New Scanner???

[shayallen]

I am looking to by a new scanner to scan photos (usually 8x10) that I do in my darkroom... They will be almost always be B&W. I want them to be really good quality so I cam upload them to flickr and smugmug. Would an Epson Perfection V500 do a good job for this?

Thanks

 

[bmattock]

Yes, it would. If scanning printed photos is your entire intent, I would suggest you could spend a lot less for the same result, since most basic flatbed scanners can do a good job with an 8x10 print. If you also intend to shoot negatives and positives, the V500 is quite nice, down to medium format. For 35mm film, a dedicated film scanner tends to work best.

 

[shayallen]

Thanks... What resolution or settings should I use to get the same quality I used to get from uploading photos from my Nikon D90 to flickr and smugmug?

 

[sevo]

300dpi at 10" already delivers a 2400x3000px image. You'll usually need less for online use...

I second that the V500 is over-spec for flatbed scanning. If you have a computer that still has a PCI slot, so that fitting a SCSI interface is cheap, you could get hold of a wide choice of old professional flatbed scanners (Linotype-Hell, Agfa etc.) - 1200dpi and less scanners are not considered good for transparency scanning any more and tend to go for bargain prices, while their noise levels, contrast range and lens quality in the flatbed/paper scan domain still beat current consumer scanners by a fair margin.

Sevo