jaredangle
Photojournalist
Hello everyone, I recently found the time to visit my old university's photo lab to scan some film, but I found myself sorely disappointed with the results, as every scan seemed out of focus with poor tonality. The lab has Epson V550 flatbeds, and I've gotten excellent scans from them in the past (in 2014 when I was still a student), but I think either the software has changed or the particular scanner I was using was poorly calibrated. On the other hand, perhaps I am just expecting too much from the film?
This 24 MP scan (downsized to 7 MP to fit here) is the best one from the entire batch (no post processing, just tone adjustments in the Epson scanning software). All of the shots I was trying to scan are Velvia 50 shot on a Contax G1 with the 45mm f/2 lens somewhere around ƒ/8 and shutter speeds generally in the ballpark of 1/60 to 1/500. Everything looks very sharp and vibrant under the loupe, but dull and soft on the scan.
This 24 MP scan (downsized to 7 MP to fit here) is the best one from the entire batch (no post processing, just tone adjustments in the Epson scanning software). All of the shots I was trying to scan are Velvia 50 shot on a Contax G1 with the 45mm f/2 lens somewhere around ƒ/8 and shutter speeds generally in the ballpark of 1/60 to 1/500. Everything looks very sharp and vibrant under the loupe, but dull and soft on the scan.
Attachments
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Epson flatbeds have fixed focus lenses. There are two ways this can cause unsharp scans. First, the scanner has to be calibrated correctly for focus at the factory, and many of them are not. There are companies that sell negative carriers for these scanners that have adjustable feet to adjust the height of the film holder above the scanner glass; this allows you to fine tune focus if your scanner is not perfectly adjusted internally.
Second, if your film is not perfectly flat, the fixed focus lens cannot focus on the film the way a scanner like a Nikon or Minolta scanner can. Film that is not flat may be higher or lower than the scanner is calibrated for, throwing the image out of focus. Mounted slides can have mounts of different thicknesses, also causing the image to be out of focus.
Second, if your film is not perfectly flat, the fixed focus lens cannot focus on the film the way a scanner like a Nikon or Minolta scanner can. Film that is not flat may be higher or lower than the scanner is calibrated for, throwing the image out of focus. Mounted slides can have mounts of different thicknesses, also causing the image to be out of focus.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Looks like some quality loosing settings were applied for scan.
Exposure been taken in focus is also in question.
If film is arched, my V550 will gives Newton rings, not OOF.
I was always keeping negatives in heavy book for several days before scan.
Exposure been taken in focus is also in question.
If film is arched, my V550 will gives Newton rings, not OOF.
I was always keeping negatives in heavy book for several days before scan.
jaredangle
Photojournalist
Thanks for the input! I'm going to see about setting up VueScan on a laptop and bringing it in to scan. I'll also flatten the film with a dictionary - forgot to do that this time around.
agentlossing
Well-known
I bought a V550 and tried to use it for 35mm scans for a while. They just aren't ever going to be good for this smaller format, due to the focus inaccuracy. The plastic film holder isn't even flat enough, it has some flex to it, and it doesn't hold the film flat enough. So even if the focus is calibrated perfectly for the plane where the film should land within the holder, it just isn't precise enough equipment. And you can't lay it flat on the glass as some people do with autofocus scanners, because the glass isn't perfectly inside of the focus plane. It works fine for larger formats (I scan polaroid and Instax mini with good results) but 35mm just magnifies the lack of sharp focus to an unacceptable extent for me.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
I have tried third party sw with my v550. Including VueScan. Didn't achieved better quality .
Epson scan does the same and easy. If you want to see, get best results it was documented by Colton Allen. I think he posted settings here and results are on his Flickr.
I'm missing him....
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
There are good Epson scanners, not so good Epson scanners, and downright awful Epson scanners. It's very much the luck of the draw.
I bought a V550 some years ago, heavily discounted, from a well-known Melbourne retailer. (the one popularly known as "Hardly Normal"). I took it home, set it up going by the book, worked with it, shed sweat and tears and (almost) blood over it, and it wouldn't do anything close to what I considered as reasonable quality scans from my Rolleiflex negatives and slides. The damn thing almost drove me to... well, let's say drink.
Returned it and bought a new V600. Later found out, during a chance conversation in a city bar with the pleasant young man who had sold it to me, that the V550 had been sold and returned, was checked and passed muster, and got put out for sale again.
The V600 is no Coolscan, but it does what it is meant to do adequately well. I get excellent scans from 120 6x6 and 6x9, so-so scans from old color negatives of any format, and very average scans from anything in 35mm format. I also have a Plustek 7600i, an ancient thing which gave me no end of problems when I first got it, but then settled in and has been working just fine for the last decade. I've done about 10,000 scans with it and I have about the same number still to do, if it or I last long enough to finish the job.
