Optics in Epson 4490 and v500?

[joachim]

Hi,

like so many here, I am searching for a not so expensive scanner to scan 6x6 slides. I own a Coolscan IV for 35mm work.

For 6x6 work, I anticipate to use a resolution in the range of 1600 dpi to 2400 dpi. This is substantially below the hardware spec of both machines (4800 dpi for the 4490 and 6400 dpi for the V500). Anyone got a feeling for whether the improved hardware specification of the V500 will make a difference at 2400dpi or not?

Thanks.

 

[aad]

More important may be the limited fim scanning areao these. The optical performance seems fine, but a 4990 or 700 has the whole bed area available for bulk scanning.

 

[williams473]

Joachim,

I've been pretty happy with my V500 for scanning 6x6 - I've attached a scan of a 6 x 6 slide so you can check it out...

 

[joachim]

Joachim,

I've been pretty happy with my V500 for scanning 6x6 - I've attached a scan of a 6 x 6 slide so you can check it out...

Hi Matt,

thanks for this. I have seen plenty 6x6 from these type of machines and like yours, they always look cool. How does the detail look like? I'd like to use the scans for printing.

Ta
Joachim

 

[williams473]

Well I'm much better in the darkroom than on a scanner, but having said that, I think the detail is very good. I've found the key is getting the film to lay flat in the carrier, and making sure you use your levels in the prescan to include the extreme ends of the dark and light tones in the film. I also like to throw a very low amount of unsharp mask on the initial scan - without it the scans seem a little soft, and I have a harder time snapping them up in Photoshop. Also, I tend to scan at higher resolution and then resize/resample in Photoshop down to a manageable file size, depending on if I expect to make a paper print or not.

This scanner is a really nice unit for color - I still think an enlarger and photo paper is MUCH better for black and white work, but scanning can't be beat for color images.