35mm scanning

Lets get on with the business, 35mm is going to be the most popular film format for most users so I shall start with it. The F-3200 has two 35mm holders, the single multiple slide holder and the twin strip holder. Both are made to a very high standard and are very robust. The multiple holder is a complex looking device, and in use it seems to be unnecessarily over complicated. A mounted 35mm slide is held in position by two clips (see second picture below), inserting eight slides didn't take that long, unless of course you have a bunch of bananas for a hand, in which case it is a fidly job. This is the way that you scan 35mm slides if you want to scan directly to a memory card or for direct printing. Now this is the interesting bit, if you intend to scan via Photoshop or other application, then you have to put those slide covers on each slide, Why? I haven't a clue, it didn't make any difference to the scans whatsoever. I guarantee that users will lose one or more of them within a year.

35mm mounted slide holder	Each slide is held down by clips galore

The other odd thing about this holder is that every aperture has an individual glass backing plate, so watch out for dust and fingerprints, especially if you have a set of bananas on the end of your arm. Removing the slides was not so fidly, unless you used the slide covers and then it is. Talking of dust, there is a software dust removal in Epson Scan but no Digital ICE.

Just to get the ball rolling here are a couple of scans, the first was made using Scan to Memory card and the second was done at the same resolution (2400 dpi) in Photoshop.

The original 35mm slide at 2400 dpi a 21mb file
Scanned direct to card	Scanned via Photoshop (no USM)

The scan which was made direct to a memory card has had some unsharp masking applied (not by me) and therefore seems to be sharper, notice the slight white halo on the ropes. The image is also slightly contrasty giving it the appearance of being much sharper. I have included a sharpened version of the Photoshop scan, just to show you how much can be squeezed out of the image. I have used FocalBlade 1.03 to apply USM.

USM courtesy of FocalBlade 1.03	Scan made with Epson 4870 at 2400 dpi (no USM)
4870 scan with FocalBlade 1.03	F3200 - shadow detail

Looking at the results so far, the scan to memory card is OK for quick scanning without the user having to do much. In quality terms there isn't much between the F-3200 and the 4870 scanners.

I will publish more 35mm scans on Wednesday