I just bought a Epson 4870 as a backup for the Nikon 4000ED, it is very
nice, as some reviews said the resolution is close to some good 2700/2800
dpi film scanner. The ability to scan 24 frames of 35mm negative at once is
very nice too. The problem is the aggressive highlight cutoff, you need to
reset the highlight point for each negative before scan but it is a quick
dirty work. The digital ICE is extremely slow though (6 minutes at 2400dpi).
I have not try the Vuescan yet, the sharpness control in Epson scan is not
good but it is a rule like using DC, alway use the softest setting and do
the sharpen in PS. You can see the result in real time and do interactive
adjustment.
Talking about scanner, the 4000ED really has flare problem, I just took my
4000ED to Nikon the second time for cleaning. The first time cleaning gave
zero improvement, just don't know what they have done! I took the scanner
back with a high contrast slide (a moon photo) put it on their demo scanner,
close to the edges of the moon it gave around level 15 (out of 255) and my
scanner read around 25, the area further away shown level 0 to 1 for both
their demo and my scanner. For what I have seen there is not any flare on my
slide so it should read zero anywhere besides the moon itself. What more
interesting was at first I didn't "see" the flare on their 21 inch Hitachi
monitor, actually it was the setting problem, their monitor see a level of
25 as black!
The story has not end, my new 4870 seems has much less flare than the 4000ED
(with my other slides which also shown similar problem), I can't compare it
with the same slide as it is left to Nikon for checking the scanner.
C.H.Ling
----- Original Message -----
From: "Moose" <olymoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Earl Dunbar wrote:
>
>>Well yes, the expectations could be unrealistic, and I am especially
>>desirous of a scanner that does 4x5 (w/ 120 as an added bonus). I'll have
>>to follow this to see if Canon comes through.
>>
> The other current alternative is the Epson 4870, which will scan 2 4x5s
> at one pass. The review of the 4870 by the same reviewer was very
> positive <http://www.photo-i.co.uk/index.html>. He has bought one for
> his own use.
>
> In addition, he is working on a review of VueScan and had this to say in
> a post Friday:
>
> "I have since tried VueScan on the Epson 4870 and the difference is
> spectacular to say the least. Images which were soft using Epson Scan
> software now look terrific via VueScan. This may answer your question
> regarding sharpness. There is a trade off in scanning speed, but if it
> produces better scans then I don't mind waiting the extra minute here
> and there."
>
> Not trying to knock the 9950F or push the 4870. It's just that I'm going
> through the choice process too, and have been investigating alternatives.
>
> Moose
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