Scanner recommendations

[My View]

I am looking for a good quality scanner to scan old marked photos (and
possibly slides and film as well) for final manipulation (if any) in
Photoshop CS2.



Because dollar values vary all over the world (I'm in Australia) it is best
to say that the price of the Epson Perfection 4490 would be the most I would
be willing to pay for a scanner (they are $440 Australian).



Would you recommend this scanner or another in the same maximum price range.

I like the idea of Digital ICE to "fix" scans in the scanner. This scanner
is also 4800dpi. How much lower can a scanner be in dpi before you notice a
difference in the final scanned image?

Hopefully there may be cheaper scanners that will do just as good a job as
the 4490.



regards

PeterH

 

[-]

I am looking for a good quality scanner to scan old marked photos (and

possibly slides and film as well) for final manipulation (if any) in
Photoshop CS2... I like the idea of Digital ICE to "fix" scans in the
scanner.

Just to be clear, I am pretty sure the 4490's ICE only works on film and not
on photos (unlike the 4990). If in the end you only scan photos, the 4490
is really overkill. If you end up scanning medium format film too, then the
4490 could turn out to be a good budget buy.

Doug

 

[Jason]

Can you scan medium format negs with this scanner then? If not which one
can..the Canon F8400 perhaps?

 

[Dave]

Can you scan medium format negs with this scanner then? If not which one
can..the Canon F8400 perhaps?

Both will scan medium format film and transparencies.

 

[Jason]

Both will scan medium format film and transparencies.

Thanks Dave. Which do you recommend?

 

[Mike Morley]

I am looking for a good quality scanner to scan old marked photos (and
possibly slides and film as well) for final manipulation (if any) in
Photoshop CS2.



Because dollar values vary all over the world (I'm in Australia) it is
best to say that the price of the Epson Perfection 4490 would be the most
I would be willing to pay for a scanner (they are $440 Australian).



Would you recommend this scanner or another in the same maximum price
range.

New to this group and from England I am also investigating a scanner
upgrade.

I use an Epson Perfection 2400 mainly as a general "office workhorse" but
have also been scanning my slide collection. It is reasonably convenient
taking 4 slides at a go. Results, however, are just short of what I would
like to see. The files are mostly to be used with a digital projector
(Getting the old system and all the slides out of the cupboard for a show is
just too difficult) and perhaps the occasional print. I also have lots of
negatives that I may get to some time.

A dedicated film scanner would probably be better but a decent one would be
expensive, feeding slides one at a time sounds tedious and desk space is at
a premium.

Sharpness of the image is not very good but I do not think that scanner
resolution is a problem. With setting above 1600dpi I can see no differences
in the image (after all the projector at XGA is only 1024 pixels across.
Colour output is variable, possibly due to different film types.

A helpful visit to Jessops enabled me to scan a batch of slides with a new
Epson 4490 and make direct comparison with the 2400. I have also been able
to scan the same slides with a Nikon Coolscan (not too sure which model).
The results are interesting both on screen and printed to about A4 size
(selected area). Best results on all slides are from the 4490 with the Nikon
sometimes being the worst of the batch (I do not know whether this unit is
in need of some attention).

I also wanted to get a comparison with the HP 4890, this appears that it
might be more convenient to use (scans up to 16 slides at a go) A first
check at Jessops on the HP was disappointing with the images being very soft
and clearly inferior to the Epson. There is some more work to do on this but
unless it can be improved it is not a candidate.

I would welcome any observations on the merits of these scanners and would
be happy to email sample results from the ones that I have tried if anyone
is interested.


Mike Morley

 

[JM Remacle]

Mike Morley a écrit :

New to this group and from England I am also investigating a scanner
upgrade.

I use an Epson Perfection 2400 mainly as a general "office workhorse" but
have also been scanning my slide collection. It is reasonably convenient
taking 4 slides at a go. Results, however, are just short of what I would
like to see. The files are mostly to be used with a digital projector
(Getting the old system and all the slides out of the cupboard for a show is
just too difficult) and perhaps the occasional print. I also have lots of
negatives that I may get to some time.

A dedicated film scanner would probably be better but a decent one would be
expensive, feeding slides one at a time sounds tedious and desk space is at
a premium.

