geekcop wrote:
I've used both a V800 and camera scanning. I've obtained good results from 35mm film from a V800. Most complain about the scans not being sharp enough. I got the best results using two steps of sharpening, once using USM in Silverfast and then a second pass using smart sharpen in Photoshop. To dial in the sharpness settings on both I've used the Vlads Calibration targets for 35mm film. For 120 film I've been pleased with my results not using USM in SIlverfast and just doing smart sharpen in Photoshop or LR after scanning. The key advantage of using camera scanning is speed of getting the shots in digital form. And yes it is a rabbit hole if you aren't careful.
I bought a Vlad's scanner target and found that it is nowhere near high enough resolution to use for high quality scans. That doesn't mean it is useless, but if you are trying to collect the highest possible performance out of a scanner, this isn't going to be the test target to use.
However, this may also be consistent with people using the Epson flatbed scanners for film smaller than 4x5, where the relatively poor resolution of these scanners limits them considerably. Since everyone has different needs from their images, a lot of the performance loss that these exhibit is possibly not noticeable to many users or they aren't aware that there are better options out there. Camera scanning is just about the only new option available, but the old Nikon CS 8000 and 9000 would easily beat the Epson scanners. Most of the old Imacon scanners will pretty easily as well. I've not seen the Plustek performance, so I don't know about that one, but I suspect it does as well.
My tests of older Epson scanners all topped out at about 2000-2200 lppm if I recall correctly, and my tests on the Nikon CS scanners were in the 4000 lppm range, so nearly 2x the resolution. The Nikons were nearly as good as drum scanners back then in terms of sharpness, but they still lacked on dynamic range compared to drum scanners..
Microtek used to make a flatbed that was a bit better than the Epson scanners, but they've been out of the US market for 15 or more years now, and even so, I don't think I'd be using them for 35mm or 120 film; they still lack resolution capability compared to a really well set up camera scanner setup.
If you are scanning to print 6x6 images, the Epson is going to be sufficient, but if the plan is to scan and enlarge considerably, I suggest you carefully do some scan trials before committing to that method because that wouldn't be the approach that I'd use for that application.
May 12, 2026 at 02:09 PM
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