Epson V350 Scanner

[Flysalot]

Finally made my decision.

I won an auction for an Epson 4870 on eBay. From what I've read on this site and others I reckon £156 is a good price. Only trouble is they say there is no software disc. I've downloaded the Epson Scan 3.0t from their website. With that and the SilverFast SE will I have all I need? I am relying on what I've heard that the Epson software is probably going to be all I'll use since I need it to be easy

[Epson downloads offer CopyFactory KeyOff (4.0) and EPSON Copy Factory Update (4.0) Do I need these? What are they for?]

[Kevgermany]

I can't remember what's what, but the scanner normally includes software to make it act as a photocopier, scan text directly into word. Also a copy of photoshop elements II was included on many, if not all machines. I have an original disk and can help you with the original software, if it's not available for download, however the most important is epson scan.

I think copy factory allows it to work as a photocopier and ABBYY fine reader was the OCR software.

Concentrate on Epson scan, the supplied version of Silverfast is a waste of time.

There are two shipping locks on the scanner, one on the left of the body and the other on the bottom of the lid.

Watch the installation - you need to install epson scan BEFORE connecting the scanner to the machine, if I remember correctly it installs partially, then asks you to cable the scanner and power on.

[Flysalot]

Thank you

You guys have been SOOOO helpful. Thank you again.

I take note of the information about shipping locks. I think I may spend my money on petrol and offer to collect it instead of having it sent by parcel force. That way I can be sure it travels safely.

I have printed the first part of the review of the 4870 so that I can check that I get all the slide and film holders too. I just hope I can buy those as spare parts from Epson if any are missing.

The seller mentioned Silverfast but didn't mention photoshop and said that the Epson disc was missing. I have already downloaded the Epson Scan I'll download the others in case they are useful.
I have some old CDs of ArcSoft software: PhotoImpression 3.0, Camera Suite 1.1 and Camera Suite 1.3. They came with a camera I think. Never used but would any of that be useful?

[Kevgermany]

There should be holders for
35mm film strips
35mm slides (mounted)
MF Film strips
4x5

and a white padded part that clips over the lid light for reflective scans.

Some holders are available from Doug Fisher, who posts here, Vincent reviewed a holder from him quite a while ago.

Get the seller to demo the reflective and film scanning if you can.

If you have copy factory installed and a fax set up as a printer, the scanner will scan to the fax.

I don't think the other software will be much use, but no harm in trying.

Latest epson scan for this machine has a couple of extra features over the reviewed version. Main one is one to adjust overall colour balance.

I don't think you need the epson cd, when I rebuilt my machine earlier this year I didn't use it, just installed the latest drivers from Epson, however I remember having problems and can't remember how I got around them.

[Flysalot]

Well, I have my Epson 4870. I am delighted with it and I've been playing around with Black & White negatives to start with.

I probably ought to start a new topic - now I need to know how to make best use of Epson Scan.

What is the 'target size' option for?

If I choose anything other than original it multiplies the file size by a factor of 10 or more and the increase in depth of the scan is visible but it has a 'softer' look. By choosing 1200 dpi, USM, backlight correction and target size original I get a serviceable picture with a file size only 100 to 200 KB. I tried increasing dpi to 2400 and it has more definition and still quite a small file size. If I increase the target size to 4x6 the file size is 1 MB or more.

What's it doing? Is the bigger file worth it?

Another question:
I know that digital ICE doesn't work on B&W (interesting effect though ) But shouldn't the Epson Dust removal do something? Doesn't seem to be doing anything to my negs.

[Kevgermany]

Target size - If you want to end up blowing the file size out of all proportion, get this wrong...

Target size woorks by specifiying physical dimensions AND dpi for the output. A 4x6 at 1200dpi is 4800x7200 pixels, way overkill, interpolated and then reduced by the image editor to fit on screen. Epson scan works out the scan dpi in the background & interpolates from there, so you have no control. 1200dpi is a little low for your scanner. Best bet is to set target to original, and the the dpi becomes both the output and scan dpi.

When I tested my 4870, I found 1200dpi OK for small prints only, 1600dpi much better and 2400dpi slightly better than 1600dpi. There was no improvement over 2400dpi. Max print size I'm confortable with is A4, although some images will go to A3 OK.

ICE works by doing an extra infra red scan, which picks up dirt & silver grains. The map of the dirt is then used to selectively blur out the dust & silver in the image.... Epson's dust removal doesn't use an IR scan, but a different technique (probably compares a blurred image to the original, and replaces areas with big differences with the blurred version - but the method's a guess). This can't be as effective as IR, hence your results.

[Flysalot]

Thanks
Experimenting and seeing what works is only good up to a point. I just needed someone to say 'this is what you do'. I am happy with the appearance and the file size of my B&W now. The dust is just going to have to be dealt with by constant cleaning and blowing air across all the surfaces.

I tried one colour negative and it looked good without any colour correction. The original was really dusty 'cos I was in a hurry, but at 2400dpi the digital ICE took out most of the marks and at 3200dpi they were all gone.

I think I read that 3200 dpi (48-bit) is the best I need to go to for colour negs, or is that positive transparencies? Like you I will never be printing larger than A4 and most would be for screen or a 6x4 print.

[Kevgermany]

Actually I print a lot larger than A4, but not from flatbed scans of 35mm.

I'd not realised that ICE became more effective as scanning resolution increased, must experiment.

On scsnning resolution I did a series of tests, scanning at different resolutions. Each scan was then resized up to 4800dpi. I then compared on screen at 1:1. I could see no advantge in going higher than 2400dpi, but I didn't have ICE switched on. It may be worth doing the same thing with a decent example rfom your main films to see if anything changes between films. Quality of originals is also an important point. I've folound that 35mm shots on good budget lenses were a lot poorer than ones shot with a decent lens & I'm cursing now that I didn't splash out on top lenses instead of believing the salesmen. Still it's only the odd shot that is worth printing bg, but it's annoying to see those old shots that are a bit soft.