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I always wondered if it would be possible to stick a big, powerful, light box on top of the scanner and hit go. I expect there are some interlocks to disable to convince the scanner the lid is shut.
I always wondered if it would be possible to stick a big, powerful, light box on top of the scanner and hit go. I expect there are some interlocks to disable to convince the scanner the lid is shut.
1 EPSON PERFECTION V700 USED SCANNER (No Box) £55.00
Density range is calculated by subtracting the Dmin, or minimum density at which detail can be distinguished, from the Dmax. Dmax numbers are often inflated by cranking up the exposure so high that highlight detail is burned out (which would be represented by a much higher than normal Dmin). But it's hard to find a range rating from a scanner manufacturer, even when they underwrite independent tests. A report Epson sponsored by the independent testing organization NSTL noted, "Epson Perfection V700 Photo was tested at both 6400 dpi and 4800 dpi resolutions. This scanner yielded consistent OD (maximum optical density) values for each scan at both the resolutions. The SNR (signal to noise) values for all the scanned images for Epson Perfection V700 Photo scanner were found to be greater than one. NSTL observes from these measurements that the average maximum OD value for this scanner is greater than 4.0." Nothing there about density range.
Ramping up the lamp might give you better Dmax but thats no guarantee of better Drange
Not sure about resurrecting this ancient thread, but the TP software did suggest it! The original thread seems to have morphed into the start of the failed scan comparison thread, but my question is back to the original point.
I have an order in for a V500, for my nascent venture into 120, and also for the large box of 6*9 negs and slides from my Dad's box of treasures. I had decided that I didn't need to spend the extra on a V700 as I wasn't expecting to go for LF for sometime (and if I do, I could sell the V500). And a V700 is more than double a V7500...
But we have recently had these issues about density of transparencies, particularly Velvia. Now, I don't understand the technical details, but I did notice that the V500 has a Dmax of 3.4 while the V700 has a Dmax of 4.0. Does that mean that the V700 would be significantly better at digging out that shadow detail in transparencies than the V500? Sufficiently better as in worth an extra £200 or so?
I guess the other option is to use the V500, then send my most favourite transparencies to someone with a drum scanner (we'll be in trouble with the mods if we debate some of the possible responses to that!). But that's a similar approach to my current plan for >A4 printing; I'm awaiting my first test A3 prints from Peak with eager anticipation!
EDIT: my question, if it's not obvious is: does anyone think I should cancel my V500 order for a V700 under the cirumstances described?
I think I'd best leave you two to it...
To me its a no brainer rather than trying to hack some piece of kit why bother when if you know what to look for you can pick up a drum scanner for less than the price of the V750 thats just going to better on resolution Drange etc
I have three all heavier than the D4000 none of which required a fork lift or more than two people to handle them
its all relative and about how used you are to handling things
Depends on the scanner and the software how akward they are, the better Howtek's with DPL are pretty straight foward and I would say you would most likely get a better result quicker from one than a V750.
We drive ours with DPL and it's pretty quick once the film is mounted but wet mounting is much more fiddly and time consuming than just throwing film in a flatbed, and I've found dry mounting to largely be a waste of time.
Do you have the mounting station ?
This leads to the debate of why do you still use film......
There are many different and valid answers to that question for me personally I don't see the point of shooting 35mm for most of the purposes that I would use 35mm for digitail is better
Now given that people accept the fact that shooting film is going to cost more than digitail but they want to be able to transfer their results into digitail form why would you put up with sub standard scans ?
It really depends how you define 'better' and what your aim is. To me photography is largely a form of communication rather than a technical exercise and for my purposes I get infinitely better looking black and white images from my OM20 or EOS 10 loaded with PanF or Acros than I ever would from my 5D2 or 7D. When I take photos my aim is generally to get across what I'm seeing or feeling at the time, the ability to zoom into 100% and see someone eating a sandwich 3 miles away isn't usually going to help me in doing that so ultimate resolution isn't high on my list of priorities, it's more about the character of the image. That isn't to say I don't appreciate technical quality - of course I do, but resolution isn't the only criteria some people perceive as 'quality'.
The vast majority of my images on the net are 1600 pixels wide, a 2000dpi scan of 35mm on the D4000 comes out at around 2700 wide which suits my Internet needs perfectly. If I need to do a print I'll just scan at 4000dpi which will easily pull out enough detail for what I need most of the time. Medium format obviously gives me more resolution which is great, but again that extra resolution isn't necessarily the thing that will make me take a photo on 120 rather than 35mm or digital; I can't even describe what that thing is, I just use whichever format feels right to me at the time.
I was generally pretty happy with the results I was getting on the V500, I spent a lot of time learning how to make it work the way I wanted it to and actually I think it's a great scanner for the price. I never felt the results from it were "sub standard" because at the end of the day it's just a consumer scanner, it's unreasonable to expect it to perform like even an old pro unit. If I needed a serious scan doing before we acquired the D4000 I'd have sent it to be scanned professionally just like most others would.
Thanks Richard, that's very kind! I'm in a wordy mood this morning.
I know what you mean about the D200, I absolutely adore my 5D2 and my 7D's pretty damned nice as well. At the end of the day I don't love analogue or digital, I just love photography. If all I had to take photos was an iPhone I'm pretty sure I'd end up loving that too.![]()