Comments on the Epson 4180

I have the 4180 since 6 months. First scanner ever so nothing to compare with.
I started to scan through a lot of old slides and I´m pretty satisfied. Sure quality suffers on the way from slide to pc to inkjet print but less than I expected.
Now I mostly scan B&W negs and it works OK. I scan them straight (48 bit color) and work them in PS. I have also tried some c-41 b&w anc compared neg to print scan. See no difference.
Most annoying have been scanning of mf-negs. The Epson mf-holder makes me go crazy. I have ordered Doug´s mf holder and expect an easier life.
I have turned to straight scanning without adjustments pre-pc, otherwise the scanning takes oh so much time. A 35 neg with dust reduction, unsharp mask and color fixing can take as much as 10-15 minutes!
A b&w neg, no adjustments, 48 bit color, max resolution 3-4 minutes.

All in all, it´s cheap, delivers ok scans but, scanning, and this is not against the 4180 but in general, is the boring, boring side of photography
 
I was considering this one, but only because it seemed like a cheap, good quality way to do Medium Format scans. Can you say more about why this is a problem? What is “Doug’s Adapter”?

Thanks!
 
It may just be me that is clumsy but I the original epson mf film holder is not friendly with me. I am supposed to lay the film in the holder and then fell down a transparant lock over the film. The lock will spread the light over and.. lock the film in the holder. Well it just don´t work for me. Medium format negs are not totally flat so either the stripe will not sit on the supposed edges in holder or will be locked in a not optimal place, hard to adjust.

I have my hope on this one
http://home.earthlink.net/~dougfisher/holder/usingholder.html

The mf negs I have been lucky to scan are satisfactory to me.
 
Per said:
All in all, it´s cheap, delivers ok scans but, scanning, and this is not against the 4180 but in general, is the boring, boring side of photography

Amen! Scanning IS boring which is why I keep a supply of good books and magazines handy when I'm scanning. I also use the time to clean lenses, cameras and other photo items.

I like my 4180 with one maddening exception. There are times when a negative will cause the scanner to narrow the area it covers - a shot of the moon is a good example - and not return 100% of the image. Sometimes I can re-scan using 48 bit color and it'll give me a full scan but sometimes nothing will work and that's aggravating in the extreme. I use the "Professional" mode and set the controls for a full-frame scan but it automatically reverts to the smaller format. That's something that Epson needs to resolve if they ever hope to sell me another scanner.

Walker
 
Yeah, that is an annoying thing. Sometimes, not always, a light or dark streak down the neg makes the scannes think that this is the place between two images. This is totally random and makes life worse for a while.
 
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