Inexpensive scanner for med. format??

[wdenies]

I am very satisfied with the Epson scanners (from 35mm up to 4x5").
The quality/price ratio is OK.
For results, see my gallery

 

[Guy Mann]

Old thread here but being in this position myself as my existing Epson 2400 would only do 35mm, I just purchased a Canon 8400F. Thus far it is working out pretty well.

I'm terribly reluctant to get into a scanner upgrade cycle and I just didn't see the value in an Epson V700/750/4990 or Canon 9950F for my purposes. The Canon 8400F is entirely adequate for scanning up to 6x9 in terms of anything you might want to post to the web and as 90% of my color prints are 5x7 or smaller I really questioned whether the ROI in spending an additional $400-$500 for a device that will be surpassed in performance in a year would be justified. By the time I have a need to scan 4x5 or larger I'm sure there will be a whole new crop of scanners that are better and cheaper.

The film holders on the 8400F are not awful...certainly a vast improvement over the ones that I had on the Epson 2400. The Canoscan software is certainly poor but given the price of the scanner you can afford to upgrade the software substantially and still be ahead.

Canon 8400F shipped from newegg.com: $114.00
Silverfast SE Plus(batch scanning+multipass): $74.00
total expenditure: $188.00

If I come up with a handful of images per year that I really, really like I'll have them scanned on a high-end drum scanner. In the meantime the money I saved will be put towards a good enlarger and enlarging lens.

 

[sf]

Best for B&W in a reasonable cost range : Epson 4990. Best in the higher cost range :Epson V700. Best in the insane cost range : Nikon Coolscan 9000ED. Best in the range that is simply hideous : Imacon.

For under $100, the Epson 3170 is a great scanner for B&W for screen posting. For printing, you're going to want the Epson V700 :
http://www.shutterflower.com/V700.htm.

 

[rxmd]

You could get yourself one of the old Agfa professional SCSI scanners. Glassless scanning, 1200 to 2500 dpi depending on model and comparatively cheap on eBay, well until I posted this, that is.

 

[julianphotoart]

How about a "Dimage Scan Multi II". That model is pretty long-in-the-tooth but that just makes it cheap. It's a dedicated film scanner that uses SCSI that does up to 6x9. I was in a camera store 6 weeks ago and they were selling theirs for $249 with all the parts and accessories. They'd used it up to the prior week to scan customers' negatives/transparencies for turning into prints. eBoy ones must be a fair sight cheaper than I paid.

 

[kaiyen]

I think the multi's are pretty good deals. Resolution is like...1600? But a medium format neg is big enough that a true 1600 is pretty darn good (the Epson 3200, a staple of many MF scanners, has a true rez of about 1600). And the glass holders are nice.

Having said that, I'd probably get a 4490 for the same price, then get Doug Fisher's AN glass holder.

allan

 

[jan normandale]

thanx to wdenies, Guy Mann, shutterflower, julianphotoart and Kayien

I'm going to do some homework and start looking. I'm shooting 6x6 ; 6x9 and thinking of some cheap entry into 4x5...