Best 35mm scanner for color/resolution to get? Found an interesting comparison...

[Ranchu]

You may change your mind after you gain some actual experience instead of relying on images from the internet.

What a snotty reply. Here is a comparison.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148419

 

[Jon Buffington]

Does anyone have any thoughts about the Pakon F135+ vs Nikon CoolScan V?

I really want something that represents film color correctly (new Portra for me usually) and I heard the Pakons cant color correct the new Portra 400 well since the scanner is older than the film. The other downside is the 2000DPI turns me off.

Handles portra 400 perfectly. Never had any issues. In fact, never shot a negative it didn't like. Only times I have had issues is because of my sloppy development or using expired/way exhausted chems. Rez is 3000x2000 so 6mp. A true 6mp. Not a flatbed 6mp. Sharp and extremely detailed 6mp. I have printed tack sharp 12x18 and could easily go more without up rez software. I have seen examples much much larger where others have increased resolution through software.

 

[jzagaja]

Very bold statement, dynamic range of the Epson V700/800 better than most drum scanners? Where do you get that info? Even in this subforum there is a drum scanner thread with the most beautiful scans in the world, Epson cant match that im sorry but id love to be proven wrong

I had 6 Scanmates drum scanners and only one was usable sorry. Spectral response is nice from Scanmates that is why scans are nice. I laso tried best produced PMT scanner period - Cintel Millenium mk2 - again color separation was questionable, even old Spirit can do better. Problem with Epson is poor focus, film flattness. Overall Epson is trouble free and fast. My friend did glassless frames for Scanmate F8plus. Try with Epson.

If you are lucky to find good Scanmate/Tango go with it but it will die soon. Or try invest 1500 eur on new tubes. I posted MF scans when you can't tell which is which.

 

[Kamph]

I had 6 Scanmates drum scanners and only one was usable sorry. Spectral response is nice from Scanmates that is why scans are nice.

My Scanmate produces vastly better results than my Epson. Much, much better resolution and DR. Film actually look like film.

 

[jzagaja]

So you are lucky Kamph 🙂 Mine never exceed 12 stops that was even hard to reach. Do you have DR target scanned? I used real world samples from underdeveloped slides but have somewhere DR target from Stouffer. Resolution up to 2500-3000dpi and you can't tell difference on MF scans. For 35mm better use dedicated scanner but I haven't been interested in 35mm format.

 

[Swift1]

One last thing about your tutorial vs your work on Flickr: I find that all your flickr work has a bright, airy look that wasnt really explained in the tutorial. I can pull out a pretty flat, color-correct image in Epson Scan but when I try to apply a brightening curve to it the highlights quickly clip and give an over-punchy contrasted look. Your upper midtones and highlights seem to be high and bright without clipping or bunching together, they smoothly transition into higher values, without bringing the blacks up with them. Could you please advice how to do this?

If you have set your white/bright point well, and if you're working within well profiled and calibrated system, applying a brightening curve shouldn't clip your highlights as long as you don't push the curve up so much that the top of it starts to level/flatten.
I usually try to scan so that I end up with a balanced scan exposure (not too dark, not too bright), then reset levels in PS, then I usually apply a tone curve where I pull up the middle of the line, then pull the lower 1/4 of the curve back down to almost the original line. I will rarely pull the lower end below the original line. It is dependant on the particular image I might be editing though, and very much a personal preference thing.
Over time I have found that I prefer generally brighter images, so I attempt to edit my images so the histogram is more pushed to the right than pushed to the left.

 

[k__43]

I once compared some scans of the same neg against each other. not looking for color but resolution. I applied no sharpener, straight from the source.
http://kayknofe.de/ComparesCrop.jpg
Note that my V500 nor the bad lab scan resolved that scratch. No amount of sharpening brings that back. Not that I need scratches but we can take it as an example for detail.

the LS8000 I own now is definitely better than the plustek, maybe in the Canon class.

Color is a question of software! (if everything else is working as intended) - I use Vuescan for years now with all scanners.