Has anybody heard any new info regarding the release of the New Epson 3200 scanner ( the replacement for the 2450 ) I hought I heard that it was due out in March but I have not seen any info on it recently

It should be out late this month...according to this (http://www.businesswire.com/webbox/bw.010703/230070399.htm)

...and it's actually 2 scanners- the 3200 and 3200Pro. The only difference between the two that I can determine is in the software bundle.

That comes as a surprise the 3200 has been on release for a while here although haven't seen mention of the Pro version Greg.

Greg:

thanks for the scoop I will be looking for it. I hope it is no another long delayed case of vapor ware.

KTM

Follow-on info: I found a 3200 at B&H for 379. Quickly ordered one and expect delivery by Friday. Hope to post some feedback shortly after that

COLONELFLAG How's the 3200 scanner working
Neal

I just got my 3200 a few days ago. Setup was a breeze, although I had to go to the Epson website to dl the PDF file with the user manual for some reason. It comes with a poster with excellent illustrations for every step of installation. I also bought a USB 2 card and got the Pro version of the scanner, so I have too many toys right now.

I'll give an in-depth look soon, but right now the main thing that impresses me is the speed. Granted, my old scanner was probably the slowest used by any regular here, but it's so cool to have a full-bed preview pop up less than two seconds after hitting the preview button :)

The Epson scan software is excellent, and at this early point I prefer it to the Silverfast, simply because I can use it and the Silverfast has so many options I'll need to go through the included video tutorials to digest them all.

I'll also be using it to scan 35mm slides, but that will probably be a couple of weeks away.

Feel free to ask specific questions in the meantime, I'll answer them if I can.

The Pro version comes with Lasersoft Silverfast AI 6 ($119) and Monaco EZ Color 2 ($299). The most expensive thing, however, is the IT-8 calibration targets that come with the Monaco software. Both reflective and transmissive are included ($99-$149 separately, but included when you buy the Monaco package for $299). Pricing them all separately, buying the Pro version saves over $200.

The good news is that the Monaco package is highly-regarded and the IT-8 targets should also be usable to calibrate the Silverfast software. The downside is that all IT-8 targets fade over time, so once you start you'll have an ongoing annual or semi-annual expense replacing them.

Plus Monaco is now shipping version 2.5, and the upgrade is $99.

I agree with Doug. I bought this scanner a couple of weeks ago, and it is excellent.

BTW: I just posted a reccomendation to you in another thread to check out this scanner, Doug. I can see that is unnecessary.

Here is a link to 3 images scanned with the Epson 3200. They have been retouched somewhat, but show the quality of the scans.

edit: bad link - sorry.

Sorry it took so long to get back into this thread. retired/changed jobs, whole new schedule cut back on computer time for a bit. My experience with the epson so far has been it is excellant at scanning prints I have gotten some real nice images from 4/6's and blown them up to 8x12. Jury is still out tho on slides. not having real good luck doing 35mm color slides from Kodachrome 64. I just may need to play with it some more or bite the bullet and buy a film scanner.

My understanding is that you need a dynamic range of 4.2 or better to get good scans of slides. A good tip off is if the manufacturer list the DR or not. I have gotten very good results with the Nikon 4 slide scanner. The price has dropped in half since i purchased it a year ago. It is now about $750.

I looking to scan 60 year old b&w negitives, but I do not know how good a scanner you need.

Alan

I've been using the Epson 3200 for several months now, and I think it's fantastic.

I've had good luck with negatives as well as Kodachromes. One review (take it for what it's worth) said this scanner surpasses the Nikon for such scans.

One thing I might advise: ditch the Twain software and buy something like VueScan which is faster and more comprehensive than most other products.

