Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/20

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Subject: [Leica] B&W Film Scanning and the Epson 2450
From: clzeni at mindspring.com (Craig Zeni)
Date: Tue Dec 20 05:28:43 2005
References: <BAY105-F25FE385CFEF5DDE80A8942AF3E0@phx.gbl> <a2f8f4470512192323o5d38f820q664693746db4dbb1@mail.gmail.com>

On Dec 20, 2005, at 2:23 AM, Daniel Ridings wrote:

> David, I use exactly that scanner for all my medium format negatives
> and, rarely, slides. I'll answer your questions individually below.

Ditto!

> On 12/20/05, david feingold <dfeingold@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> I have an Epson 2450. My experience with scanning is basically 
>> limited to
>> that scanner. Here are my questions:
>>
>>      Can anyone here can tell me what has worked best with that 
>> scanner and
>> B&W (silver film).
>
> I use Vuescan. I don't bother with the "proper" film holder. I lay the
> negative down on the glass and use the short end of the 4x5 holder to
> press the film to the glass. I put the emulsion side down and tell
> Vuescan to "mirror" the scan.

I pretty much do the same thing...I do use the film holders on 120 
film, but when I'm scanning old 616 and sheet film negs I'll do exactly 
what Daniel says.

>
>>      Is it okay to use Twain? I can't seem to link my Silverfast to 
>> that
>> scanner having tried to load it
>
> I've never installed the Epson drivers or scanning programs. There's
> nothing wrong with Twain per se. Way back when I downloaded a test
> version of Silverfast but saw no reason to use it compared to Vuescan.

At first pass I did install the Epson program on my Mac - bad bad bad.  
Slow, clunky.  Went to Vuescan - life is pretty good.

>
>>      unsuccessfully on several occasions. I scan through Twain and 
>> edit in
>> PS Elements.
>
> I scan directly with Vuescan, save the file as a TIFF file and then
> edit it with Photoshop.

More or less, exactly.

>>      I find scanning at higher resolution than 1600 takes a really 
>> long
>> time. Is this normal.
>
> Yes.

Seconded.  Very slow.

>
>>      Slide scans don't come close to the real thing...any surprise 
>> there?
>
> Transparencies are tough, particularly high contrast transparencies
> (Velvia). You'll never be able to capture those lovely, clear, vibrant
> colors. There will always be a difference.
>
> I have much better luck with color negative film (lower contrast). On
> the other hand, with both color negatives and transparencies I usually
> get problems with Newton rings. I suppose the dedicated film holder
> which holds the film slightly off the glass, would help, with
> concommitant degradation in sharpness if your scanner lens focuses at
> the plane of the glass.

Agreed again - in fact, for nice slide scans I have an Windows box that 
still lives to support my SCSI drive first generation HP Photosmart 
scanner.  Don't laugh too hard - it does a nice job for web viewing and 
it's paid for :)


Craig Zeni
Cary NC


Replies: Reply from telyt at earthlink.net (Douglas Herr) ([Leica] B&W Film Scanning and the Epson 2450)
Reply from ricc at mindspring.com (Ric Carter) ([Leica] B&W Film Scanning and the Epson 2450)
In reply to: Message from dfeingold at hotmail.com (david feingold) ([Leica] B&W Film Scanning and the Epson 2450)
Message from dlridings at gmail.com (Daniel Ridings) ([Leica] B&W Film Scanning and the Epson 2450)