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On 20/09/2012, Jerry Hartke wrote:

> My Epson Perfection V500 Photo scanner will do up to 12,800 bits per
> inch. Some of that may be interpolated. Using 24 bit color, your 1/8
> inch square image would generate a 4 MB scan, less when JPEG
> compressed. The scanner comes with a flatbed film holder. You can
> manually select the frame from the preview screen.
> 
> I would suggest that a scan with digital ICE could remove minute dust
> specks and scratches that other transfer methods would not.
> 
Well, I thought I had better do a real test before answering this.

The only 8mm film I could find was some kind of colour abstract thing,
but good enough for a test.

I scanned it at 12800 dpi (which includes interpolation) on the Epson
750.

I photographed it on a Sony NEX 5N using a 50mm lens mounted in reverse.
(This happened to be an EL-Nikkor enlarging lens, but any 50mm camera
lens would be much the same in this application.)

The result from the camera is greatly superior. The film grain is crisp
and clear, and the colours are vivid. There were two dust particles,
which took ten seconds to remove in Photoshop.

From the scanner, the grain is a mush, not resolved at all, and the
colour is much less vivid.


I continue to recommend using a camera for small originals, up to 35mm
slides. At this size it is perhaps 50:50 which you use, except for speed. 

Above 35mm, with current sensors on reasonably priced cameras (i.e. 
not Hasselblad or D800E), I would prefer the scanner. In a year or two,
as camera sensors continue to improve, they will be better for medium
format film, too.

(Note that a typical camera can also record an LP sleeve at 250 dpi.)

Regards
-- 
Don Cox
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