First PI 7250 scans compared to a drum scan

tammons

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Scanned with the Pacific Image 7250 pro3 compared to a Howtek 4500 at 4000 dpi.

These were just test images I did a while back with a Minolta Hi-matic AF.
Blufire film, same as Agfa Copex, developed in a weak 8-2-2 caffenol mix for 45 minutes on a uniroller at 72 d F. IE 8oz H2o, 2 level tsp of folgers, 2 level tsp of washing soda.

Looks like they were about right with the test results, IE a true 3600 dpi.
Maybe slightly less.

The software is pretty simple to use.
B+W works well with ROC. This film is fairly thin.

Have not tried batch scanning yet, but with this film it misses the auto film frame, but you can adjust it by hand.

Scanning at 7200 dpi is useless and creates heavy jpeg artifacts.
With a tiff it does fine but no rez gain over 3600 at least with this film.

Scanning any other rez than the native 1800,3600,7200 creates artifacts saving as a jpeg.
Not sure about tiffs but I would assume none.

1800 dpi scans really quick like maybe 20 seconds just guessing.
3600 is maybe 2-3 minutes.
7200 is longer, but with file transfer maybe 7-8 minutes.

IMO at 1800 dpi with this film it is about like the V750.

Has a better Dmax than the V750.
The advertised Dmax of 3.6 seems about right.
It might be slightly lower like 3.2, but no real hard evidence of that.

I will post full size color neg and slide images later.

Crops below.

Link to full size images.

http://www.pbase.com/tammons/bluefire_in_caffenol

The first crop is Howtek 4500 at 4000 dpi.
I think this image might be slightly soft or more likely my drum scanner needs cleaning. No idea what the aperture was as the hi-matic is auto.
Shooting at ISO 32 sunny day.

Crop 8-2-2 howtek 4500 bluefire 4000 ap6.jpg

Pro 3 at 3600dpi and resized to 4000 dpi with roc

Crop primefilm 7250 pro 3 bluefire 3600 roc 20-001.jpg
 
The drum scanner produced sharper results, assuming I can compare the 4000 dpi with the 3600 dpi scans. I guess that's not a surprise....
I imagine when printing them out say 8x10, it may be difficult to discern the quality difference.

You might not agree...on the fairness of the comparison.

What's the cost of a 7250 scanner vs the drum?
 
At 8x10 you would see no difference. Actually with 2 good scans even at 12x18 or maybe 18x24 you would not see much difference.

I am still on the learning curve, but I did get another scan that was very close to a 4000 dpi drum scan.

Certainly good enough to print on a lightjet at 204 dpi at native rez.
That works out to 18" x 24" at 3600 dpi native.

Right now I am scanning some color slide film, some UC400. Also will scan some royal gold 100.

Also I have some very thin microfilm negatives that were underdeveloped, that with the drum scanner I was able to get good scans out of. I am going to try them with this to see how they turn out. Sort of a bad film test.

I am running into a few weird things though, but I think its software.

This is the Pacific Image 7250 pro3. Their latest scanner. Also sold in Europe as the Reflecta 7250 pro I think.

I bought it mostly because it will batch scan an entire roll of film.

3600 dpi batch scans, 16 bit tiff, with Ice and ROC take 3 minutes each.

Here in the USA it sells for $520 but its on sale now with a $100 rebate.

Howtek 4500 drum scanners new cost about 10G.
Now you can get them for about $1500-3500.

Everything is tedious and expensive. Drums are $1300 new, $600 to have the drum refurbished. Kami Tape is $15 a roll. Then you need fluids, acetate etc. If the scanner itself needs service you can figure about 1500-3000

If your scanner does not come with software or you want to upgrade it that's another $800 for Silverfast AI or more for the Aztek software.

Wet mounting film is tedious. 4000 dpi scans take 25 minutes per frame, but you can load up the drum and batch it.

Superb results though. The film is always flat, it samples RGB at each pixels, focusing lens, wet scan fills in scratches, dust etc.
 
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