Medium Format scanning

Medium and large format scanners are seriously expensive, but flatbed scanners with a film option may be just the solution if you are working to a budget. The Canon 9900F and Epson 3200/4870 scanners showed that these scanners could stand their ground when it comes to generating a medium large format quality scan. I have no doubt that the 9950F will follow suit. Lets give it a twirl.

The 9950F is supplied with two large format holders, the first is a holder that holds two strips of 120 film. This is ideal for those lucky people who have a 6x17 or 6x12 panorama camera and of course for those who want to preview an entire strip of film - albeit only two strips. The film holder has two clips at the end, this is to keep the film firmly locked. Along the sides are small raised notches, these prevent sideways movement of the film. A hinged clamp keeps the film in place, there is very little if any film curvature - the holder does its job well.

Previewing two strips of 6x45 transparencies produced eight thumbnail previews or two rows of four strips with a selection surrounding each frame. I am impressed that ScanGear has recognised the 6x45 film format. I will try other film formats later. One frame of 6x45 at 4800 dpi generates a file size of 227.93mb - slightly larger than I would want or even need. Reducing the resolution to 2400dpi will produce a file size of 57 mb - I will stick with this. The scan time for the 6x45 was 1 minute 41 seconds

6x45 format thumbnails	Two 120 strips with auto selections

Although now working on a reduced resolution (2400 dpi) the image quality is soft, but there is good retention of detail in the shadow areas - see the New scan samples. I have added a slight amount of USM to bring back the spark in the image sharpness. I would have preferred the scanner to deliver slightly sharper scans rather than a simulated sharpness using USM in Photoshop. However, for a flatbed scanner the quality is outstanding.

Full 6x45 frame - 57mb file
Original review Straight scan	Original review scan USM in Photoshop (200, 1.00, 2)
New scan	New scan with USM (100, 1.5, 0) in Photoshop

Medium format b/w

You may remember that on the 9900F review I was having problems getting a decent b/w scan. I had to scan the b/w negs in as a colour transparency and then convert to b/w in order to get a decent result (Page 8 of the 9900F review ) I shall try the same test with the 9950F and see if the ScanGear bug has been fixed.