I've tried several brands of software with both my scanners. No Vuescan, which I reckon I should have got from the very first. In time I've gone back to Silverfast with the Plustek and the Epson software for the V600. They seem to do what they do best without too much human input effort. One should not forget that Silverfish is a German creation, so working with it is very much like driving a Mercedes-Benz with a 16 cylinder engine and. 12 gear transmission. Epson is much more direct and to the point. But then I found the Epson scanner doesn't do as much as my Plustek will, that is if I take the time and put in the sweat to figure out how it works.
I have to say the excellent data posted by our Chris Crawford, has been of immense help to me. Endless thanks to you, Chris, for having put in the time and the effort to document all that. I've followed your instructions as you wrote them and they have never, ever let me down.
One thing I do like with the Epson is I can scan a dozen 35mm images at one time, and go about doing other things around the house while it does its work. The Plustek needs a lot of touchy-feely attention as it only scans one image at a time. I'm not what you would call a "selective" photographer in that I have always believed just about everything I photograph is worth keeping. So many, many hard decisions have had to be made when I have the setup all set up on my desk and the negatives or slides out for a final decision.
I now have three Western Digital hard disks full of scans. What will happen to those when I've popped off, is something I do think about now and then. But I've now come to the conclusion that I no longer much care. Nothing is perfect in the world, and scanning is, well, like almost everything else in life, something I tend to regard now as filling in time. With now and then an image worth hanging on to.
I bought a V550 some years ago, heavily discounted, from a well-known Melbourne retailer. (the one popularly known as "Hardly Normal"). I took it home, set it up going by the book, worked with it, shed sweat and tears and (almost) blood over it, and it wouldn't do anything close to what I considered as reasonable quality scans from my Rolleiflex negatives and slides. The damn thing almost drove me to... well, let's say drink.
Returned it and bought a new V600. Later found out, during a chance conversation in a city bar with the pleasant young man who had sold it to me, that the V550 had been sold and returned, was checked and passed muster, and got put out for sale again.
The V600 is no Coolscan, but it does what it is meant to do adequately well. I get excellent scans from 120 6x6 and 6x9, so-so scans from old color negatives of any format, and very average scans from anything in 35mm format. I also have a Plustek 7600i, an ancient thing which gave me no end of problems when I first got it, but then settled in and has been working just fine for the last decade. I've done about 10,000 scans with it and I have about the same number still to do, if it or I last long enough to finish the job.
I've tried several brands of software with both my scanners. No Vuescan, which I reckon I should have got from the very first. In time I've gone back to Silverfast with the Plustek and the Epson software for the V600. They seem to do what they do best without too much human input effort. One should not forget that Silverfish is a German creation, so working with it is very much like driving a Mercedes-Benz with a 16 cylinder engine and. 12 gear transmission. Epson is much more direct and to the point. But then I found the Epson scanner doesn't do as much as my Plustek will, that is if I take the time and put in the sweat to figure out how it works.
I have to say the excellent data posted by our Chris Crawford, has been of immense help to me. Endless thanks to you, Chris, for having put in the time and the effort to document all that. I've followed your instructions as you wrote them and they have never, ever let me down.
One thing I do like with the Epson is I can scan a dozen 35mm images at one time, and go about doing other things around the house while it does its work. The Plustek needs a lot of touchy-feely attention as it only scans one image at a time. I'm not what you would call a "selective" photographer in that I have always believed just about everything I photograph is worth keeping. So many, many hard decisions have had to be made when I have the setup all set up on my desk and the negatives or slides out for a final decision.
I now have three Western Digital hard disks full of scans. What will happen to those when I've popped off, is something I do think about now and then. But I've now come to the conclusion that I no longer much care. Nothing is perfect in the world, and scanning is, well, like almost everything else in life, something I tend to regard now as filling in time. With now and then an image worth hanging on to.
Freakscene
Obscure member
Make a high-resolution e book, buy an ISBN and deposit it in the NLA. That way it’s there for historical purposes, study etc for posterity. And your work is preserved.
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
Not Epson related but i was very happy with the scans i was getting from my CanonScan until i updated the drivers. Then all scans had a lot of noise bands. I installed the previous driver version and i was getting slightly blurry scans. Eventually i managed to find the older driver that came with a CD (!) and re-installed it.
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
Many thanks. A most useful idea. I've put it in my To Do folder for whenI return to Ozzz in June. It will be a good project to fill up those bleak winter days.
My problem, of course, is will the NLA give me a shelf for my output of books...
Freakscene
Obscure member
They are legally obliged to if it is published in Australia.
It will not, however, sharpen the scans from your Epson flatbed.