Hi

I am planning to get a flat bed scanner to scan 4x5 and 8x10 transparencies. The reivews on Epson 1680 are good. I would like to hear some user's opinions. Among $1000 scanners, is it the best choice? Will it do a decent job for prints less than 16x20? Thanks

Tao

-- Tao Wu (twu@amth.nwu.edu), August 22, 2001

Answers

I have been using the 1680 Pro (the only model that ships with the TU included) for a few months now, and am very happy with its capabilities and its performance. I get crisp, clean scans of 4x5 film and transparencies. At 300dpi. file sizes range 17-32Mb. These have produced some very nice prints at 11x14. With good 35mm transparencies I have gotten very nice 2880dpi output in the 5x7-8x10 size on an Epson 1280 Stylus printer. I recently have begun scanning 8x10 transparencies (without film holders) utilizing the variable focus abilities of the scanner, with good results. One note: B&W negs scanned as positives, and then inverted in Photoshop produce the best densities.

I have used several lower priced scanners, and found that if you are serious about the output you get, this is the best product you can purchase, short of buying a scanner costing 5-10X this much.

-- Matt O. (mojo@moscow.com), August 22, 2001.