Epson 3200 review

The Epson Perfection 3200 scanner

Page 6.

pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Film scanning

I know a lot of readers have been impatiently waiting for these pages, you won't be disappointed either. I have been doing some exhaustive testing and I too have been surprised at the results.

I said earlier, the most appealing aspect of this scanner is its ability to perform very high resolution scans. But why do you need high resolution? The answer is simple, you are going to capture more detail from the film, of course there is a trade off. A 5x4 scan at 3200 dpi will produce a whopping file size of 527.25mb and a 35mm slide at the same resolution occupies 39mb, you will need a high specification computer with lots of RAM to work on these files. Perhaps for everyday printing needs this may be way over the top, but for the professional photographer and keen hobbyist it's going to give very high quality scans at a relatively small price. Changing the 5x4 scan resolution to 300 dpi produces a print size of 50 x 40 inches, changing the resolution on the 35mm scan produces a 10 x 15 inch print size. (do not confuse this with re sampling a image).

The hardware.

The Transparency Unit (TPU) is permanently attached to the scanner, a removable mat covers the 4 x 9 inch scanning area for normal document scanning , (actually it's 4.75 x 10.75 inches but I guess there must be an optimum scan area). The mat is a sturdy item with a white padded surface, this clips onto the actual TPU. For film scanning the mat must be removed.

Three film holders are supplied with the 3200, a 35mm strip holder which holds two strips of 6 negatives, a 35mm slide holder that holds 4 mounted slides and a joint 120 - 5x4 holder. The 120 aperture is 6x9, what a shame Epson couldn't have gone that extra distance to 6x12 for landscape photographers. The 120 holder will of course hold 6x45, 6x6, 6x7 and 6x9 images, although when placing a single 6x45 image there is a lot of spare white space which could cause some flare on the image. The 5x4 holder holds just one image. The construction of the film holders is of a very high standard and each kept the film flat. I was a little concerned about the 35mm strip holder, my negatives still tend to curl, but on closer inspection you can see there are a couple of clips to hold the film. On each of the film holders there is a raised clip, this avoids finger marks on the glass plate.


The scanning area on the TPU	Good attention to detail throughout.

Clips hold your 35mm strips	Use the left side if scanning one strip

One serious omission from the film holders is a strip holder for 120 roll film, I can imagine it would be a useful feature for wedding photographers to scan in an entire strip at a time.

The scanner is almost silent when scanning, the only indication that the scan is happening is a progress bar on the Epson interface. Scans times are very fast, a full resolution (3200 dpi) 35mm took 1 min 30 sec, the 6x7 took 4 min 35 sec. and the massive 5x4 (527 mb) scan took 5 min 10 sec.

a blue light indicates the TPU is in use for film scanning

The sample pictures are on the next page