Help with Epson v700 scanned images...

[anerjee]

Is it possible to use the complete surface of a flatbed like the v600 or v700, or are you required to use only the film holders provided (12 for v600 and 18 for v700)?

in other words, is it possible to lay the film directly against the glass surface and scan?

 

[pikapig]

I actually thought de softness of de film is quite nice..
Wat lens r u using? Could it be because of the lens?x

 

[enivre]

Is it possible to use the complete surface of a flatbed like the v600 or v700, or are you required to use only the film holders provided (12 for v600 and 18 for v700)?

in other words, is it possible to lay the film directly against the glass surface and scan?

No that is not possible as the scanner actually scans at a certain distance away from the glass. As such if your negative is directly on the glass it will be completely scanned out of focus.

 

[lkkang]

I am a V700 user too. The scanner can definitely do better than this...

what film is that ? expired ?
which camera and lens were you using?
what software are you using to scan and what are the parameters ?

Billy.

 

[brillantblend]

Cougar159, try toggle the color restoration.

 

[Cougar159]

I am using Provia and Velvia. You mean to say expired film can cause soft focus? My film is not expired.

My camera set up is Leica MP + 50mm Lux Asph.

I scan with Epson scan only. All parameters are default.

I just realized the auto exposure of the scanner is on and it gives rise to the yellow tinge. When I switch it off, the scans become underexposed.

But focus remains soft. All the 'feet' of the 35mm film holder is pointing at 0.

 

[chiif]

Does this look better?

There is nothing wrong with the scanning software and the holders. Your image looks sharp and in focus to me. What you need to understand is the scanning process and workflow.

1. First of all, you need to know that scanners are dumb. There is no way that the scanner can scan and tell what colour is what and what is black and what is white. All the processing is done via software. If you never run the image through software or workflow, your images will basically look like uncooked meat... very raw and unprocessed. Even using the best negatives and slides, it will still not give you acceptable colours.

2. All negatives come with a certain colour tinge. Some are a little yellow, some red, some green and some purple. The scanner has no way to tell what tinge it is. Only we can tell. And it takes a trained eye to tell. That is why, there is something call profile. Vuescan and Silverfast have profiles that you can download or buy (I think) that can correct this tinge problem. I never bothered with all these. If you want to go to that detail, the best person to ask is Nero. I think he has experimented with quite a number of Silverfast profiles, and he can tell you what work best.

3. All I did was to use "Auto Colour" to correct the tinge problem. Most of the time it works well. It's like correcting the white-balance. After a while, you will know what kind of negatives produces what kind of tinge.

4. As for sharpness, please do not expect too much from a small piece of negatives. At 36mmx24mm, scanning at 2400dpi, do not compare with the 18 mega-pixel M9. First of all, ask yourself at what resolution you want to present your images. If you just want to show on iPad or flickr, scanning at 2400dpi is good enough. You can then sharpen your image using LR or Photoshop. There is no hard and fast rule or best software to do it. My rule is, as long as it looks nice, any software is good enough.

5. It's very hard to list down all the steps here. And there is no one step to achieve the desired result. It's like learning how to play guitar and piano. The best way to learn is to play & play & play, practice & practice & practice...

6. Just continue to shoot, process and tweak... There is no such thing as a "raw scan looks best". Any media converted from analog to digital, need to go through some form of manipulation. Same as converting analog LP to digital format, there needs to be some form of manipulation to "massage" sound to make it more pleasant.

Hope that helps....

 

[kgston]

comparatively, digital will always be sharper than film. cannot expect LR to sharpen film as much as it can for digital.

That is not true.. sharp or not, depends on the lens. Whether film or digital can resolve more data, depends on the resolving power of the sensor/film in question. From my knowledge, digital still cannot fight the resolving power of slides. Many have the misconception that film is not sharp; but that is only because the last link, which is the scanner is not doing the images justice. Take note that resolution != resolving power.

I am using Provia and Velvia.
I just realized the auto exposure of the scanner is on and it gives rise to the yellow tinge. When I switch it off, the scans become underexposed.

You should keep the auto exposure on and create a preset in LR to correct the yellow tinge. The yellow tinge is because your scanner is not calibrated. If you want 100% accurate colours from your slides you need to buy IT8 targets and generate ICC profiles for application onto the images. If you are doing this for hobby, probably the former is a simpler solution. The yellow tinge should be a consistent thing so a fixed preset should do fine.

I used the V700 before and I also faced the same issues that you are talking about.. It is definitely inherent in the scanner design.

 

[lkkang]

expired film will only affect the color, nothing to do with focusing , sharp or not sharp... the color will fade or run away.
as mentioned by others in this thread, this scanner is just a scanner, it only does sampling of the color and digitize it ... that's all it does.

You have to tell or control the scanner to match the parameter of this film.

some shots taken 2 weeks ago...

Tungsten light

Florescent light

Day light

I am using Provia and Velvia. You mean to say expired film can cause soft focus? My film is not expired.

My camera set up is Leica MP + 50mm Lux Asph.

I scan with Epson scan only. All parameters are default.

