bgl Loc: Brooklyn,New York

After digitizing photos, slides and negatives over many years and various flatbed and dedicated film scanners, I still have over 2000 images to go. Prior to my purchase of a Perception 850 Pro last week, I was using a Canoscan 8800F which is a great scanner for a lot of things, but its Achilles Heel is slides, with the results being variable and inconsistent. After reading raves about the Epson scanners for years, I decided to spring for one. Their support is based in Manilla, and although no one was rude, after several calls and speaking to several techs, they don't seem to have much familiarity with the product, asking many times to wait while they are gathering info and I had to ask the same question several different ways, they didn't always catch on.

So if anyone can give me some assistance or insights, I will be greatly appreciative. First, I'm interested in learning what resolution to use for slides that may be printed for 8'' X 10" mounting.

Second, the unit comes with a holder for up to 12 35mm slides. Right now, I'm learning to use the Epson Scan application. Am I correct in assuming that although I'm scanning a batch of 12, each one is scanned separately so each one should be individually configured for things like backlight compensation, dust removal, grain correction, etc. Is that correct?

Third, the results so far, are impressive but I have much learn and experiment with. The file sizes I'm getting are surprisingly small, given my experiences with the CanoScan. The slides are mostly high speed Kodachrome.

Thanks in advance for feedback.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Are you, by chance, referring to the Epson Perfection series?

There are a great deal of youtube videos on scanning and settings to use.
--Bob

Bill_de Loc: US

Have you read the manual. Page 88 of the online manuals has a number of links below the title:

[b]Solving Scanned Image Quality Problems[/b]

It is probably the same manual they have in Manilla.

--

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

RESOLUTION is irrelevant. PIXEL DIMENSIONS are the ONLY thing that is relevant.

For an 8x10, you need at least 240 original, created-in-the-scanner-or-in-the-camera pixels per linear inch. 250 is a common lab standard, and graphic arts industry editors and designers prefer 300, so they can upscale it.

Scanners scan in dpi, because they are referring to the number of "dots" or "samples per linear inch" of the original. If you set the scanner software for 300 dpi at 8x12 inches (uncropped), you will get a 2400x3600 pixel file, which is plenty for an 8x10. However, if you think you may want a larger print from that image, you may wish to scan a considerably greater set of pixel dimensions (3000x4500 or 4000x6000).

DOTS have dimensions. PIXELS have brightness values. The scanner creates pixels from dots. You can enlarge or reduce the image (make the dots larger or smaller) when you print the file.

Yes, if you have 12 slides, you can crop each differently, and apply different scan settings to each. When you finally hit the Scan button, the software will create 12 individually cropped and adjusted files.

You may find that the Digital ICE and other color restoration features of the scanner work best with black-and-white film, color negative film, and all color slides EXCEPT Kodachrome. However, you may get decent results by turning Kodachrome slides emulsion up (base down on the scanner glass) and scanning them, then flopping them in software. EKTACHROME, Fujichrome, Agfachrome, Anscochrome, etc. can be scanned in the normal manner.

Color balance will vary according to the film. You may have to adjust images in post-processing to correct errors. If you can scan to a 16-bits per channel file, do it.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I have an Epson V500 Photo Scanner (not nearly adequate for my needs really; need a much higher end V700+ or higher model). Anyway the files I get are hardly small! They often if I go too high with the resolution to sizes well beyond my cameras Raw and take up to 30 minutes to scan. What settings are you trying to use that give small files? Are you saving as TIFF? We all on the UHH will need full details to advice you.

bgl Loc: Brooklyn,New York

Thanks for responding.

The scanner is an Epson Perception V850 Pro. So far I've only processed 35mm slides. Initially, I used the default 300 dpi setting and the file sizes were less than an mb. I worked my way up to 2400 dpi for the latest batch and the file sizes are between 3 and 4 mb. I want to be able to go to a 8 1/2 X 11 borderless print. A good many of the slides are 40 to 50 years old. All are stored in the once ubiquitous Kodak circular slide trays. I'm using Digital Ice on all, color restoration on many, occasionally backlight compensation and the default sharpening. I'm not complaining about the results but I am curious about the file size as the file sizes on my Canon 8800F scanner were much larger at 600 dpi with inferior results. It wouldn't surprise me if my old brain has forgotten some setting that explains it all. All the images are saved as jpegs (highest quality). (maybe I should re-check that setting)

bgl Loc: Brooklyn,New York

Thanks for the suggestion Bob. The scanner is a Perfection V850 Pro.

bgl Loc: Brooklyn,New York

Thank you for the information. I guess my question can be framed as follows: If I'm scanning a color 35mm slide, what is the dpi setting to make a 8 1/2 X 11' borderless print. This scanner's default setting was 24_bits. It can go to 48_bits but it isn't recommended (can't remember their explanation off hand).

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

24 bits = 8 bits per color channel.
48 bits = 16 bits per color channel.

The dpi setting on your scanner, multiplied by each scanner OUTPUT dimension, gives you the file size you need in pixels.

If your PRINTER or LAB needs a specific printer INPUT resolution, expressed as the number of pixels that will be reproduced in each linear inch of printer output (regardless of the printer’s actual resolution), then you multiply that by each print dimension to get the minimum size you should scan.

Example: My lab wants at least 250 original pixels from my scanner or camera for every inch of the print width and height. If they are printing an 8.5x11, I create a file at least 2125 by 2750 pixels (which is 8.5 x 250 by 11 x 250...). In practice, I set the scanner to enlarge the original to 8.5 x 11 inches at 250 to 300 dpi.