Hey Guys !!!
Im new here but I used NLP since first version
Those my works scanned on Imacon or epson V850 ( sometimes Pakon) - https://www.instagram.com/karolgustavv/
Still searching best option for scanning my negs, Imacon is great but flexcolor is pain in the ass, NLP is not as good with 3f as with epson tiff or dslr raw. Epson is better because of soft ( NLP, Silverfast, Epson scan etc) but quality of flatbed scanner … ehhh I mean its ok for instagram and that’s all
More and more people are scanning negs on DSLR or mirrorless cams. Is there somebody who using Phase one IQ3 or similar 100mp back for scanning ? Is that good option to go with ? better than Imacon?
You need a lens to support it like a scanner lens and a rig that will keep things aligned. If you are willing to spend the right money the best scanning today is repro.
What is it that you are after? Resolution? Colour?
Let’s check resolution:
Fine grain film seems to be able to resolve 200 line pairs/mm - for high contrast (1:1000) objects.
This corresponds to a sensor with a 2.5µm pixel pitch - a full frame sensor with 140 million monochrome pixels. For pixel peeping in black&white, this would be it.
Looking at an image on a 4K TV screen, we need 4k pixels horizontally, something we can easily get from a >12M pixel camera. If you want to zoom in, get more pixels. If you want to look at mural size prints with your nose on the paper, start stitching or get an even more expensive camera instead. Phase One offers a 150M achromatic module and be prepared to shell out lots of money for lenses etc.
Reality check: Having 200lp/mm is a limit that most lenses and all other than the high resolution films will not be able to reproduce anyway. At 100 lp/mm, a full frame sensor with 35M pixels (or close to that) will do fine.
Let’s look at colour:
Now that we’ve bought that 150M achromatic back, what about colour? Check out this PoC.
Good lights and stability of the setup are a great help. Find lots of ideas in this forum.
My idea of “the best” setup is something that is built for camera scanning specifically. Something like this seems to be a good start. Add a bellows between the lens and negative carrier and we’re there. I’d prefer book type film carriers (like used in enlargers) to plastic strip holders.