I just realized the auto exposure of the scanner is on and it gives rise to the yellow tinge. When I switch it off, the scans become underexposed.

But focus remains soft. All the 'feet' of the 35mm film holder is pointing at 0.

 

[giantcanopy]

yep. Bought at Commex. Very cheap. 788 only. But apparently they only have sets left. I took the second last set. From the Epson Booth at level 4.

There are at least 3 more sets today at the Epson booth. 30 dollar ntuc voucher. In case anyone else interested

 

[trippingthelight]

If you want to shoot film invest in a dedicated 35mm film scanner and not the EPSON V700. I have V500 and a Canoscan FS4000US (which I bought from eBay at about US$300). The Canoscan FS4000 can can at 4000dpi and it can make a really nice picture when I shoot Velvia or even Ilford. I use the EPSON V500 mainly for panoram film pictures that I shoot with my Hasselbald Xpan. I use Silverfast with my EPSON V500 and Vuescan with the Canoscan FS4000.

You need to spend sometime experimenting with all the controls of the software and different film types. If you shoot Kodak, there are issues you cannot see if you shoot with Velvia. The learning curve of scanning film is pretty long but if you spend time at it you will be proficient enough to scan good pictures in about 3-6 months with the software.

You can buy very cheap 35mm dedicated film scanners on eBay. One word of caution, there are no more technical support for some of these wonderful scanners. And if you can get your hand on a Minolta Dimage scan 5400 I or II, go for it. It is a damn good scanner. Google this product and you will know. Can scan at true 5400dpi not the assume dpi of faltbed and other type of scanners like Plustek when they say 7600dpi but actual is about 3500dpi.

The reason I got the V500 is because of scanning panoramic film. The other scanner that can do this and dedicated 35mm is the Nikon Coolscan 9000, which cost and arm and a leg! But if you got the dough, go for it. Damn good scanner!

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Hmmmmm

Not exactly a V700 question but a general one.

Just curious for you guys using dedicated scanners, how do you prevent fungus from forming in the scanner? Considering it is a closed system, quite hard to actually self clean.


My personal experience got a Canon 8800F for almost 3 years, earlier this year, I started to see spots of fungus forming on the inside of the flat bed glass. Had to remove the screws, lift up the flat bed & clean them off as they were showing up on my scans.

Systems like Flextight, Coolscan etc. are all closed & a normal layman like myself would have no clue to open it up to clean up the fungus.

How do you prevent fungus? Aircon 24/7 or de-humidfyer in the room? My scanner scans at least 3-4 rolls of film every weekend.

 

[anerjee]

Fungus requires two things to grow: moisture and dark. Take either of these away and you'll be ok. One of the best ways to protect your gear is to use it -- expose it to light.

 

[sweat100]

Hmmmmm

Not exactly a V700 question but a general one.

Just curious for you guys using dedicated scanners, how do you prevent fungus from forming in the scanner? Considering it is a closed system, quite hard to actually self clean.

My personal experience got a Canon 8800F for almost 3 years, earlier this year, I started to see spots of fungus forming on the inside of the flat bed glass. Had to remove the screws, lift up the flat bed & clean them off as they were showing up on my scans.

Systems like Flextight, Coolscan etc. are all closed & a normal layman like myself would have no clue to open it up to clean up the fungus.

How do you prevent fungus? Aircon 24/7 or de-humidfyer in the room? My scanner scans at least 3-4 rolls of film every weekend.

In the past when I was using dedicated scanner, I keep the sccanner back in the dry cabinet after use. It may seem difficult, but I guess this is the way around SG's huumid weather. I read that someone bought a big dry cabinet to keep coolscan 9000 when not using.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Fungus requires two things to grow: moisture and dark. Take either of these away and you'll be ok. One of the best ways to protect your gear is to use it -- expose it to light.

Er, its not exactly a lens & it would really be exposed to light?

cant put your scanner under the sun?

I've been using mine pretty heavy but still fungus is formed. If it can be formed on flat bed after 3 years, I wonder what will really happen to the close system dedicated scanners.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

In the past when I was using dedicated scanner, I keep the sccanner back in the dry cabinet after use. It may seem difficult, but I guess this is the way around SG's huumid weather. I read that someone bought a big dry cabinet to keep coolscan 9000 when not using.

woah bro, you must have one big dry cabinet for it man!

Hmmmmm.... SIN's humidity is really a pain

 

[ZShutter]

I got a glass merchant to cut 2 pieces of glass to put over my films to ensure they are perfectly flat.

Bro, can I have the contact of this glass merchant? I wanna get some too

 

[Cougar159]

Can I know what scanning software you guys use?

Vuescan good?

 

[Poseidon88]

I am a V700 user too.
here are some examples of what the V700 can...!
(many of my photos in the CLUBsnab Photo Gallerie I've scanned with the V700.

Software: Epson and Silverfast
(but mostly I use the "easy" epson software)

neg. film

slide (dia)

B&W film

slide film (Velvia)


slide film

...

my tip for you : practise....practise...practise !!

 

[sharps]

Is this scanner suitable for slides?
Thanks in advance