Epson 4490 Scanner - Tests and Settings.

[Eddie]

I have just put my first results from the Epson 4490 scanner on the
following link. I have also included the settings I used on the scanner, to
help anyone struggling to set the scanner up. This is using the supplied
Epson Scan software, which as far as I can see, seems to be doing a pretty
good job.

http://www.photoscan.150m.com/

£150! Gosh, here in Oz it's $599 £250+. But I still aim to get one!

Eddie

 

[Eddie]

Yeah, I know what you mean. But try as I might,
I can't get it to show the eyes here:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~nsouto/photos/2006-10-02.jpg

That's 3200dpi rez vuescan, treated for grain in 48-bit raw
with NI, vuescan again into a 24-bit tiff with gamma
adjust, sharpened and jpg'ed with gimp as a final output. I
sharpen it more for a print, this is enough for a monitor.

As you can see, it's reasonably tack for the class of scanner
we're talking about and there is no sign of the obnoxious grain
"effects" I referred to when talking about scanners previously.
In particular, the oof background is "clean" as opposed to horrible
grain aliasing that happens otherwise.

Yet, the eyes are mostly gone. In the film: certainly visible with
a strong loupe. I know this is Velvia, high contrast, yaddayadda.
But if I can distinguish the eyes fine in the original, so should the
scanner.

Not enough DR or some scan error on my part, take your pick.
But I reckon I won't get better results than this with the 4990.
Roll-on the ls9K whenever Nikon Australia gets its act together...

'Noon', with an iinet addy You're probably in WA, and that pic looks
suspiciously like somehwere a around Mindarie beach....?



Eddie bechta AT iinet.net.au

 

[Eddie]

'Noon', with an iinet addy You're probably in WA, and that pic looks
suspiciously like somehwere a around Mindarie beach....?



Eddie bechta AT iinet.net.au

....or could be Hillarys....

Eddie

 

[Harry Stottle]

£150! Gosh, here in Oz it's $599 £250+. But I still aim to get one!

Sorry, that price should have been £158, amazingly from PC World, but
only if reserved on the Internet for 'collect in store', or ordered
direct from the Internet, (then plus £5.99 p&p). Just to make you feel
better, the normal store price at PC World is £199.

 

[Eddie]

Sorry, that price should have been £158, amazingly from PC World, but only
if reserved on the Internet for 'collect in store', or ordered direct from
the Internet, (then plus £5.99 p&p). Just to make you feel better, the
normal store price at PC World is £199.

Still much cheaper than here. I'll do some surfing

Eddie

 

[Noons]

'Noon', with an iinet addy You're probably in WA, and that pic looks
suspiciously like somehwere a around Mindarie beach....?



Eddie bechta AT iinet.net.au

Sorry dude: Sydney, Northern beaches. iinet gives me an ip
in WA. I use that to throw ipscans off the rails.
That's South Narrabeen, just across from the pub.
<that's why my eyes look like that... ¦-)>

But I've been to Perth and I know exactly what you mean:
lovely spot!

 

[Noons]

I really haven't seen a critical review of this beast but
I'm a bit suspicious because of its amazingly low price.

Yeah, same here. The only one I've found is
in German - and the translation comes out like
one of those babelfish blurbs! ¦Þ~
The only thing I can get it's got a low Dmax
and fixed focus. Otherwise, can't make much sense
off it. Darn, I should have taken German in school!

Anyways: the ls9K has arrived in Australia,
picking it up sometime next week. Whoooohooo!

 

[Noons]

Completely disagree. It's a matter of ensuring the
Nyquist criteria. Without meeting that criteria, the
damage is done, and can't really be undone. Not
by Neat Image. Not by nuttin. No way, and no how.

You can do it anywhere *before* the sampling.

In this case, that it has to be implemented in the
optical path, in front of the CCD.

Anything else is post-processing.

Yeah, I see your point. Makes sense.

 

[Eddie]

'Noon', with an iinet addy You're probably in WA, and that pic looks
suspiciously like somehwere a around Mindarie beach....?



Eddie bechta AT iinet.net.au

Sorry dude: Sydney, Northern beaches. iinet gives me an ip
in WA. I use that to throw ipscans off the rails.
That's South Narrabeen, just across from the pub.
<that's why my eyes look like that... ¦-)>

But I've been to Perth and I know exactly what you mean:
lovely spot!

Wow, it looks so similar....but then, doesn't all our beaches! Sorry others


Eddie

 

[Colin_D]

£150! Gosh, here in Oz it's $599 £250+. But I still aim to get one!

Eddie

Cheapest price on a 4490 here in new Zealand is $464 ex gst, $AUD about
$385. With your gst at 10% plus freight, you'd probably get one from
here for about $AUD 475 all up. Here's the price spread and the retailers:

http://www.pricespy.co.nz/pno_6821.html

Colin D.

 

[Dana H. Myers]

Cheapest price on a 4490 here in new Zealand is $464 ex gst, $AUD about
$385. With your gst at 10% plus freight, you'd probably get one from
here for about $AUD 475 all up. Here's the price spread and the retailers:

Ouch. What's the current exchange rate versus USD? I bought a
new 4490 earlier this year for $225 total, and got a rebate of,
I think, $50 from Epson.

