Covering 35mm through 4x5

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cmedin

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Well, I have come to the conclusion that no matter how much I wish it was the case, I would not be satisfied with the scan results from a flatbed for 35mm film. The V700/750 are impressive for what they are, but they seem to be quite lacking compared to a dedicated film scanner. So I am heading down the road of buying a 35mm film scanner and handling MF and LF with a flatbed.

At this point, I am looking at the Reflecta Proscan 7200 (http://www.filmscanner.info/en/ReflectaProScan7200.html) as it resolves some 3250ppi at the 3600 setting; I was initially considering the Plustek 7600i but it appears you need to scan at "7200"ppi to get similar resolution, and end up with giant files as a result. The Reflecta RPS does not look to be any real improvement (other than an apparently not entirely reliable autofeed mechanism) and has been ruled out.

That leaves the issue of a decent flatbed. While the Epson 700/750 seems to be the natural choice I was quite interested to see the Microtek e900; I have had good experiences with Microtek gear in the past. However, it is hard to find any real data on the performance of this scanner. Anyone here used one or have experiences with it?

And, any other suggestions on what scanner combo to go for? I have probably 1000 35mm negs and 500 MF negs to scan, and I am still shooting 35mm and MF, and a little LF... all black/white.
 
I have been quite happy with the V700 for 120 and 4x5, but like you I've never been happy with the scan quality from a flatbed for 35mm. I'm interested to see what you settle on.
 
Just get a Nikon Coolscan. I used to own a coolscan 4000ED (which i had to sell for financial reasons) that was fantastic.
 
I had a Microtek Scanmaker 5. Make no mistake about the Microteks, they are flatbed scanners. Their biggest advantage is that the film holders sit between the light source and optical sensor with no glass in between. Get the negs/slides clean and you've got a clean scan. No more fussing around with cleaning the glass. If you need raw resolving power go for the dedicated film scanners.

What resolution are you scanning with on your current scanner? What is your current scanner?
 
I use a Coolscan 4000ED with SA-30 roll film strip feeder for 35mm because it is more convenient to use than my Epson V700. Regarding scan quality, the Nikon scans at 4000dpi show better resolution of the grain, while differentiation of tones (BW) is better with the Epson V700. The only type of film the Nikon handles much better than the Epson are dense Kodachrome and Velvia50 slides.
 
The Epson V700/750 is superb for 120 and 4x5 especially when using the betterscan holders. I'd go so far as to call them the Kings of the flatbeds.

BUT does not come up to scratch on 35mm.

Affordable dedicated 35mm scanner is a Minolta 5400 II.

There's one in the classified now and it's very well priced.
 
If you need to scan at 7200dpi to get close to 3600dpi, then you could just scan at 7200dpi and resize if you want smaller files. You likely would not lose any detail.

Otherwise, the Canoscan 4000 is good, and cheap.

Personally I would not get the Nikon Coolscan, I'm sure they are great, but you're talking a lot of money for an ageing bit of kit with questionable serviceability. Again, I don't question the results you can get from these scanners, just the amount of money you'll pay for something which could become unfixable, reasonably quickly.

You could check out second hand Imacons if you don't mind the price, I remember seeing one on eBay for < £1000.
 
I use a Nikon CS 9000ED for 35mm and medium format and an Epson 4990 (V700 predecessor) for 4x5. I had the Epson before I had the Nikon and was always quite satisfied with the results it gave me for medium format.
However, since I've been using the Nikon the Epson just doesn't cut it anymore, not even for 4x5. Every 4x5 scan I do on the Epson I consider to be a preview scan only so I don't waste too much time on retouching/dust removal. I'll wait until I have enough worthy sheets of 4x5 stacked up and then I'll rent some time on a Flextight X5.
 
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