V700 basic scanning questions

[BobPS]

I just took delivery of a new Epson v700 a couple of days ago. I scanned some frames from my negative and really like the results, it's a whole lot better than the scan results from a local lab that I use, in terms of color correction anyway and I can scan it to bigger size files. I usually get 1 to 2 mb files from the labs and sometimes bigger files like 4 or 5 mb files. I also find out that many of my negatives have scratches on them. Looks like I'll have to find a different lab to process my films.😡

Anyway, these are basic/beginner questions. Do you guys scan the films to jpeg file or tiff file? And what resolution do you use?

If I scan the films to DNG files, will I have the same liberty in processing the result as I have when processing RAW files from digital? To save the scanned film as DNG, what software do I need?

The v700 came with two scanning softwares: epson and silverfast, and PS element 6 which I haven't tried cause I use LR2. So far I haven't touched the silverfast yet cause I figure I should familiarize myself with the basic and simple scanning process first (epson software) before I try something else, but there's no dng option with the epson software.

Thanks in advance guys,

Bob

 

[spkennedy3000]

Scan to 16-bit tif files (in Epson Scan set to 48-bit colour) for full tonal /colour gradations. You can convert these to jpeg later in Photoshop/whatever to save disk space if necessary.

You will not have the same liberty in processing as RAW files, but you will be able to use converter features like vignette-reduction.

 

[BobPS]

Thanks spkennedy3000. I will try that. I find that I often have inconsistent exposure with my M6. Even though the meter indicator in the viewfinder shows >< or correct exposure, the sometimes the results are underexposed. For those instances, I want to be able to correct the exposure during processing.

bob

 

[spkennedy3000]

The scanner will tend to correct exposure automatically - if you have underexposed you might find all you see is a bit of extra grain in the scan, if you overexpose just some blown highlights.

 

[Renzsu]

Give vuescan a try:
http://benneh.net/blog/index.php/2008/04/21/better-colour-neg-scanning-with-vuescan/

Although if you turn off all the dust removal and sharpening options in the scanner software (basically turn everything off and make sure you keep an eye on the histogram) you can get nice scans with the Epson software for manipulation afterwards. I find the auto settings of the Epson software a bit too much, often too saturated and with blown highlights and clipped shadows.

 

[J. Borger]

I use Epson Scan with all corrections off.
This gives me very flat scans with all detail available.
I do all processing afterwards in Photoshop CS.
This makes the scanning stage very straightforward and easy.
I feel no need at all for other scanning software with this procedure.
I am delighted with the results from the v700, which i only use for MF .

 

[__hh]

I don't have the patience to wait for the scanner to do full 6400 dpi scans of all my negs. I set mine at 2400 dpi, and save to JPEG. The result file will be about 2-3 MBytes at about 6 Megapickles. Most of my photos are destined to the computer/web (an 8x10" print at most) so no need for high res.

If I ever have a need to scan something "properly" at high resolution and high quality, then I would do that to the specific negative.

I am content with Epson scan - it's good enough for me.

 

[BobPS]

Thank you very much guys for all your advice.
Journeyman, thanks very much for the explanation on the work flow. Gives me a much better picture on the whole process.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[ZeissFan]

I always scan to a TIFF. It's much more universal than DNG, and it's not a "lossy" format such as JPG.

I use Epson Scan. I had Vuescan for a while, but I found that there are simply too many options. I spent too much time trying to fine-tune the software over and over. As I've mentioned before, sometimes more isn't better -- it's just more.

 

[J. Borger]

I realy think 6400 dpi and tiff is overkill for most situations.
I scan MF B&W film at 2400 dpi and 16 bits grayscale Jpeg.
That's perfect for pinting 6X6 negatives at 13 X 13 inches/ 30X 30 cm.
As long as you do not save that JPeg several times during the processing stage, you do not loose very much .... if i need to save my work during processing i save the jpeg as tiff so it does not degradade further.

