Epson V500 scanner - early days, advice required.

[andya700]

So, last weekend I finally took the plunge and bought an Epson V500 scanner from PC World for £69. As I have been fairly busy, I have only just got around to connecting it up, and have done a couple of scans - a document and an old B&W photograph.
However, I scanned those on auto, and would really like to have a go at some old prints at a higher resolution. There is however one major problem, the scanner came with setting up intructions, but not a basic guide on how to scan photos/transparencies, so what do I do, because my first couple of tries resulted in the image being too large to scan (too many pixels), and I am stumbling along in the dark.
Can anyone please give me some basic advice?

Andy

 

[PMN]

Hi there Andy,

What are you planning to do with the scans once done? The kind of resolution you need really depends on how you're using the images.

 

[andya700]

Hi Paul,
Just a nice A4 image with no grain/noise would be nice, maybe a bit larger with the best of the Kodachrome transparencies. I don't mind if the scans take a bit of time, as long as the quality is good.

 

[PMN]

A4 size on screen or are you printing? Just to clarify, are you talking about prints, 35mm film or both?

 

[slackyuser]

On the Epson software there is a drop down menu where you can select professional mode.
This will give you the options to correct, clean adjust the amount of grain etc.

 

[pingu666]

I think people recommend 2400dpi for slides and negatives, 35mm ones anyways

I can't remmber what mode on epson scan I normaly use :-(

 

[Volusian]

£69 from PC World ... thats cheap

 

[excalibur2]

Hello Andy
Although the true dpi of the V500 is about 1800......for negs I'd scan at least 3200dpi for less pixel breakup which improves plain back gounds etc and better if you want to do a large print....also you can always downsize afterwards to post here or where ever..