twillsol wrote:
My friend is interested in purchasing a photo scanner. He is looking at the Epson V600 that cost $219.00. Does any one have any experience with this scanner or can you recommend a different one that you know is a good photo scanner? Thank You
Will
I've had great success with my V600. But, I've been even happier after editing the scanned files. I did a lot of research and found the following parameters that worked best for my needs, giving a resolution for medium-level editing in Lightroom. These won't make a lot of sense until someone has the equipment and gets started. Just print or cut-n-paste and email for use later.
Background: equipment - Epson V600I scanned about 1200 35mm negatives covering roughly 1984 to 2005. It was mostly just a mass-scanning operation and I did next to nothing to any of the resulting JPEGs until a few weeks ago when I started working on images from the late 80s college years as my university approached an NCAA bid (March 2020).
The GoodRefer to the parameters below and whether any are helpful to your operation. My scanning settings were based on analysis of the pixel size of the EOS XTi I was shooting at the time. I scanned to JPEGs at 3888x2592 for a file I just grabbed to check the details, a 10MP resolution. The pixel resolution is the key item. The example file I grabbed also stored as 6.7MB.
I imported the images into Lightroom where I can add keywords and work on the JPEGs with modern & powerful digital editing tools to the same level of detail as an image that would have come from a circa 2006 DSLR.
The BadThe single most annoying issue in the scanned files is the funky sharpening / image correction that is applied to images. As mentioned above, it's been 8-years between the mass-scan and now editing the results. I must have made an initial evaluation of the scanned files and wasn't very happy and deferred the problem. Although I made notes of my scanning settings, I don't have a specific memory of why I didn't edit the images.
I believe the 'funky' corrections is a result of using EPSON's Digital ICE that also made the scan 4-minutes per negative. With this ICE technology turned off, the scans averaged about 1-minute per negative and I was using the 4- to 6-negative scanning guide for 35mm negatives.
Another complaint is the JPEG files receive date-stamps from the scanning date. I've used two approaches to addressing the dates. In LR I can update the file's shooting date to an approximate date of the original image. It's not important to me to know the exact date, but I do want them to sort within the catalog to something representative of the actual shooting date rather than the 2012 (or 2020) scanning date. I also have a commercial tool 'EXIF Date Changer' that lets me batch-change the JPEG files in a more sophisticated manner than within LR.
The ProcessI'm not sure that I was using Lightroom back in 2012. Today, editing these scanned JPEGs in LR is quick process with a number of automations performed via LR Develop presets. I used the 'color restoration' = low and use LR to correct the color saturation and WB, much the same as I'd edit DSLR images.
For dust, use a Giotto Rocket Air and microfiber cloths to clean the negatives as best as possible before scanning. Also, pay close attention to the scanning guide and the alignment marks on the negatives so you get them facing the correct direction. Upside down is easy to fix later, but reversed images (lettering) is a bigger problem.
Check your scanner manual / software manual for the application of the settings below, including if there is 'professional mode' and / or a profile set-up you can use to default the settings rather than having to recreate for every scan.
Professional settingsfilm type - color negative
image type = 48-bit color
expand for fast scanning
resolution - 2400 dpi
doc size - 36 w 24 h mm
target - custom T50_35mm (w 3888 x h 2592 pixels) <- I picked this name for the Canon T50 that created nearly all the 35mm negatives
unsharp mask = y (1st suggestion below references setting this to N as the pictures will be grainy otherwise - need to test)
grain reduction = y
color restoration = y (low)
backligh correction = n
Dust removal = y / high
average scan processing 1 - minute / negative
when DIGITAL ICE = Y instead of dust removal = scan is 4 mins per negative
For each image preview - click exposure correction for each negative to be converted
SCANNING tips (apologies if any of these links are out of date, these are my notes from 2012)
http://www.reidmorrison.com/home-users/digitizing-film (tips on Epson v600)
http://x-equals.com/blog/film-to-digital-scanning-essentials-101-part-1-of-2/ (step by step for Epson on professional, recommends still other settings include some different ICE options)
http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/tech/scanning.php (pretty technical)
http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN/V600/V600.HTM (good write-up)