film scanner advice

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Black and White Photography: Digital Printing : One Thread

Hello

I would appreciate any advice regarding film scanners. I'm just entering the world of the digital darkroom (i.e. just starting to learn the lingo). I'm not a professional and therefore don't need the highest quality device. I'm considering the Olympus ES-10 parallel film scanner which has a maximum optical resolution of 1770 x 1770, and a max scanning area of 36 mm x 36 mm. It's got 24 bit color and 8 bit monochrome scan modes. It sells for about $325 at BUY.COM and comes with Photoshop Deluxe. My questions are:

1. Does anybody have experience with this scanner? I've heard it's slow but of high quality for the price. I don't do high volume work so speed is not an issue.

2. Are there any other worthy scanners in this price range?

3. Can I "burn and dodge" with Photoshop Deluxe or would I need to upgrade to Photoshop LE?

Thanks in advance for your comments.



-- Asher Schachter (schachter@a1.tch.harvard.edu), September 01, 1999

Answers

I was going to buy the ES-10 (in the UK), but was told it is now discontinued. Instead, I bought the Jenoptik JS21 for 250 UK pounds. 2400dpi, 36 bits, parallel port (or USB). It works fine for B&W. It came with Photoshop Deluxe, but I haven't loaded it. The TWAIN driver works, but is rather primitive: it doesn't have built-in settings for different colour films.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), September 22, 1999.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