Dana

 

[Eddie]

Cheapest price on a 4490 here in new Zealand is $464 ex gst, $AUD about
$385. With your gst at 10% plus freight, you'd probably get one from here
for about $AUD 475 all up. Here's the price spread and the retailers:

http://www.pricespy.co.nz/pno_6821.html

Colin D.

Ta

 

[Eddie]

Ouch. What's the current exchange rate versus USD? I bought a
new 4490 earlier this year for $225 total, and got a rebate of,
I think, $50 from Epson.

Dana

About $US1.35 for each $AU1.00.

Eddie

 

[AW]

I bought one this week at the PhotoPlus show from Calumet -- US$187 with
shipping.

 

[Harry Stottle]

I bought one this week at the PhotoPlus show from Calumet -- US$187
with shipping.

In the UK, importers and suppliers tend to do the Dollar to Pound
conversion by just removing the Dollar sign and replacing it with the
Pound sign, so that seems about right ;-)

 

[Eddie]

In the UK, importers and suppliers tend to do the Dollar to Pound
conversion by just removing the Dollar sign and replacing it with the
Pound sign, so that seems about right ;-)

If that's so, then strange. Here in Oz,the $AU to $US is about 0.75. So a
$US500 would cost $AU666. However, the $AU to the £ is about 0.44, so a UK
£500 would cost $AU1136.

At $US 189 the 4490 would cost $AU249. But the cheapest I've seen is around
the $AU400 mark, internet heavily discounted. Shopping Mall computer shops
are likely to charge around $500+.

Eddie

 

[Noons]

If that's so, then strange. Here in Oz,the $AU to $US is about 0.75. So a
$US500 would cost $AU666. However, the $AU to the £ is about 0.44, so a UK
£500 would cost $AU1136.

At $US 189 the 4490 would cost $AU249. But the cheapest I've seen is around
the $AU400 mark, internet heavily discounted. Shopping Mall computer shops
are likely to charge around $500+.

Not strange at all, Eddie. The same happens here.
Check out the above: $US189 = £189, which in
our currency makes it 189/0.44= A$429.55, or
very near to your "around the $AU 400 mark".
See? Dealers are the same here as in the UK!...

 

[Eddie]

If that's so, then strange. Here in Oz,the $AU to $US is about 0.75. So a
$US500 would cost $AU666. However, the $AU to the £ is about 0.44, so a
UK
£500 would cost $AU1136.

At $US 189 the 4490 would cost $AU249. But the cheapest I've seen is
around
the $AU400 mark, internet heavily discounted. Shopping Mall computer shops
are likely to charge around $500+.

Not strange at all, Eddie. The same happens here.
Check out the above: $US189 = £189, which in
our currency makes it 189/0.44= A$429.55, or
very near to your "around the $AU 400 mark".
See? Dealers are the same here as in the UK!...


Noons, I accept that. But it is the prime cost which puzzles me. Yes, I've
noticed that UK prices appear to match ours. But NOT US. So, it begs the
question: Just HOW do they construct the price? How can they justify such a
gap between Oz and US prices when, mostly, the item is actually made in
China or Taiwan which is far closer to us than USA.

Ihave noted that prices in Asia, Singapore,Philippines and Malaysia, are now
much closer to our own despite our excange rate being far better than some
years ago. It's all too much.

Noons, is there any great advantage in getting the 4490 over the 4990? I'd
like the V750 but.....

Eddie

 

[Rebecca Ore]

Noons, is there any great advantage in getting the 4490 over the 4990? I'd
like the V750 but.....

I'm not Noons, but I own a 4490 and didn't get a 4990 because of the
$100 price difference. If you think you'd like to shoot large format
during the working life of the scanner (say next two to five years), get
the 4990. If your savings in Oz isn't equal to $100 or if that doesn't
matter to you, get the 4990. The main advantage of the 4990 is more
transparency scanner space. If you're shooting volume, being able to
scan twice as much film on automatic (Vuescan does a reasonably good job
with this; haven't tried the Epson software) would be nice. If you're
not shooting volume but are only scanning a couple shots out of every
roll, possibly not.

Or get the V700 now and add the wet scanning attachment later.

 

[Eddie]

I'm not Noons, but I own a 4490 and didn't get a 4990 because of the
$100 price difference. If you think you'd like to shoot large format
during the working life of the scanner (say next two to five years), get
the 4990. If your savings in Oz isn't equal to $100 or if that doesn't
matter to you, get the 4990. The main advantage of the 4990 is more
transparency scanner space. If you're shooting volume, being able to
scan twice as much film on automatic (Vuescan does a reasonably good job
with this; haven't tried the Epson software) would be nice. If you're
not shooting volume but are only scanning a couple shots out of every
roll, possibly not.

Or get the V700 now and add the wet scanning attachment later.

Ta Rebecca, I've put in a bid on Oz ebay for a new 4990 much for the reasons
you've mentioned. But like your mail, I'm interested in the V700 range (V750
latest) but I don't think my wallet is!

;-)

Eddie