The new Epson F3200 (MF scanner) does come with ICE

[kosmoskatten]

Hi all,

I have on the web seen several posts on the new F3200 MF scanner

stating it does not have ICE. This initially put me off (and probably

others as well) as I wouldn't get a scanner without it. Luckily, I

found this recent german article:

http://ontop.grintsch-online.com/epson_presse/index.php?id=45&L=0&type=1&backPID=37&tt_news=1041

 

It clearly states that it comes bundled with Silverfast software with

both dust and scratch removal, both stated in the specs as well as in

the general text.

 

I hope this clears it up a bit and I for one will have a long hard

look at it when it arrives.

 

Kind regards, Henrik Rundgren

[glen peterson]

Sorry, but i can't read german. As far as I've heard, this scanner may come with software dust and scratch removal, but it lacks the IR channel to detect this the way that ICE does.

[rich815]

From what I've been hearing the ICE on these flatbeds makes the scan take something like 30-40 minutes or longer for a MF scan. I'd rather blow off my negs with air to clean them somewhat and then do 5-10 minutes of dust spotting in PS than wait that long per scan. I love ICE on my Nikon LS-4000 but that long on the Epson flatbeds??!?! Ugh!

[jem]

Dust and scratch removal offered by Silverfast can either be software based or ICE. I see no mention of ICE - which is a bizarre decision by Epson. Also the use of glass in the film holders is another odd decision, as the point is to remove glass from the scanning path!

 

I am sure it will sell a bundle though, and surely can't be any worse than the soft as butter 4870.

[custom film holders for fl]

As I posted in the other forum, from what others who have seen this scanner in person have said, the film holders actually incorporate a piece of glass. If true, I would think the glass would have to have some sort of Anti Newton Ring coating. That surface would make ICE "unhappy," so that might explain the lack of ICE. I have a feeling the F3200 is more "wanna-be" with promising looks instead of a leap into the real film scanner category. The innards look like a flatbed's innards that have just been repackaged. Why they went to all that trouble but then included a layer of glass in the holder seems odd. Add to that the fact they are introducing a "new and improved" 4870 and things get a bit murky (look up the GTX-800 on the Japan site)!

<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>

[jbq]

As long as the glass isn't between the film and the sensor it shouldn't be a problem.

[martin_patek_strutsky]

The wording of the mentioned press release is not 100% clear. I guess it talks just about the software based dust removal of Silverfast. ICE is not at all mentioned.

 

799 EUR is a lot of money for a scanner that does not even offer ICE.

[kosmoskatten]

Hi Martin, and others!

If it is a software based D&S removal, and a half-*ssed one, I have to agree it

is less promising than I thought. Why could they not have skipped the

antinewton glass and gone with a glass-less carrier solution?

If it is a halfbaked they will have to go back to the lab again... ...and I will wait

for something else. Someone know anything about that new Canon scanner?

I still think ?799 IS cheap for a MF scanner, but lacking decent D&S removal it

is a shot in the foot...

 

;-) Henke Rundgren

[jo_irps]

It says " Silverfast Ai 6 mit Staub- und Kratzerentfernung ". It means translated Silverfast Ai 6 with Dust and Scratchremovel. Anybody who works with Silverfast knows what that means. It is half baked, but....IMO it gives you sharper scan results as with ICE as Gaussian Blur is involved.

[daniel_staver1]

If the scanner is actually as sharp as we would have liked you might need glass anyway. Most, if not all, consumer MF film scanners on the market today needs glass holders to get good edge to edge sharpness. On my Artixscan 120tf I can sometimes get good 6x45 scans without the glass holder, but with 6x7's the glass holder becomes absolutely neccessary. Even 35mm film has problems without glass unless it's very flat.

 

The Artixscan doesn't have ICE either, so I know just how much time it takes to clean a huge 4000ppi 6x7 scan. With six surfaces to collect dust and four times the film area of 35mm it can be _very_ time consuming and tedious to clean everything. Personally I scan silver BW film most of the time, so for me the problem is unavoidable, but if you work in color I'd recommend you to get a scanner with ICE.

[celerystalksme]

799EUR?!?!?! that's madness...

 

it's selling for 55,440Y in japan...that's like about $500 even...

[rondal]

They sell for just over ?600 ($800) in Germany. Dust removal with the original Epson scanner software is horrendous (or altogether nonexistent); I have yet to try the bundled Silverfast. Will post scans here.

[rondal]

Dust can be best seen in the unsharp parts of a negative, and in its corners.

 

The negative I used for this demonstration is a 6x6 TX400 exposed at its nominal EI value of 320 ASA and developed normally in D-76. After carefully dusting the glass and the negative, I used the F-3200 to make two scans of the bottomleft corner; one with the original Epson Scan software that came with this scanner, and one with the Silverfast AI software that came in the attached bundle.

 

As you can see in the attached JPEGs, neither succeeded in completely removing the remaining dust, even though it should have been relatively easy for the software to spot it, since it is clearly outlined against the blurry bokeh. Surprisingly, however, Epson Scan did a decidedly better job.

 

I used to own the Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III, which only scans 35mm strips and was much more cumbersome to use; however, its lack of glass gave much better results regarding dust.