Suggested settings for Epson V600

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traveler_101

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Hi guys,

I am wondering if anyone has some experience with the Epson 600 and could give me a hand with settings - since I seem to be floundering around a fish out of water. I shoot 35mm, black and white negatives for viewing on my Macbook or HDTV. Thus far no printing, but perhaps if it doesn't take up too much space on my HD it might be wise to have that option.

Issues: I have been in Professional mode, btw. 16 or 8 bit? 300 dpi is enough? Save as jpg or tiff? What size for the output - I've been doing 15 x 10 inches (user defined). I have struggled in the past with a getting very small image that covers only 25% of my screen or ending up having the image cropped and thereby losing its original dimensions.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
 
I use a V600 and also for B&W film, both 35mm and 120.

For B&W 35mm if you scan in Professional Mode:

16 bit, grayscale, select at least 1200 dpi (actual resolution is 3200 if you need it, but resolution over 3200 is computed by digital interpolation, not optics).

Output size does not matter, you can adjust it when printing. Leave it at the negative size.

I save scans as JPG, it is enough for what I do (printing up to A4 size) and saves a lot of space and time.

Make sure you adjust levels so as to get output from 0 to 255 and input as you want it for your image (usually, preserving all the tonalities that you can, i.e. the extreme arrowheads at the ends of the histogram). The default settings for output do not cover the full range 0 to 255.

Let us know if we can help any further!
 
julio1fer said:
I use a V600 and also for B&W film, both 35mm and 120.

For B&W 35mm if you scan in Professional Mode:

16 bit, grayscale, select at least 1200 dpi (actual resolution is 3200 if you need it, but resolution over 3200 is computed by digital interpolation, not optics).

Output size does not matter, you can adjust it when printing. Leave it at the negative size.

I save scans as JPG, it is enough for what I do (printing up to A4 size) and saves a lot of space and time.

Make sure you adjust levels so as to get output from 0 to 255 and input as you want it for your image (usually, preserving all the tonalities that you can, i.e. the extreme arrowheads at the ends of the histogram). The default settings for output do not cover the full range 0 to 255.

Let us know if we can help any further!
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to help. I don't print so leaving it at the size of the negative is not good for me.

How do you adjust levels?
 
Thanks for taking the time to help. I don't print so leaving it at the size of the negative is not good for me.

How do you adjust levels?
Click to expand...

You have to use the button in the scanner software, it is this one (sorry mine is in Spanish):

levels_zpsugqlzcse.jpg


Although you may use software such as Photoshop Elements later on to adjust levels, it is important to capture the image with full tones (or with the tone distribution or clipping that you want). After scanning, you can only work with what you have already captured.
 
julio1fer said:
You have to use the button in the scanner software, it is this one (sorry mine is in Spanish):

levels_zpsugqlzcse.jpg


Although you may use software such as Photoshop Elements later on to adjust levels, it is important to capture the image with full tones (or with the tone distribution or clipping that you want). After scanning, you can only work with what you have already captured.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your help. Muchas gracias por su ayuda (excuse my grammar, it's been a long time since I studied).
I am now scanning at 2400 psi and leaving the output size at original. Much, much better results.

In terms of the tone menu, these are the defaults:

My input is - 45 1.5 210

My output - 18 209

My Tone Curve Viewer is - Soft

My Gray Balance Intensity is - 100

Could you recommend specific settings?
 
julio1fer said:
Although you may use software such as Photoshop Elements later on to adjust levels, it is important to capture the image with full tones (or with the tone distribution or clipping that you want). After scanning, you can only work with what you have already captured.
Click to expand...

This is the best advice you will ever receive about scanning. It took me ages to realise that no matter what you can do 'in post' unless you take the time and trouble to set up your scanner software correctly you won't get decent results. The Epson software is actually pretty good although all the features are not necessarily easy to find.
 
A very important feature of the V600 software is the densitometer. Many users are not aware of it's existence. This allows you to mesure the tonal value - from 0 to 255 - of small parts of the negative to optimize the hologram.

Erik.
 
I would personally save in tiff - jpg is a lossy format i.e. every time you save, it discards data and the image slightly degrades. When you are happy with the image, you can save as jpg to save disk space if that is a concern.

rjstep3
 
traveler_101 said:
... I shoot 35mm, black and white negatives for viewing on my Macbook or HDTV. Thus far no printing, but perhaps if it doesn't take up too much space on my HD it might be wise to have that option.
...
Click to expand...

A few points to add to the good recommendations already posted

Your basic scanning should be:
  • Scan at a decently high resolution (e.g 3200ppi)
  • If your post processing bitmap editor supports it, user 16bpp
  • Save as a TIFF

Saving as JPG will flatten the image to 8bpp and JPGs use a lossy compression algorithm which will lead to quality loss later when you edit the scanner output.

Edit the scanner's TIFF to make a copy that is adjusted to look the best on screen and is resized to fit your monitor. "Full HD" displays are either 1920x1080 pixels. You don't need anything larger and the file's embedded PPI specification is meaningless for this use. Making a copy for screen display allows you to save the full resolution file for possible printing later.
 
Interpolation is like guessing based on previous events, values, etc.
As with all guessing short term guessing really works and this is why interpolating to 3200 dpi works perfectly well, better than just doing optical at 2400.
Of course, the longer you stretch it, the less accurate it becomes.
 
Thanks for the link!

Thanks for the link!

Dean,

I have a Epson V600 and was getting a headache trying to scan 35mm TriX.
banghead.gif


Colton Allen's instructions that you pointed out work fine for B&W.

I'm now a happy, if slow, scanner.
smile.gif


Thank you.

Steve W
dfatty said:
colton has some good tips in this thread.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2395261#post2395261

the tips are technically for a v500, but i believe the epson software is the same, so the advice should work on the v600.

here's the direct link to colton's helpful info:
http://www.coltonallen.com/scanning-color-film/
Click to expand...
 
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