Flatbed scanner for large format negs and prints

[mtomalty]

Obviously not a DB question but figured the experience  has to be here for someone to answer this.

I have a photographer friend who is quoting on a job to scan a 2000 8x10 black and white neg archive in addition to
over 4000 8x10 prints and needs a quality scanner recommendation.
Margins are tight so budget is a major concern.

Any suggestions regarding a current,quality flatbed or refurb'd 'vintage scanner would be appreciated.
Budget will probably max out around $5K

Thanks

Mark

[Kirk Gittings]

You might ask this question on the LargeFormat Forum where there are lots of 8x10 shooters scanning their film. LFF

What kind of quality is he seeking? IE for what purpose are the scans?

[feppe]

Obviously not a DB question but figured the experience  has to be here for someone to answer this.

I have a photographer friend who is quoting on a job to scan a 2000 8x10 black and white neg archive in addition to
over 4000 8x10 prints and needs a quality scanner recommendation.
Margins are tight so budget is a major concern.

Any suggestions regarding a current,quality flatbed or refurb'd 'vintage scanner would be appreciated.
Budget will probably max out around $5K

Thanks

Mark

Holy crap, that's a lot of scanning. I don't do 8x10", but I'm guessing my Epson V700 takes more than a minute even at low resolutions to scan one. 6000 scans x 1 minute = 6000 minutes = 12.5 workdays (8 hours, no breaks), at least.

There's probably a 8x10 sheet feeder for some scanners, but am not aware of any photo scanners that do. If no one here knows, ask the same question on the forums at largeformatphotography.info - if there is such a contraption, they will know.

Heh, Kirk beat me to it

[Jonathan Ratzlaff]

For scanning the prints, probably most flatbed scanners should do the trick.  Hard to get better than 600dpi resolution on a print without scanning the paper structure and having it interfere with the emulsion.  The dynamic range of the print is limited and well within the range of most flatbed scanners.  The issue with the negatives are a bit more tricky.  The EPSON Perfection V750-M Pro may be a solution considering that you can wet mount negatives to it and it does support an 8x10 transparency.  Negative film generally has a lower Dmax than does transparency film, so it may serve the purpose.  Still 2000 negatives are going to be pretty time consuming especially if they are wet mounted. 

[BobDavid]

Backlight the negatives, rent a multi-shot camera, and put it on a copystand. That is the fastest workflow solution I can think of.

[mtomalty]

"What kind of quality is he seeking? IE for what purpose are the scans?"

From what I can understand,this is a collection of historical negs and prints.
Originals will be archived,permanently, and the scans will be used for reproduction needs moving forward.

I'm going to assume that the majority of uses will be print publications with a small number of images,perhaps, being
used for museum type displays so, by and large, small reproduction sizes


Mark

[feppe]

For scanning the prints, probably most flatbed scanners should do the trick.  Hard to get better than 600dpi resolution on a print without scanning the paper structure and having it interfere with the emulsion.  The dynamic range of the print is limited and well within the range of most flatbed scanners.  The issue with the negatives are a bit more tricky.  The EPSON Perfection V750-M Pro may be a solution considering that you can wet mount negatives to it and it does support an 8x10 transparency.  Negative film generally has a lower Dmax than does transparency film, so it may serve the purpose.  Still 2000 negatives are going to be pretty time consuming especially if they are wet mounted.  

You didn't just seriously recommend fluid mounting 2000 negs? 8x10" negs. On a flatbed. You, sir, are cruel

Bob's idea about shooting them with a digital camera is actually not a bad one. It's very fast, and might yield enough IQ for some print publication needs. He can always properly scan the best shots.

[vandevanterSH]

This is one of the better sites for scanner reviews. 

http://www.filmscanner.info/en/EpsonPerfectionV750Pro.html

Steve

[Kirk Gittings]

This is one of the better sites for scanner reviews. 

http://www.filmscanner.info/en/EpsonPerfectionV750Pro.html

Steve

I would consider this a review of low end flatbed scanners. The 750, which I own, has a true optical resolution of about 2400 (regardless of the manufactures claims). This may be sufficient for his purposes when scanning from 8x10. Beyond that I'm am not sure what is left of the high-end Creo, Scitec etc. scanners which can run 30K new.

Again the LargeFormat Forum has allot of people with tremendous expertise in this area.

[vandevanterSH]

I haven't researched the "high end" flat bed recently but I think that they are a dying (dead?) breed and certainly, if still available new, are well outside the OP's budget.

Steve

[Kirk Gittings]

Genesis is a good source for refurbished high end flatbeds. I have bought refurbished flatbed scanners from them and had good experiences.

[mtomalty]

Thanks everyone.
You've provided enough base info and good links to get my friend rolling.

I suggested he look into finding something used in,perhaps, the Creo family

Best,
Mark

[LiamStrain]

For anything over 4x5 we were big fans of the Fuji C550 Lanovia (same as the Agfa XY-15) - it was a bit of a beast, but performed well, and was a faster scanner than the Creo/Scitex (model unknown) that it replaced.

Whether you can find up to date drivers for these is a bit of a crapshoot tho. If Creo is still making new big flatbeds, and supporting them - that's probably the way to go.

[stretchdcanvas]

I've been using an Eversmart Pro for over 12 years.  It's a workhorse.
Wouldn't trade it for the world.

[yaya]

For anything over 4x5 we were big fans of the Fuji C550 Lanovia (same as the Agfa XY-15) - it was a bit of a beast, but performed well, and was a faster scanner than the Creo/Scitex (model unknown) that it replaced.

Whether you can find up to date drivers for these is a bit of a crapshoot tho. If Creo is still making new big flatbeds, and supporting them - that's probably the way to go.

Kodak seized production of the Creo scanners more than 2 years ago but there are quite a few dealers who carry refurbs/ 2nd hand ones and who can service them.
As they are A3 they'll scan 2 10x8's at a time

A cheaper/ simpler option is the Epson 10000 (also A3) with Silverfast software

Yair

[ced]

Go down the photographic route, it is faster and just as good and there are many, many archival experts that are using this method for museums, state and local archives around the world.   There have been a few standards set up by which the image quality can be predicted and controlled and have become widely accepted.