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Epson 3200 2450

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So has anyone had any experience scanning with the new Epson 3200 flatbed scanner? I'm aware that my friend Tony Sweet www.tonysweet.com has had great success using the 2450 it just seems that the new 3200 will be that much better and a solid low cost choice for scanning the XPAN format. The other route is to get a medium format scanner or get drum scans. Tony's experience is for stuff that can be printed off of the Epson 2200 the 2450 was fine. Interested in your thoughts.
 
Since February the new Epson Perfection 3200 is in the shelves in Europe. So far there a only little reviews to see on the internet.

Most users are interested to use this scanner as a cheap scanning alternative for Medium Format.
 
One intersting online review about the new scanner from Epson is at the following website.

At the same website, there is also a review about the new Canon 9900F, which seeems to be inferior to the 3200.

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Scanners/Epson%203200/page_1.htm

If you go over the main homepage of www.photo-i.co.uk it is kind of difficult to find that review. Click on the Epson 3200 picture and on the next screen at the buttom click on the word "Epson" or "Canon" depending on the review you want to read.

Sounds really like a great scanner, especially for Medium Format, but also not bad for 135!

Dirk
 
Hi all !

I've been waiting for they day when a dedicated XPAN forum would start. I hope that this forum will be a great community for us.

I bought my XPAN with the 45mm and the 90mm as a special price kit that Hasselblad is offering here in Sweden. It was a bargain! I got the kit for the same price as the body used to cost. Makes me wonder if there's a new XPAN on the way ?

I mostly use the 45mm lens which is a superb lens in my opinion. No visible distortion if I don't tilt the camera up/down. MY XPAN is used most for street photography, but as my big passion in life is car photography I'll use it to get a new "edge" on those pictures.

As I've only used digital SLR's for the past years I don't own any film scanner, something that's about to change in the next couple of weeks.

Do any of you have any special recommendations about a good scanner for the XPAN? I've looked at the Minolta III and the Epson 3200 scanners. Comments are welcomed.

Best of regards,
Karl
 
Karl:

I use the 2450 and no complaints. If you're looking at the 3200, I would get it!

Tony Sweet
 
Hi Karl,

I moved your question to the Scanner section in this forum: This will help others to find the same question easier und you will get hopefully faster an answer.

Regarding the Epson 3200 for the XPan, I would be intersted to hear more about your experiences with the XPan. Til now I heard only good reviews for the 3200 for Medium format, but not yet for Panorama or plain 135.

Dirk
 
Karl: I've seen Tony's stuff and the 2450 has done well by him. My guess is the 3200 will be that much better. Do follow the link posted about and I believe you will want to get the 3200. I would also suggest spending the xtra money for the Pro version that has the Full version of Silverfast a very worthwhile piece of scanning software. The pro version also comes with Monaco 2.5 profiler software worth $300 on it's own and very good too.
 
I think the Epson is the better choice for me since I don't have to modify the film holder for the XPAN slides.

I've heard that some other XPAN users use the Nikon Coolscanners with good result. But they have to file of some parts of the film holder and scan one image in two session. Then they'll use a stitching program to put the two scans into one.

One regard that I have of the 3200 is dust and fingerprints on the scanner bed. I'm also put of a bit by the size of a flatbed instead of a film scanner. My desktop is getting cr&ed ;)

No descions made yet, though the 3200 is the stronger candidate. I'll do some more research. I'll keep you informed about my progress.

Regards,
Karl
 
Regarding scanning xpan negs with a 35-mm film scanner. While it can be done in my experience it is a pain. I have used many of the Nikon scanners over the past 5 years and am very familiar with the software for ex&le saving color settings, curves etc. In my experience what happens is that the left and right side of the scan never match up regardless if you turn all auto density settings off. Now this is not anything that cannot be fixed in less that a few minutes in photoshop but I would rather get my balance and density where I want it and scan in one pass. The other problem I have with scanning in two sections is that there is always a slight tilt in the film holder. So when matching the left and right either the bottom or the top match perfectly but the other side is blurred. This is irritating for in the center of your amazingly sharp print there will be a little sliver of blurred pixels. So long story short, while it can be done, if you plan on producing many panoramic scans you may find it much more productive to use a scanner that scans the whole image. I will say though that all of my xpan scans thus far have been in 2 parts.
 
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