Epson 2400/2450 scanner

tadpole wrote on 12/14/2002, 12:50 PM
There have been some recent threads discussing slide/film scanners.
(of course, not a sonic product by i output my slide scans to vegas, so i think posting here is ok ;)

I have tons of 35mm slides i want scanned - so i picked up a backlit slide adapter for my HP 5400C - well, the quality is HORRIBLE.(fuzzy AND pixelation - zoom in 200% and it makes me gag its so bad)

Was thinking i was going to need to buy a hi-res dedicated film scanner(expensive) - but now i'm not so sure? Reviews i have Epson 2400/2450 scanner, plus other forum posts, are very impressive...

I would really like to know if the quality from 35mm slides scans on the Epson 2400/2450 are to my standards before i buy - that along with scan times.

If any one out there could comment on image quality from 35mm scans (at 300, 600, 2400dpi) and scan times i would really appreciate it - even better, if you could email me the output of a 35mm scan from your epson (wouldn't mind seeing an example from Nikon or other high end models!)
jmale2000@yahoo.com
thanks!

HEY - Here's an idea, wouldn't that be cool if Sofo set up a page where users could
post media examples (pics, some small vid files etc)??




Comments

Chienworks wrote on 12/14/2002, 7:04 PM
There are lots of people posting videos at http://www.vegasusers.com/ :)
williamconifer wrote on 12/15/2002, 2:22 AM
My wife and I use a 2450 and we love it. Be aware that the light in the lid is not the same powerful light that's used in dedicated film/slide scanners so the 2450 slow down the scan to make up for it. You can scan 4 slides at a time and the Epson twain software will recognize each image and save each as it's own file. Very nice. I usually scan photos for video at 300dpi but with slides or negs you need to go higher. I haven't personally scanned many slides but my wife does and I think she scans at 1200 dpi. I would recomend the 2450 highly. As a matter of fact Hasselblad (?spelling) had a promotion if you drop a small fortune on their medium format camera they will give you a Epson 2450 scanner and a 1280 printer. That is a killer combo.

My wife's side of the family is huge and they found out about her shift over to the digital side of photography. Now she is the family archivist. You should see the box of photos/slides/negatives she has to go through. So My advice is to scan privately. *chuckles*

jack
jerryd wrote on 12/15/2002, 7:38 AM
I have a 2450 which I love with Hamrick's VueScan for scanning prints for Vegas projects. However, I would not recommend it for slides unless you just have a few occassional ones- it is way too slow for production large volume or production work.
Caruso wrote on 12/15/2002, 4:55 PM
Tad:
You and I have bumped into each other on another thread. I think the 2450 goes for a little less than $400 at the superbox stores, the 2400 for around $250. The only difference I see between the two is that the 2450 comes with capability to handle larger film formats. Quality-wise, I believe they are identical.

I'm off to catch a plane tonight, but will be back by week's end and would be happy to upload a scan to you.

I scan negatives/slides at 2400 dpi, and am not bothered by the length of time it takes (haven't timed it, but, it I'd guess it's well under a minute per image). As I've said before, the quality is just fine, plenty good for enlarging to 8.5 x 11 using my Epson Stylus Photo 880 (and that's not the latest generation of Epson photo-capable dot matrix).

Unless you need to go to greater enlargements, I think you'll be happy with either of these scanners.

Let us know what you finally decide, and good luck.

Caruso
tadpole wrote on 12/15/2002, 8:59 PM
Exactly the info i was looking for!
Wow. i really like that 4 slides at a time feature

Think i'm going to go with the Epson instead of dedicated film scanner & save some
coin.

Anyone interested in buying an HP 5400C??!! comes with slide adapter :)
williamconifer wrote on 12/15/2002, 9:35 PM
Glad I could give back. I've been sucking up so much wisdom here I feel like a sponge. I do concur with jerryd regarding the speed of scanning negs or slides. This is not a high through put machine. Other than that it's great.

jack
nihil wrote on 12/15/2002, 10:56 PM
I have the 2450 scanner and like it a lot. I've been scanning 4x6 pics from our wedding for the last two weeks and love the quality. I've scanned some 35mm negatives on it and the quality is good but it is _not_ fast. Scanning negs @300 dpi took a while. I can't imagine how long at a higher dpi.

All in all a great all-purpose scanner, but you'll have to determine how much of your scanning will be slides/negs v. prints.

Jesse