My 1st Scanned Negs. 640 Film on my Epson V500

gb hill

gb hill

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Yesterday the wife gave me a few negatives wondering if i could scan them on the V500. Being a novice using this scanner I wasn't too sure I could. I set up the scanner & took out the 120 film holder supplied with this scanner. To my surprise the what I believe to be 640 negs which are almost 60 years old fit right in the 120 holder. I scanned at 1200 dpi & 16 bit gray scale. Cropped & tweaked a bit of contrast using PS6. Anyhow I like this scanner pretty good. Can't figure why some have problems using it.

This is the wife & cat. Gotta have a cat shot.🙂


Really like this of my wife lost in the guitar. She said she could never get the hang of it. I kind of wish I did a bit more sharpening. Still learning.😉
 
Not sure whither people are have problems using the V600 or scanners like it as I think the problem lies more with the scanners capabilities not matching their expectations. Example include not being able to scan at as high of a PPI as they wanted and still get a sharp scan and not having the same dramatic range as a dedicated film scanner.
 
gb hill said:
Anyhow I like this scanner pretty good. Can't figure why some have problems using it.
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I enjoy my V500, and as was previously mentioned, I think the majority of issues lie with peoples expectations being unreasonable for a sub $200 scanner.

I've seen you post a lot about the V500 and had a quick question for you. Have you ever tried scanning black and white 35mm negatives as positives and then inverting in post production? On someones recommendation, I tried it out the other day and I feel like it gave me slightly, but noticeably, more tones that way. I'll have to do some more 'scientific' tests to confirm, but I liked the output.
 
gb hill said:
...To my surprise the what I believe to be 640 negs ...
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Are you referring to the film size and do you mean "620" instead of "640"?

620 film is exactly the same size as 120. The difference is only the spool. The conventional image sizes on 620 are the same as the original conventions on 120. In more recent times (read: post WWII), additional 120 image sizes began to appear. The original 16exp "6x4.5" format seen on both 620 and 120 was replaced by on 120 by a 15exp variant. Also, a 6x7 10exp format began to appear, again only on 120 cameras.
 
RallyFan said:
I enjoy my V500, and as was previously mentioned, I think the majority of issues lie with peoples expectations being unreasonable for a sub $200 scanner.

I've seen you post a lot about the V500 and had a quick question for you. Have you ever tried scanning black and white 35mm negatives as positives and then inverting in post production? On someones recommendation, I tried it out the other day and I feel like it gave me slightly, but noticeably, more tones that way. I'll have to do some more 'scientific' tests to confirm, but I liked the output.
Click to expand...
I haven't tried scanning from a positive nor heard of doing so but I will play around with it. Whatever you find out post some recults, I'd like to see them.
 
ajramirez said:
I am perfectly happy with the scans of 120 film I get from my V500. I do prefer my Plustek 7600 for 35mm, though. A couple of samples:


Arbol by ramirezaponte, on Flickr


La vecindad - Alambre by ramirezaponte, on Flickr

First shot is on Ilford Delta 100, the second on Fuji Neopan Acros 100.

Cheers,

Antonio
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Those look really good. That's what I'm trying to achieve. I like what I'm seeing from this scanner so far but I'm still learning. Many things I still don't understand yet. I click on the help, read the tutterial & say huh!😀
 
Dwig said:
Are you referring to the film size and do you mean "620" instead of "640"?

620 film is exactly the same size as 120. The difference is only the spool. The conventional image sizes on 620 are the same as the original conventions on 120. In more recent times (read: post WWII), additional 120 image sizes began to appear. The original 16exp "6x4.5" format seen on both 620 and 120 was replaced by on 120 by a 15exp variant. Also, a 6x7 10exp format began to appear, again only on 120 cameras.
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Ah yes your right. 620. The width is the same but the length of the neg is almost double of 120. When I 1st did a preview scan I had the thumbnail checked & scanned it as 2 6X6 images. I scanned again unchecked & it scanned the whole image. I'm learning as I go.🙂
 
OK, my unofficial, unscientific test.

Both scanned at 3200dpi and in the Epson software. No other options checked. For both, I adjusted the black and white points in the same fashion (right to the edge of the histogram), set midtones to 1.00, and the only post work was inverting the positive scan.

Scanned as positive and inverted:
TEST%20SCAN-1-XL.jpg


Scanned as negative:
TEST%20SCAN-2-XL.jpg


I'm not sure I see a huge difference, except that the sky seems smoother with the positive scan, which is fairly important for me as I tend to include a lot of sky. What are your thoughts?
 
The positive does look a bit smoother but I can see your losing shadow detail especially at the snowbank when compared with the straight scan I see at the bottom. I think I like the straight scan on the bottom because I like the depth of shadow. Both are good scans & it's a good photograph.
 
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