I'm interested in a flatbed scanner (under/around $1,000??)for making digital negatives for contact printing....My sense is there is something out there like the Epson 1200U, UMAX Powerlook 3000, etc.....Lookiing for wome solid advise.....

Thanks,

Bob Horowitz

-- Bob Horowitz (horowitz@uhs.umass.edu), February 21, 2000

Answers

Check out Epson's Perfection 1200Photo scanner.

Its transparency lid covers an area 5" x 4", and it comes with masks for 35mm and roll-film. Results from 35mm negatives were quite impressive considering the optical resolution is only 1200 x 2400. 120 and 5x4 should be even better.

Connection is USB only though, and only Win98 drivers are supplied :-(

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 22, 2000.

Just bought the UMAX Astra 4000U. About $500 with an 8.5x11 Transparency Adapter. Scans are 1200x2400 optical. It also supports USB for Win98 only - had USB ports but had to upgrade from Win95. No holders for negatives, you may be able to use the ones for the Epson (?)

SINGLE image scans from a 6x7 negative are pretty decent. I also have a Minolta Scan Multi so I can clip and compare the two for you if you like - let me know if you are interested.

The scanner software has one major problem from my perspective. I bought it to do contact sheets only, mostly of color negatives. Don't really need it for anything else.

The software WILL NOT allow you to turn off Auto Adjust in UTA (Negative) mode. As soon as you select ANY non-image area (for black borders, or contact sheets,) it automatically averages the orange base color to a medium-grey (blue) that is outside the range of the compensation controls.

I have been VERY frustrated with this. Have had a call and e-mail in to the help desk. For now I am doing marginal quality contacts using the UTA(Transmissive) (slide) mode, then correcting as best I can in Photoshop. Can't find any 3rd party software yet that supports it, including MagicScan, VueScan, SilverFast.

Epson 1600 looks interesting for $780+-. Look at the software before you buy, though SilverFast is offering a version for the Epson for $99.

Higher end UMAX scanners include MagicScan software, instead of VistaScan on the "consumer" scanners. MagicScan will also unoffically support UMAX consumer scanners that use SCSI, but I think these only go to 600x1200.

Sorry for the long post. Will post separately on the 4000U once I have more time with it - and an answer from tech support!

-- Michael T. Murphy (mmurph@ix.netcom.com), March 16, 2000.

that umax 4000 u is a real mess: its a powerlook III but with usb. silverfast and win2k is not supported, vuescan does not support it eighter, in no os. i cannot even find/download win2k special drivers at umax-site. it is eighter blocked or they want three $$. are they crazy? beside this umax has a worldwide driver chaos. its time to leave for microtek or epson. but be aware: in germany(or worldwide?) umax is responsible for artixscan and scanmaker!!!....

i have an other umax ps-2400x(powerlook I)my solution at the moment is a combination of magicscan 43 and paintshopro 8. uuh is that a combination. colorcorrection of colornegatives are easily made without a lot of experience. i can also load vuescan instead of magicscan. i have tried out a third umax 2400s with vista and magicscan. i had all kind of problems with features not working. maybe its due to that driverchaos not explaining exactly how to install.

-- michael przewrocki (europanorama@arcor.de), September 21, 2004.