scanner for 5x7 that i won't need a second morgage for?

hi

 

can anyone recommend a scanner ( flatbed ) that is not MEGA bucks, and it can

accept a 5x7 negative/chrome?

 

i keep reading great things about the epson 3200, and have become very depressed

since the light-lid is about 1" short of a full 5x7 negative. my fingers are crossed

that i won't have to get something that costs a small fortune - can't afford *another*

payment each month -

 

thanks in advance for your thoughtful suggestions.

 

-john

You might take a look at the Epson Expression 1680 Pro, John. It's the older model that has the full-sized transparency adapter, so will scan up to 8x10. The optical resolution is only 1600 DPI, with a D-Max of 3.6, but depending on your objectives (print size, etc.), it might suffice. The advantage is that it's only about $1200.

 

Until getting an Epson 3200, I had the earlier Expression 800 Pro, which did a fairly good job - again for the price at that time. Naturally, when I bought the 800, it was about 4x or 5x what the 3200s sell for now.

Hi John,

 

On advice from this forum, I bought a Acer scanner a year ago or so. It was really

cheap ($100 or so new), and works ok. I have made a few 20x24 lightjet prints from

5x7 negs with it and have been fairly happy. Of course, like all things, you get what

you pay for, and the Acer won't stand up to a good film scanner, but with some

photoshop work it is perfectly acceptable.

 

I have noticed that the Agfa DuoScans (SCSI connection) which were once upon a time

very well though of are selling on eBay for quite cheap. Also, the now obsolete

Microtek 8700 has the same design as the DuoScans, with a 8x10 drawer for

transparency scanning. Might be worth looking into.

John,

 

I have an Acer ScanPremio ST, Acers so-called pre-press scanner, but the great thing is that I have Lasersoft SilverFast Ai software for it. This scanner is junk with the factory software but works great with the SilverFast Ai software and it allows you to do multi-pass scan as well. It will also scan up to 8'x10" trans/negs and does a wonderful job. I replaced it with the 3200 pro w/ SilverFast Ai and I'm ready to part with the ScanPremio ST.

www.jerrygreerphotography.com

I'll also recommend the Agfa Duoscan. I have one and it does surprisingly well, particularly if you put a sheet of (preferably anti-newton) glass over the neg/transparency using the glass tray. The Duoscan HiD has a higher DMax, if you can find one.<div></div>

And here's one in B&W from the same scanner.<div></div>

A possibility is to scan the 5x7 in two strips on the 3200, then stitch in Photoshop. It's not really that hard to do, as long as scan exposure is the same on both scans. One issue might be that there is no holder for 5x7 so newton rings might occur.

 

(During a slight streak of temporary insanity last year, I modified a film holder for my Nikon LS-8000 MF scanner so that I could scan 4x5 in 2x2 strips and stitch together. It was awkward to say the least, but the resulting 4000dpi scans with ICE and GEM were stunning in quality. I never found a reliable solution for film flatness though, it was mostly trial and error.)

The down side of scanning and then stitching the two scans

together is that you must make the actual stitch in 8 bits

because with the current version of Photoshop (Photoshop 7 as

of 9/2003) you can not stitch together 16 bit scans without an

elaborate work around. Photoshop 8, which will apparently be

out in a few weeks, is supposed to provide support for 16 bit

layers.

 

Sandy King

Others have already mentioned the Epson, Acer and Agfa models to look for, so to add to that array, I'll mention the Umax Powerlook line. The Powerlook III is 1200ppi, more than you probably need for 5x7, and used ones are currently selling for less than the cost of a new Epson 3200. It's supported by Vuescan. Downside for some is the SCSI interface, although others (including myself) count that as a plus (FAST!), as long as you have room for a card.<p>You might also want to investigate the Canon 9900F. I don't know all about it, but Canon's promo photo shows film holders that cover more than 5x7. I think it's priced about the same as the Epson 3200. You can find a review of it in the "reviews" section at at http://www.photo-i.co.uk/.

If you had access to a digital camera with a close up lens, you could use it to get a low-res digital file of the 5 x 7 tranny into your computer.

 

You would get the worst of both worlds in that you would be limited by both the grain in the tranny and the resolution of the camera.

 

With a low end Digital SLR you would get a file good enough to upload to the web, but has anybody done it with a decent 16 shot digiback, (and Sinar p3) and with what result?

 

You might think that the Schneider Macro-Digitars would be ideal for this, but they are optimised for 1:4 to 4:1, or up to 6x9 for a 24 x 36mm CCD.

 

My Micro-Nikkor 200mm IF is OK for 1:1 to infinity, so it should be OK.

thanks for all your suggestions :)

 

i have a lot to think about now ...

 

dick,

i have a d100 with a macro lens, it hadn't crossed my mind to shoot "dup's" with that,

and upload into my mac.

 

thanks again!

 

-john