Medium Format Flatbed

[Monroe]

What current (or recently discontinued) models of flatbed scanners
have been found to give good performance with medium format and larger
negatives? Of these, the best negative/slide adapter configurations
and usability?

 

[RSD99]

Epson Perfection 4870

 

[-]

If you tell the group your budget, primary formats you want to be able to
scan, and your intended output (e.g. print size or just web viewing) it
would then be easier for someone here to make a recommendation.

Doug

 

[Monroe]

Something on the order of $300 Cdn. Formats: 35 mm, 2.5 x 5.0 in,
2.25 x 2.25 in; max print size of 8 x 10 (but predominantly less than
that size).

 

[-]

I would consider ordering an Epson 3170 online. These are decent scanners
for the money - especially considering your budget. Amazon often has promos
on these scanners. They may be replaced by a newer model soon, so you can
find some decent deals on them. Epson announced a few new scanners but I
think the medium format one will be over $200 US and it won't be out until
mid August if I remember right.

You will have to make a compromise since you need both 35 mm and medium
format capabilities. A dedicated film scanner would do better with 35 mm
but considering your budget and needs, I would look at the Epson 3170.
Unless you can find a deal on something used, you are going to have to
budget quite a bit more before you will get anything that is a significant
step up.

My $.02,
Doug

 

[J. Teske]

I have had good results scanning 6x6 B/Ws on the 3170. It was even
quite satisfactory on 35 mm B/W. I haven't done too much color as yet.
One interesting note on the 35mm B/W. I also have a Minolta Scan Dual
II and for most things it works just fine. I did have a batch of old
B/W's which had reticulation (that is extremely small spiderweb flaws
throughout the negative, usually caused by development of film in
inappropriate temperature developer (usually too hot). The Minolta
picked up every flaw and to some extent the scans were unusable. I
rescanned them on the 3170 and they were just fine. This may have
something to do with the type of light source. The focus and detail
on them were just fine. I was scanning these at 3200 dpi which may be
overkill, but judging by on-screen blowups with Photoshop Elements 2
and Paint Shop Pro 8, I could have printed these scans in mural size
if I had a printer big enough (which I don't.)

Jon Teske