Just for everyone to be clear, the maximum real optical resolution that scanner can achieve is 1560ppi. This means a 6x6 frame (more like 56mmx56mm in reality) scanned in there can only contain roughly 12Mpx at best, usually less than that because of flatness and focusing variations. Anything beyond that is not real information acquired by the scanner. A better solution is needed if you want to get everything film can give you. I've scanned 6x7 Mamiya 7 frames up to 6700ppi (real optical ppi, meaning 270Mpx) and there's certainly a lot to be obtained beyond the 1560ppi the Epson can offer, but not 270Mpx for sure. Beyond something close 80Mpx, the benefits are mostly insignificant. I'd say 64Mpx is the practical limit for 6x6 with normal film and great lenses. Anything beyond that is not very useful unless you are using a film like CMS20II
@ClockBestEvent the autofocus was absolutely an issue for me. If you're shooting landscapes or controlled studio work at a slower pace it's fine, but in real life the autofocus is just unusable to me. Especially at the price. I ran my 50c for almost 9 months and couldn't deal with the AF anymore and sold it. Bought it back from the same person a year later because I missed the camera and then sold it again two months later because I grew frustrated with it again.
I appreciate the level of detail this series continues to go on this comparison. I agree fully that the film process just feels ... more fulfilling... with the one exception of cleaning dust and specs from 120 scans, which, no matter how much I blow, still require an extra 20 mins with the healing brush to realy polish. It's even worse when I camera scan them. But that aside, once dailed in, the scanned results just contain more dimension, more allure, than a crispy digital raw.
I have just posted a slightly more detailed explanation of your point above. The other point is that they are talking about a $20000 set up to scan a negative that was shot on a $2000 camera and $25.00 worth of film, where something with quarter of the MP would have been more than adequate. I feel that there is a great degree of confusion in the digital world as to what film is really all about!!!
Do you not have issues with Newtonian rings on the V600 scans when you place the film right on the scanning bed? I've actually been scanning my film with my GFX 100 and a Pentax 645 macro lens. I get significantly better results than my old V600 could ever do.
@@SamMcGhee you'll probably see it more with the emulsion side up (shiny side against the glass). Your Epson should have holders for scanning 120, they will hold the negative (somewhat) flat and slightly above the glass where the scanning head focus plane is set. Really serious people use the scanning adapters from better scanning where you can adjust the height and wet mount your negatives but I think that's a waste of time on the Epson v600. I wish Epson or Canon would release some new film scanning gear. The latest scanning tech is 10+ years old now. I started camera scanning a few years ago with a Sony A7R III and an old adapted Nikon macro. I use a negative holder called the essential film holder and a small cheap video light panel from Amazon. I hold the camera using a copy stand. Once I find focus and get everything setup I can "scan" and uncut roll of 120 or 35 in just a few minutes. Then I use Negative Lab Pro to convert the negatives to positives. Once you get a good workflow down the results are pretty awesome.
I have been shooting film of all types in all formats for nearly 55 years, and digital for nearly 23 years. I have done quite a bit of digitising of film using DSLRs like the Nikon D810 and mirrorless like the EM1 MKII in the high res mode ( 80 MP before some cropping ). An average high resolution B&W film like Ilford PanF or Kodak Tmax 100, shot with something like a Leica APO Summicron lens contains no more than 24 MP of usable data (detail in the film world for better world ) at max, if the photographer's technique was 100% spot on. A kodachrome 25 slide contains about 24~30 MP of real data. With a good 120 Colour negative film (Ektar 100) you are probably looking at about 50~60 MP of usable data. I am not at all a fan of taking digital photos of 4X5, 5X7 or god forbid 8X10 negatives using a digital camera of any sort. Here the basic Epson V7XX @ 2400 DPI will produce negatives of far superior fidelity, once the scatter due to the glass has been dealt with. I am not saying that if you have one of these very expensive MF digital cameras you shouldn't use them for digitising negatives, but in my experience there is absolutely no benefit in using a 100MP sensor to digitise a negatve that contains no more than 16 MP of data (detail recorded on average 35mm film like Ilford FP4 Plus ), or 30MP~40 MP of detail in the case of 120 format. One obvious benefit of using a digital camera to ' scan ' negatives is the the speed and the convinience once the set up has been optimised.
