Scanner and profiling software purchase

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sam

I have numerous prints and negatives from the near and far past that I
want to preserve digitally. Instead of buying separate film and
print/text scanners, I would like to minimize the investment, especially
since I am weaning myself away from film.

Would the Epson 4870 be the best choice for my needs? to give me high
quality in both film and print scanning?

Seaparately, the 4870 comes in two versions, differentiated only by some
software. The 'Pro' version includes Monaco EZcolor2.5 profiling
software, as well as some Arcsoft sofware. How critical is the Profiling
software (for $150 extra), or are its functions adequately handled by
the printer/printing software, for less than studio quality prints?

Thanks one and all who have advice for me.




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sam said:
I have numerous prints and negatives from the near and far past that I
want to preserve digitally. Instead of buying separate film and
print/text scanners, I would like to minimize the investment, especially
since I am weaning myself away from film.

Would the Epson 4870 be the best choice for my needs? to give me high
quality in both film and print scanning?

Seaparately, the 4870 comes in two versions, differentiated only by some
software. The 'Pro' version includes Monaco EZcolor2.5 profiling
software, as well as some Arcsoft sofware. How critical is the Profiling
software (for $150 extra), or are its functions adequately handled by
the printer/printing software, for less than studio quality prints?

Thanks one and all who have advice for me.
Click to expand...

The 4870 seems to be a good choice for medium and large format. For 35
mm, and possibly even 6 x 4.5, depending on how choosy you are, it may
not be the best choice. You can probably do better with 35 mm with a
less expensive dedicated film scanner such as the Minolta SD IV. You
would still need a flatbed scanner for prints, but almost any reasonable
flatbed scanner, without film scanning capability, would do a good job.
You probably don't have to go over 1200 ppi scanning resolution for
that purpose. The price of the Minolta and such a flatbed scanner,
depending on how good a buy you got, could be less than the price of
the 4870 and certainly not much more.

If you do decide on the 4870, until you understand profiling and other
sophisticated matters, you probably won't be able to make full use of
the additional software that comes with the Pro version. But if you
think you know how to use it or can learn quickly, then it might be
worth the extra cost. Myself, as a beginner, I would start off with the
simpler basic package. You can always buy profiling software later.
 
Leonard gave you some sound advice. One other thing to point out is that I
believe the Pro package includes the upgrade to Silverfast Ai (upgrade from
the SE version shipped with the regular 4870). If you like Silverfast, this
is a very worthwhile upgrade and normally costs something like $100 by
itself. BTW, the hardware for both 4870 versions is exactly the same.

Doug
 
The "PRO" version *does* include the upgrade to Silverfast Ai (~$100), MonicoEZcolor 2
profiling software (WITH both reflective and transmissive IT8 targets ... ~$150 for the
targets), and the ABBYY FineReader OCR Software.

I "went for it" even though I had a hard time finding a bricks-and-mortar store that
actually *had* it in stock, and am NOT sorry that I did.

It is a perfectly adequate film scanner for most medium format (120-220 sized film). and
4" x 5" or 5" x 7" sheet film. It will *not* scan a full 8" x 10" transparency or B&W
negative, being limited to roughly a 6" x 9" transparency or B&W negative area.

If you have any quantity of 35 mm in your library, it can provide a barely useable scan,
but is not quite up to "professional" standards at this size, and you will want to get
something like the Nikon Coolscan to supplement the 4870. However ... several old
Ektachrome (original E1 no less) 6x6 (shot with a Rolliflex 3.5F) transparencies that I've
scanned have turned out **very** nice!
 
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