Everything and the Pool Sink
October 02, 2007
A warm and dirty scan.
I’ve been using a new scanner to digitize my recent rash of 35mm shooting, the prosumer Epson 4990 model. I bought it refurbished from the Epson online store, mainly because I had trouble spending a lot of money on a brand new yet fairly boring peripheral. So far, I’ve been happy with the performance and scan quality. It maxes out at 4,800 dpi, has connectivity via USB 2.0 or Firewire, support for different negative sizes and Digital ICE.
Digital ICE
Digital ICE is a scanning technology that helps clean up your negatives when converting them into the digital files that end up on your computer. It erases common dust specs and scratches, especially prevalent in those old negatives you have boxed up in your closet. This is an essential tool for negative scanning. Having a clean scan really helps minimize touch-up time in Photoshop, and works effectively to remove the blemishes you see on your prescan preview. However, you do pay a price of some retouching time one way or another. Scanning with Digital ICE greatly increases the time of your scans. I scanned this shot at 2,400 dpi over a Firewire connection, it generated a 24.1 mb file and took about 20 minutes. Wowzers. Now partially to blame may be the slow processing of my soon-to-be-replaced / going-on-4-years-old Powerbook, but in any case, make sure you’re not in a hurry when icing your negatives. I’m still learning the ins and outs of the software and scanner, so maybe there are ways to slim down that scan time.
The Epson V500
Thinking of getting a new scanner that can handle film too, but not reading to drop a ton of loot on a CoolScan? Take a look at the Epson V500. Wonderfully timed, it was announced shortly after I picked up my 4990. The V500 features ReadyScan LED technology, 6,400 dpi and a very attractive $250 price point. That’s new, not refurbished. D’oh!