Sharpness of the image is not very good but I do not think that scanner
resolution is a problem. With setting above 1600dpi I can see no differences
in the image (after all the projector at XGA is only 1024 pixels across.
Colour output is variable, possibly due to different film types.

A helpful visit to Jessops enabled me to scan a batch of slides with a new
Epson 4490 and make direct comparison with the 2400. I have also been able
to scan the same slides with a Nikon Coolscan (not too sure which model).
The results are interesting both on screen and printed to about A4 size
(selected area). Best results on all slides are from the 4490 with the Nikon
sometimes being the worst of the batch (I do not know whether this unit is
in need of some attention).

I also wanted to get a comparison with the HP 4890, this appears that it
might be more convenient to use (scans up to 16 slides at a go) A first
check at Jessops on the HP was disappointing with the images being very soft
and clearly inferior to the Epson. There is some more work to do on this but
unless it can be improved it is not a candidate.

I would welcome any observations on the merits of these scanners and would
be happy to email sample results from the ones that I have tried if anyone
is interested.


Mike Morley

I also use an epson 2400 with vuescan. With Epsonscan i find the results
are a bit 'forced'. With vuescan color rendition is excellent.
Until now i scanned negs and the sharpness is a bit lower than that i
would like but i do not know whether that would be better with another
scanner.
After the negs i will take to slides...
All that is done to view on a tv set and, for slides, to print some
files at 13X18 cm.
On the whole i find this scanner is good for the price.
I do not know if a slide and neg dedicated scanner is worth the price
for the job i have to do.

JM Remacle

 

[Father Kodak]

rent film types.

A helpful visit to Jessops enabled me to scan a batch of slides with a new
Epson 4490 and make direct comparison with the 2400. I have also been able
to scan the same slides with a Nikon Coolscan (not too sure which model).
The results are interesting both on screen and printed to about A4 size
(selected area). Best results on all slides are from the 4490 with the Nikon
sometimes being the worst of the batch (I do not know whether this unit is
in need of some attention).

Unless the Nikon scanner was (1) really old, or (2) all worn out, then
it must have been (3) the scanner software was set up poorly.

Modern Nikon scanners also have a slide batch loader option (which is
pricey, however, on top of a pricey scanner), but the results can be
superb.

Father Kodak

 

[Surfer!]

In message <[email protected]>, Father Kodak

Modern Nikon scanners also have a slide batch loader option (which is
pricey, however, on top of a pricey scanner), but the results can be
superb.

I got one on ebay for just under half the price of a new unit - it took
time & patience to see one come up though. I have had problems with
thin plastic mounts of it trying to feed two slides at once, cured with
an old credit card and a little bit of micropore tape to hold it in
place. Occasionally it simply fails to save an image as well.

I found a useful link at Nikon (don't ask me how!) which shows that both
the SF-200 and SF-210 with the LS-4000 and LS-5000. The LS-4000 works
with the LS-2000 as well:


http://makeashorterlink.com/?F3AC2205C


http://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nikoneurope_en.cfg/php/enduser
/std_adp.php?p_sid=WhMNH4qh&p_lva=5161&p_faqid=2123&p_created=1054130576&
p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTI1JnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9JnBf
c2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9MjpmYXFzLmZhcV9pZCZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMT0yNSZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj1_Y
W55fiZwX2NhdF9sdmwxPTE1JnBfY2F0X2x2bDI9fmFueX4mcF9wYWdlPTI*&p_li=

 

[Mike Morley]

In message <[email protected]>, Father Kodak


I got one on ebay for just under half the price of a new unit - it took
time & patience to see one come up though. I have had problems with thin
plastic mounts of it trying to feed two slides at once, cured with an old
credit card and a little bit of micropore tape to hold it in place.
Occasionally it simply fails to save an image as well.

I found a useful link at Nikon (don't ask me how!) which shows that both
the SF-200 and SF-210 with the LS-4000 and LS-5000. The LS-4000 works
with the LS-2000 as well:


http://makeashorterlink.com/?F3AC2205C

snip

Thanks for that, the shorterlink worked well. I fear that even at half price
the combination (at £1000+) would be well outside my budget. My local
Jessops believed that the HP4980 that they got in might have been faulty. I
am waiting for them to get another one in. If that is not (much) better I
will probably go for the Epson 4490 as being just good enough.