Sharp enough with the Epson V800?

[Fjäll]

I have been shooting more medium format lately and I'm using the Epson V800 to scan the negatives. I use an Better Scanning film holder (t-lock version) to hold the film. In theory it should yield better results since there's no glass between the film and scanner (given the film is perfectly flat). The holder has adjustable rubber feet to position the focus at the plane of the negatives.

I've spent about an hour adjusting and fine-tuning the feet trying to achieve the optimal sharpness but I'm not sure how sharp a perfectly scanned negative even looks like from the V800.

Does anyone have any sharp examples scanned from an Espon V series scanners? I figured it would be useful to have a reference when adjusting the film holder further.

The link below is an example how my scans look like right now. It's a straight scan at 2400 DPI without any sharpening applied.
(Mamiya 7 + 80mm + Portra 400NC)

https://imgshare.io/image/WTo5K

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

This is an entirely unsharpened in any way (other than manual dust spot removal) straight out of V800 using the normal holder with anti-Newton glass. It's Fuji Pro400H from a Mamiya RB67. This was scanned at 3600.

Normally I don't ever see the need to sharpen medium format, but I will adjust contrast, get colour balance spot on and normally add some clarity in Lightroom.

 

[bjolester]

To achieve the best possible resolution from the V7xx/V8xx scanners one has to scan at 6400 ppi. It is first at 6400 ppi that the high performance lens is activated. The output from the scanner should then be roughly 2300-2400 ppi. A scan at 6400 ppi from these scanners results in gigantic files, and many people downsize these files to 3200 or 2400 ppi, which results in more manageable files. I downsize my V750 files in Photoshop using bicubic resampling. A 6x7 negative is about 1.4 gb when scanned at 6400 ppi, a downsize to 3200 ends up with a file about 340 mb.

There are many threads on RF about these scanners and how to get best results from them.

 

[brbo]

It is first at 6400 ppi that the high performance lens is activated.

Are you sure about this?! I'd have thought that the "hi-res" lens is used when you are using a negative holder (not using the whole scanner glass bed). It makes absolutely no sense to use "low-res" lens for even lower resolution scans of film that is in a holder since the low-res lens is focused on the glass and hi-res lens is focused a few mm above the glass.

The higher effective resolution of scanning at 6400dpi comes from mechanical oversampling.

 

[xvvvz]

If you have trouble making judgments from details in an actual image, you might want to rely on a scratched grid pattern. Take a dark section of the start or end of a developed roll of film and cut that into as big of a strip section of film that you can make from this leader (hopefully at least as much as two 6x6 frames). Now take a fine needle and scratch a cross hatch pattern into the emulsion side the film about the size of a 6x6 frame (about 6 lines each way is probably enough but you can do more if you want). Put this film in the holder and use it to make test scans. The somewhat jagged edges from the needle scratching should make for fairly easy focus interpretation.

Doug

 

[lawrence]

I have uploaded a sample photo (95Mb) to my Google Drive that was shot on a Fuji GL690 Professional and scanned on a V750 at 2400 dpi (I also use the Betterscanning film holder). If you click on the link below you'll be able to download it. I have printed this 12"x16" and have it on my wall and all I can say is that it's sharp enough for me 😉

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nVAHnh-DKMTrhddAr9Ijgd3RGn1Swkra/view?usp=sharing

 

[Fjäll]

Thank you for the responses. I put a strip of slightly scratched (used 120 grit sandpaper in a cross pattern) blank 120 film strip in the holder and adjusted the feet to a slight angle. Fully extended in one end and fully retracted in the other end and scanned it to find the sharpest scratches in between. Adjusted the middle until they touched the glass and matched the rest of the feet to the same height. Not sure if I can tell a difference but at least I know its close to its optimal distance from the lens.

 

[Jamie123]

I used to use a Betterscanning holder with an Epson 4990 but now that I'm using a V850 with its adjustable glass holders I see no reason for it. The glass on the Epson holders sits behind the negative so there's still nothing coming between the scanner and the negative (other than the scanner glass of course).

That being said, I usually scan medium format at 3200 dpi and I typically turn any kind of ICE off as it seems to soften the image slightly. Of course then you have a lot more dust spotting to do which can be a pain.

 

[bjolester]

Are you sure about this?! I'd have thought that the "hi-res" lens is used when you are using a negative holder (not using the whole scanner glass bed). It makes absolutely no sense to use "low-res" lens for even lower resolution scans of film that is in a holder since the low-res lens is focused on the glass and hi-res lens is focused a few mm above the glass.

The higher effective resolution of scanning at 6400dpi comes from mechanical oversampling.

You are probably correct about the hi-resolution lens and that it is activated when using the setting "film holder", as opposed to placing the film directly the glass bed "film area guide". My formulation above is not precise.

To achieve maximum resolution from these Epson scanners one has to scan at 6400 ppi.