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Epson 4490


mark liddell

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Anyone used the Epson 4490? Since I no longer have any access to a

darkroom to contact or do any rough prints from my b&w negs, I have

been looking for a cheap scanner for rough proofing and getting

images on the web. Sending negs off for hand printing on fibre is

*very* expensive so I want to be sure before I put in a print order!

 

I shoot 6x7 but also quite a lot of 35mm. Is this scanner up to the

task for 35mm? It is half the cost of the 4990 but that has loads of

features of no use to me (ICE etc.) Is there much of a difference in

sharpness and dmax?

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I have a 4990, and I use it to proof before I send materials out for pro printing. In general, I'd rate it very highly. Initially I had a lot of problems with it, which I think can be traced back to the fact that I also have an HP scanner that I use for non-photo items, and I think they were fighting for control. <p>

 

The only other issue I've had is that it will not auto crop large format; I think this is a memory issue. I don't shoot medium format, and it does great on 35mm.

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I got one in the fall for basically the same purposes, and I'm quite pleased. I've used it for 645 and mounted/unmounted 35mm. I'm sure there's much more I could learn about scanning to be able to squeeze better scans out of it but it suffices for my needs.

 

If you get it, there was one thing that almost made me throw it out the window initially (or just return it...) The MF film holder has a gap in it at the end near the lid's hinge. This gap is apparently used for some sort of scan-time calibration; it's easy to obscure it by loading your film in the wrong direction and this will cause corrupt previews/scans. Took me a while to realize it, but just turn the film 180 degrees. The markings/instructions could be a little more clear about such things.

 

Otherwise it's a good scanner.

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I have the 4490 for 2 weeks now and I have scanned some of my 6x6 and 6x7 positives since. You can have a look at www.fotoapparatuur.nl , go to image gallery. Under "landschap" are some of my pictures, as well as under "flora en fauna".

 

A few of my scans were printed by fujiprint.nl , up to 45 x 30 cm. Excellent quality. Not as good as professional prints but a lot cheaper. The 4490 also has digital ice by the way. I never use it though.

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An interesting question, and one that I am personally trying to sort through, is how much better the Epson 4490 is than the 3170. Because Epson is practically GIVING away the 3170 on their website, for $79.99 including shipping for manufacturer's refurb units with warranty. They appear to be the same except that the resolution on the 4490 is 4800 dpi and the 3170 is 3200 dpi. But that's the spec - in real life, in film mode, the realizable resolution for a flatbed scanner is clearly lower, and IMHO, it's dubious that the user can see the difference.

 

For me personally, I'm looking for a cheap scanner that handles MF, up to 6x9

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I use mine mainly for E6 slide scanning and 35mm film. All in all it does a descent job. Compared to my Acer 2740s, it performs just as well with a slight edge in color reproduction. Detail appears to be a little better also. I sold the Acer 2740s because the 4490 is more versatile. I use Vuescan most of the time and edit in Photoshop Elements or Gimp 2. Be prepared to use the unsharp mask filter because the image can be a little soft at times. Most of my images on Photo.net were scanned using the 4490. Hope this helps you. By the way, the ICE works pretty good.
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The 4490 is definitely an advancement over the 3170 and is a great bargain for $200 after rebate. The biggest complaint I hear about the 3170 is the quality and intensity of the output from the light lid. With the 4490, Epson changed this design so dmax performance is improved (ability to "see" into denser areas of film) and they incorporated ICE at the same time.

 

<p> Doug<p>

<a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~dougfisher/holder/mainintro.html">Dougs

MF Film Holder for batch scanning of 120/220 medium format film with flatbeds</a>

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IMO, the 4490 is one of the best flatbeds you can get for a reasonable amount of money. It does a credible job on 6x6. For your purpose of "rough proofing and getting images on the web" it will do everything you need. OTOH, if you're fussy, it won't give you great 35mm in sizes larger than about 5x7. I never use ICE, as it's incredibly slow and reduces resolution. Speaking of which, I don't believe the maximum resolution is anywhere near the published number, and I've never heard of anyone else confirming it either. A 35mm shot is considered sharp if it achieves 60 lpm on the film. My tests show the 4490 can do about 25-35 lpm, so you can see why it will never compete with drum scans. I'm being critical here, but don't get me wrong- I absolutely love the thing. Both hardware and software are vastly superior to the HP scanner it replaced; the person trying to run both might find his problems solved by simply eliminating the HP unit from the system!
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