----- Original Message ----- From: "Boris Liberman" Subject: Re: Epson 2450 question
> Hi! > > Bill, from your response and from other responses I gather that Epson > 2450 is a satisfactory film scanner, even for 35 mm film. It is not > top quality, but I suppose to expect a top film scanning quality from > flatbed scanner is at least illogical. > > OTOH, at the moment I am struggling with local labs. Obviously they > wouldn't babysit and fine tune their machine for my films. So, quite > often scans come out with very lousy quality. > > Another problem would be that for sure in Israel to find a dedicated > film scanner would cost me at least 1.5 times more than its actual > price. So I suppose I am left with little choice. > > The only thing that would stop me is too steep a price or too old a > unit. Since none of you reported any aging problems or any mechanical > glitches with your scanners I must conclude that Epson 2450 is a > reasonably reliable machine. > > As for the scans themselves. I've witnessed a person who is going to > sell me the scanner getting roughly 12 MP file from 35 mm negative. Of > course 12 MP exceeds by some 3 MP maximal optical power of the sucker. > Still the 30x40 cm print was very good. Since at the moment my aim is > at most! 30x40 cm prints, I'd say it would be acceptable. > > My rough estimate would be that if it does not break down within a > year, it will return the investment... Then it could be replaced or > augmented with another device. > > Am I terribly wrong someplace in my reasoning? I haven't had my machine long enough to know if it will be long term reliable, I hope it will be. My understanding is that the unit scans at 2400 dpi maximum, and presuming that, I have been scanning film at that resolution, and getting 22mb or so files. I can see grain in the scans with faster film, so I must be getting a fairly sharp scan, The Epson has no way built in to keep the film flat, it wouldn't surprise me if perfect sharpness was an issue, but I have no complaints so far in that regard. I think your reasoning is pretty sound, even if you get a dedicated film scanner at some point, the 2450 is still a heck of a nice flatbed. William Robb
