Although there are many scanners for 35mm there doesn't seem to be much choice for medium format. I have thousands of images in 6x6, 6x7 & 6x9cm and would like to be able to scan many of them.

What I don't understand is how it is possible for a scanner like the HP Photosmart S20 to be able to scan prints up to 5x7, but only 35mm film images.

I would welcome recommendations for scanners that can handle medium format.

Peter Brown

-- Peter Brown (peter.brown@pmail.net), July 06, 2000

Answers

the area of the 35mm scan is only of the 35mm frame only... there is a different optical scan in the middle slot for the slides/negs.... the 5x7 is of a different scan system i believe... if you need something that can scan medium format, minolta does make one which will scan those negs... if not try some of the flatbeds like those duoscans from agfa... they have special attachemnts for transparency and some of their scanners go up to 2500ppi...

-- Keat Lim (keatlim@my-deja.com), July 06, 2000.

Get a demo of Epsons "Perfection 1200 photo". For the money it gives brilliant results with medium format and 5x4. If you don't fancy the USB interface (who would?) you can buy the bare scanner as the Perfection 1200 S, (for SCSI) and get the tranny adapter seperately. Unfortunately this costs quite a bit more. Agfa's highest res scanner is only 1250 ppi optical, and the price is much higher.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), July 07, 2000.

I guess it depends upon your needs and exactly how critical you might be. The Epson 1200 is a low end alternative for medium format scanning. The Epson 1600 is a much better choice, as is the UMAX 1100. To get respectable results on medium format you'll have to spend the money and get a quality scanner. The 1200dpi of the UMAX is way better than the 1200dpi of the Epson 1200U. The Epson 1600 and Umax 1100 (Powerlook) both have superior optics and much better transparency adapters than the 1200U. Personally, I think there is no sense in buy a low priced scanner to scan medium format film, you might as well sell the medium format camera and shooting APS. I sell scanners and actually meet photographers who use products like the UMAX 2200. What? why not use a disposable camera if thats your input method?, don't tell me about your 300mm f2.8 $2000 lenses if your going to scan those pristine images on a $170 bomb. I'm not saying thats what your trying to do, its just that please do your good equipment justice by scanning your work with some quality hardware.

-- Cris Daniels (danfla@gte.net), July 07, 2000.