to PP, how much you do etc. I think keeping it simple at first is the best thing. Remember, as we have the tiff files we can put together the shots post processed at a later date to see how things polish up.
 
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