I couldnt agree more with you sam about having these boxes… favourite image but loving the process more on films, i scanned with SLR now which brought up better image quality than on my v600 but i love the latter for its simplicity still
Interesting for sure. I can only scan my 6x6 films/slides with a flat Epson scanner of an old generation and even so the file is huge. I wish I could do that with a digital camera but don't have an appropriate one. In comparison, considering it could be compare, the pictures I make with my Panasonic MT 16Mp digital camera, are sharper and the file is far smaller, I can blow bigger with more details. The sensor of the 907c is a 4x6 film back in size, I dare not imagine the result which should be fantastic.....the Graal ! With the 500 serie, you are always dependant of a not so well developped or exposed film. People nowdays speak of the "magic of film", I have done that for 60 Years, nothing magic here especially when I open just a small MT 16Mp file on my computer. It is some sort of fashion, neraly getting to "cult", to love film for whatever reasons, the very same way it is to love vinyl in the Hifi world.
I think millennials, Gen Z and now Gen Alpha desire something tangible. Film and vinyl are both exploding in popularity right now, and I am observing a hunger for physical things we can interact with IRL.
Have you ever, like, you know, PRINTED, those medium format negatives? They were never designed for LR they were designed for a big enlarger, a dark room and photographic paper.
Just for everyone to be clear, the maximum real optical resolution that scanner can achieve is 1560ppi. This means a 6x6 frame (more like 56mmx56mm in reality) scanned in there can only contain roughly 12Mpx at best, usually less than that because of flatness and focusing variations. Anything beyond that is not real information acquired by the scanner. A better solution is needed if you want to get everything film can give you. I've scanned 6x7 Mamiya 7 frames up to 6700ppi (real optical ppi, meaning 270Mpx) and there's certainly a lot to be obtained beyond the 1560ppi the Epson can offer, but not 270Mpx for sure. Beyond something close 80Mpx, the benefits are mostly insignificant. I'd say 64Mpx is the practical limit for 6x6 with normal film and great lenses. Anything beyond that is not very useful unless you are using a film like CMS20II
So nice that you're continuing the series, I'm between buying this and the 50c
The 50c is just as good. Honestly the same camera experience.
@SamMcGhee so the auto focus isn't an issue?
@ClockBestEvent the autofocus was absolutely an issue for me. If you're shooting landscapes or controlled studio work at a slower pace it's fine, but in real life the autofocus is just unusable to me. Especially at the price. I ran my 50c for almost 9 months and couldn't deal with the AF anymore and sold it. Bought it back from the same person a year later because I missed the camera and then sold it again two months later because I grew frustrated with it again.
I appreciate the level of detail this series continues to go on this comparison. I agree fully that the film process just feels ... more fulfilling... with the one exception of cleaning dust and specs from 120 scans, which, no matter how much I blow, still require an extra 20 mins with the healing brush to realy polish. It's even worse when I camera scan them. But that aside, once dailed in, the scanned results just contain more dimension, more allure, than a crispy digital raw.
Sometimes, you just gotta have that crispy crunch.
Film can be scanned with microscopic detail, but that does necessarily yield image information.
I have just posted a slightly more detailed explanation of your point above. The other point is that they are talking about a $20000 set up to scan a negative that was shot on a $2000 camera and $25.00 worth of film, where something with quarter of the MP would have been more than adequate. I feel that there is a great degree of confusion in the digital world as to what film is really all about!!!
You're scanning right on the glass? How are you avoiding newton rings?
I’m not. 🫣 I need to stop doing this.
Do you not have issues with Newtonian rings on the V600 scans when you place the film right on the scanning bed?
I've actually been scanning my film with my GFX 100 and a Pentax 645 macro lens. I get significantly better results than my old V600 could ever do.
