been bought an Epson 4990

Simon photo

Simon photo

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Any tips or things i need to watch out for with this scanner? Its second hand but has a full set of negative frames and a silverlight disc.
Im not averse to scanning negatives, I've already got basic canoscan that does 35mm, but i needed this for its 4x5 capability.
 
A very capable scanner, although a little slow. Basically the cream of the crop before the V series of scanners was introduced.
 
I've never owned one but have read it's a good scanner.....and I would wager most of the time you couldn't tell the difference in results from the V750.
 
Ooh! Great news!
I have had a read up on it but im not very scan savvy.
The main reason i was after it was the 4x5 in one swipe functionality.
Time isn't really an issue either as i won't be banging my way through endless sheets of film either.
I can't wait for it to turn up now to get some scans through!
Will defiantly be posting some images then.
Also... One thing that's puzzling me.
I have recently dived into the zone system and the meter for the shadows, print for the highlights mantra. Now, i understand that digital has different requirements, but what about scans? Is there an optimum negative required for scanning or does it just scan what it sees?
 
Simon photo said:
Ooh! Great news!
I have had a read up on it but im not very scan savvy.
The main reason i was after it was the 4x5 in one swipe functionality.
Time isn't really an issue either as i won't be banging my way through endless sheets of film either.
I can't wait for it to turn up now to get some scans through!
Will defiantly be posting some images then.
Also... One thing that's puzzling me.
I have recently dived into the zone system and the meter for the shadows, print for the highlights mantra. Now, i understand that digital has different requirements, but what about scans? Is there an optimum negative required for scanning or does it just scan what it sees?
Click to expand...

Well first I'd beg or borrow Photoshop (I don't think Adobe would mind if you used a very old version :) ) Next? just use Epson's own scan program and play with it in pro mode......for 35mm start scanning at about 3200dpi and for MF (6X6) about 2400dpi...later you can try different scan programs that others here use.
enjoy
Oh forgot to answer your question:- A correct exposed neg/pos on decent film would have less problems than say a 10 year OOD film incorrectly exposed.
 
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I would definitely recommend vuescan as a good scanning software. I use an Epson 4490 (i think it's the model down from the 4990) and prefer it to Epson's own scanning software. I like the way it's really easy to lock the film base colour which I'm not sure is possible with epson scan.
 
boliston said:
I would definitely recommend vuescan as a good scanning software. ... I like the way it's really easy to lock the film base colour which I'm not sure is possible with epson scan.
Click to expand...

Does that really work? I tried following the instructions for some very old negatives I was scanning, using a test Vuescan version, and the results were horrible. Just couldn't get rid of the colour casts. In the end I used the Sliverfast version that came with my scanner, and just went through dozens of film options looking for a reasonable compromise!:(
 
I perhaps should have mentioned i use photoshop, i have scanned negatives before but only with, perhaps entry level equipment. Perfectly capable mind. This project shot on tri x was scanned with it http://www.simondaviesphotography.co.uk/Service at Patricks/album/index.html
And while it was a pain in the butt having to move the adapter with each scan and constantly calibrate, i got it done.
Thanks for the heads up on this scanner guys, i feel my film shooting will taking a quantum leap from here on in.
 
ChrisR said:
Does that really work? I tried following the instructions for some very old negatives I was scanning, using a test Vuescan version, and the results were horrible. Just couldn't get rid of the colour casts. In the end I used the Sliverfast version that came with my scanner, and just went through dozens of film options looking for a reasonable compromise!:(
Click to expand...

When I first started using vuescan I thought it was useless till I worked out how to set the colour balance correctly. A good tip is to look for an area that should be white or light grey and right click on that area as that will manually set the white balance.

Locking the film base colour is also a good idea, I did a blog pot a while ago aboit this http://boliston.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/vuescan-workflow/
 
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