Epson 4990

Having now accepted that the scanner is by default set up to produce the sharpest results, lets take a quick look at how to scan in a range of images. Although the Epson film scanner is larger than the Canon 9950F, it still limits the amount of slides to eight, I'm sure Epson could have squeezed another strip of four in if they had tried.

Previewing a collection of eight transparencies in thumbnail mode took 1 minute 3 seconds. This produces a set of image previews which you can enlarge and further crop. The thumbnail mode automatically finds each frame, but can be be fooled by image content, see image No. 5 which is a vertical shot.

The other mode is Normal, this scans in the whole area and you just define a selection around the images you want. The Normal mode preview took 24 seconds, but you have to manually define each slide to be scanned. This is perhaps not as time consuming as you may think, if you arrange the images in the horizontal mode, define a selection around each image and then save your settings, you can reload this as a template for future scanning. Images can be zoomed in, but this adds an extra 26 seconds to each image that you want to view. I personally would use the normal mode for most scanning needs as the software doesn't pre - tidy the image for you (read crop the image).

Scanning in the statue at 4800dpi took 2 minutes 26 seconds and produced a 83.6mb file. I have just tried the same image, placed in the same position on the glass plate, on the Epson 4870 scanner. This took 2 minutes 11 seconds - hmmm.... This is not quite the 40% increase in speed that the release states. Whilst I have the two 83.mb scans open I might as well look to see if there is an improvement in image quality.


4990 detail	4870 detail

4990 with USM applied	4870 with USM applied

There isn't much difference in quality or sharpness between the two scans.

The image above was vertical image, I have just run a test on a horizontal image with the following result. 4990 scan time 1 minute 31:23 seconds, 4870 scan 2 minutes 06:95 seconds. Draw your own conclusions from this, but if I were selling a scanner then I would publish the faster figures. The 4990 is on the whole marginally faster in most cases, but not always. Again as I have both 87mb files open, I will look to see if one is noticeably sharper than the other.



4990 detail with USM applied	4870 detail with USM applied

Again looking at these two scans in greater detail, there is nothing between the two, but the 4990 is pulling slightly more detail out of the darker areas, this is due to the 4 Dmax, the difference is small though. The image above would produce a print size of 28 x 18 inches at 240 dpi, which at normal viewing distance would be more than sharp enough.

Comparing the 4990 to the Nikon 4000 a dedicated film scanner, is perhaps pushing the boat out a bit too far, nevertheless the 4990 proves it isn't a sinking ship either.



Epson 4990	Nikon Coolscan 4000

Epson with USM applied	Nikon with USM applied


Epson 4990	Nikon 4000 Coolscan

Looking at the above scans you can clearly see that the Nikon is ahead in sharpness, the Epson scans lack the resolution that a dedicated film scanner can offer. However, we are looking at very small sections of a scan. If printed, the print size would be 24 x 16 at 240dpi and you would probably not be aware of any difference. Of course the advantage the Epson has over the Nikon is that it can scan formats up to 10x8 and printed material, all at a fraction of the price.

Next, film strip scanning, b/w & col negatives, ICE on film. Larger format scanning will be on page 10