I did notice one scan was suspect of those Newtonian rings. But for everything else, it’s been ok.
@@SamMcGhee you'll probably see it more with the emulsion side up (shiny side against the glass). Your Epson should have holders for scanning 120, they will hold the negative (somewhat) flat and slightly above the glass where the scanning head focus plane is set.
Really serious people use the scanning adapters from better scanning where you can adjust the height and wet mount your negatives but I think that's a waste of time on the Epson v600. I wish Epson or Canon would release some new film scanning gear. The latest scanning tech is 10+ years old now.
I started camera scanning a few years ago with a Sony A7R III and an old adapted Nikon macro. I use a negative holder called the essential film holder and a small cheap video light panel from Amazon. I hold the camera using a copy stand. Once I find focus and get everything setup I can "scan" and uncut roll of 120 or 35 in just a few minutes. Then I use Negative Lab Pro to convert the negatives to positives.
Once you get a good workflow down the results are pretty awesome.
Is it the same size as the 645 film if we can say film frame 645 medium format ? On the 100MP
I think it’s still a bit narrower than 645. It’s definitely not quite the same epic size.
The feelings of using these pinnacle film camera is hard to quantify. It transcends logic. You get it or you don't.
Fact.
I have been shooting film of all types in all formats for nearly 55 years, and digital for nearly 23 years. I have done quite a bit of digitising of film using DSLRs like the Nikon D810 and mirrorless like the EM1 MKII in the high res mode ( 80 MP before some cropping ). An average high resolution B&W film like Ilford PanF or Kodak Tmax 100, shot with something like a Leica APO Summicron lens contains no more than 24 MP of usable data (detail in the film world for better world ) at max, if the photographer's technique was 100% spot on. A kodachrome 25 slide contains about 24~30 MP of real data. With a good 120 Colour negative film (Ektar 100) you are probably looking at about 50~60 MP of usable data. I am not at all a fan of taking digital photos of 4X5, 5X7 or god forbid 8X10 negatives using a digital camera of any sort. Here the basic Epson V7XX @ 2400 DPI will produce negatives of far superior fidelity, once the scatter due to the glass has been dealt with. I am not saying that if you have one of these very expensive MF digital cameras you shouldn't use them for digitising negatives, but in my experience there is absolutely no benefit in using a 100MP sensor to digitise a negatve that contains no more than 16 MP of data (detail recorded on average 35mm film like Ilford FP4 Plus ), or 30MP~40 MP of detail in the case of 120 format. One obvious benefit of using a digital camera to ' scan ' negatives is the the speed and the convinience once the set up has been optimised.
I couldnt agree more with you sam about having these boxes… favourite image but loving the process more on films, i scanned with SLR now which brought up better image quality than on my v600 but i love the latter for its simplicity still
🤘🏻😍
Interesting for sure. I can only scan my 6x6 films/slides with a flat Epson scanner of an old generation and even so the file is huge. I wish I could do that with a digital camera but don't have an appropriate one. In comparison, considering it could be compare, the pictures I make with my Panasonic MT 16Mp digital camera, are sharper and the file is far smaller, I can blow bigger with more details. The sensor of the 907c is a 4x6 film back in size, I dare not imagine the result which should be fantastic.....the Graal ! With the 500 serie, you are always dependant of a not so well developped or exposed film. People nowdays speak of the "magic of film", I have done that for 60 Years, nothing magic here especially when I open just a small MT 16Mp file on my computer. It is some sort of fashion, neraly getting to "cult", to love film for whatever reasons, the very same way it is to love vinyl in the Hifi world.
I think millennials, Gen Z and now Gen Alpha desire something tangible. Film and vinyl are both exploding in popularity right now, and I am observing a hunger for physical things we can interact with IRL.
Have you ever, like, you know, PRINTED, those medium format negatives? They were never designed for LR they were designed for a big enlarger, a dark room and photographic paper.
I have spent plenty of time in the dark room. Not enough though. It’s a personal interest of mine to engage in that again.
Do you?!
a dream
Doesn’t have to be!