[Leica] HP S-20 film scanner

[Oliver Bryk <obryk@flash.netdex.com>]

I have been using the HP S-20 film scanner for about a year now. I
bought it as a low-risk way to explore digital darkroom work. As someone
else has pointed out, it does not have image clean-up software (a la
digital ICE). IMO the S-20's 2400 dpi scan resolution capability does
not make up for its very limited dynamic range, very noticeable on b&w
negatives. I am accustomed to creating images with long scale, and while
the negative shows that, the scan does not. B&W scans also tend to look
under-exposed.
Scanning mounted transparencies can be exasperating, and superslides
(remember them?) won't fit at all.
Oliver Bryk