I 'l keep the 6400 dpi tifs for the moment i encounter that rare negative i realy want to print very large. It eats too much diskspace and takes too long to do that for every negative.

 

[__hh]

I scan everything at 48 bit color, 300 dpi jpg. If I am printing, I go with a TIFF. I started a thread to ask people why they scan at 2400-6400 DPI and no one could give me a straight answer as to why they did. So I ran a test and scanned at 300 dpi and 2400 dpi, and then downsized the 2400 dpi image. I didn't see a difference.

Is it because people scan at high resolution (2400-4600 dpi) against the original negative film as compared to your scanning at 300 dpi against a piece of large print/paper? Makes a big difference.

 

[Renzsu]

I thought the hardware resolution of the V700 was 4800dpi MAX, so there would be no point to scan at higher resolutions than that because it would be interpolated anyways and then you can probably use better software to do that yourself.

 

[ReeRay]

Work your way through this site - brilliant

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson%20V700/page_1.htm

And the BetterScan inserts really do improve things

 

[xvvvz]

One of the best places for new users to start is at Wayne Fulton's www.scantips.com website. Work through the tutorials so that you learn the basics and how each setting affects the scan.

Just to be clear, you can scan at less than 6400 ppi with the high resolution lens similar to how the low resolution lens works. There is some debate as to whether/how lower resolutions are obtained though (e.g. for 2400 ppi is it really acquiring at 3200 ppi and then downsampling in the EpsonScan software to to 2400 ppi, etc.).

Doug

 

[Pherdinand]

So I ran a test and scanned at 300 dpi and 2400 dpi, and then downsized the 2400 dpi image. I didn't see a difference.

Well if u downsize it then you get a tiny image barely enough for a good monitor. Indeed not much difference between *downsized* and original (although if you look carefully in the deep shadows, the downsized version should show less scanner noise. It does, in my case, when i downsize from 3200 dpi to 1600 dpi, but maybe noise is not significant at 300 dpi anyway.)

The point is, why having a v700 and scan only 300dpi (or downsize). I mean if you want to print, you can go bigger. You can easily print 30x50 cm images from 35mm scanned on the v700. For such an image i scan at 3600 dpi and adjust the print size accordingly in PS. Above 3600 there's no optical difference meaning if i UPSCALE a 3600 dpi image to say 6400 and scan the same at 6400 i see no difference or, the 6400 one can even be a bit worse (strange pixelation).

I always scan in EpsonScan to tiff and 48 bit (or 16 for BW); color is in adobe rgb (my PS workspace). I gave up on silverfast (no batch scan, and too many unnecessary options - only VERY problematic c41 is scanned with SF). Tried VueScan but after an hour of fiddling with it, i still didnt get the interface so it's out of question. I just don't have enough patience on software things when it's about my hobby.
The resolution depends on film size and on my plans with the image but it's at least 1200dpi. This produces large enough image even from 35mm for critical examination. Many of the tiffs get discarded if they look worthless; the rest is cropped/adjusted for color contrast etc, and saved as 16 or 48 bit tiff. A PS "action" then takes care of a screensize sRGB 8(24)bit version "saved for devices" with color profile included in it. In the end the large tiffs go to an external hard drive to save disk space on my working, internal drive. If it will ever be necessary i can delete these tiffs, but it's just too much effort going into them to delete them immediately.

Lately i noticed that ICE does funny stuff to color gradients so i only use it for small screensize scans that definitely won't be printed.

For some experiments i did scan some 6x9 slides at 3600dpi and one or two even at higher (with no visible difference). This produces 400 megabyte files. Definitely not fun to do even a simple "Levels" or "Crop" on that, not on a core duo and 1 GB ram.

 

[Haigh]

Wow guys. Thanks for question and answer since I have a V700 still in its carton and my tech helper comes to upgrade my imac and I have no idea how to use it even when she installs it but all your answers should help me a lot. Thanks to all again.