ExclamPt

Can somone please explain to me what the difference between the 3200 and the 3170 is? The specs look almost identical, except for some of the bundled software and the 3170 does not have a firewire port. The 3170 also seems to be almost $200.00 cheaper than that of the 3200. If that is the case, is everyone just buying the 3200 for the bundled software? Why would anyone spend almost $200.00 more than they need to. Can someone please explain this to me. Maybe there is something I am missing. I look at their specs on the Epson site and they seem to be identical. Whats up with that? Let me know as I am about to buy a scanner and would like to know which one I should buy. I will buy the 3170 if the only difference is the software and the firewire port. Thanks for all your help....

Like ExclamPt. I have been using the Epson 3200 for several months and I am very happy with it. I have had excellent luck with negatives, slides and flat bed scanning.

your right foto freak. the specs are the same all the way down to the Dmax. Im looking for a new scanner too so if anybody has some words of wisdom on this I would love to hear them.

Although I have no experience with the 3170, some quick searching on the web indicates it has the same innards as the 3200, but in a lighter-weight, possibly more vibration-prone, shell.

The 3200 also comes with Silverfast now, which is $100 on its own, but if you don't use it, there's no savings there.

The 3170 also has a smaller transparency scanning area (it can't do 4x5 scans).

I went out today and bought the 3170 and so far so good. I didnt have allot of time to play with though. Image quality is outstanding. I scanned some negs and they turned out great also, better than I was expecting.

One thing I miss though is being able to use Epson Twain Pro or Silverfast as I did with my Expression 800. The image quality matched the Expression which cost me $900 several years ago. The reason I replace it with the 3170 is because I had to keep cleaning the mirrors on the 800 because I kept getting streaks in my scans. I was a very weird thing.

Well its getting late and I need to get to bed. Going to do more test with the 31 70 over the weekend and will report my findings.

Originally posted by airubin
My understanding is that you need a dynamic range of 4.2 or better to get good scans of slides. A good tip off is if the manufacturer list the DR or not. I have gotten very good results with the Nikon 4 slide scanner. The price has dropped in half since i purchased it a year ago. It is now about $750.

I looking to scan 60 year old b&w negitives, but I do not know how good a scanner you need.

Alan

Airbun, not really true wrt the required DRange for scanning slides. While not a theoretical maximum, the practical maximum for film scanning is a DMax of 4. The practical, useable range is from 0 to 4. The reason for this is that no films have a DRange or DMax beyond 4, and in fact even the slide film with the highest DMax is only about 3.2 or 3.3.

Virtually every scanner maker will tell you the DMax and some will tell you the DRange. You're right about the need for knowing the DRange; however. The DMin, which they rarely tell you, is the key. A scanner with a DRange of 3.2 but with a DMin of .2 and a DMax of 3.4 is going to be more effective than a scanner with a DRange of 3.2 but a DMin of .5 and a DMax of 3.7.

Any scanner maker that tells you the DMax of their scanner is over 4 is giving you a theoretical number that is of no practical use.

WRT scanning b&w with a Nikon scanner, they are notorious for being poor performers with b&w film.

I expect a 3200 by UPS tomorrow :-) I've also just started using a 2200, my first color printer of quality.

I happen to be an expert in ancient crafts such as slide duplication, color correction per Ektacolor lab, Ektachrome processing thru E-4 etc. A dinosaur, or maybe Rip Van Winkle.

I expect this 3200/2200 technology to allow me MORE B&W contrast control than with silver paper. In particular I expect to do the equivalent of printing deep and flat, but then popping highlights...or printing light but dropping just deepest shadows and popping highlights. In other words, the equivalent of the rarely-done traditional photographic masking or deep printing with highlight bleaching (potassium ferrocyanide !)

Can this be done with the combination of Photoshop Elements and Silverfast that come with the 3200?

As a SECONDARY question, will I need Photoshop 8 or a RIP software to do what I want? I'd rather not the expense and the infinite array of possibilities since my goals are specific (above).

Thoughts?

Maurice:eek::bawling: :bawling:

With the exception of working in 16bit mode, Elements should be able to do most of what you want. However, it might require some extra effort that the full version of Photoshop would not.

You'll probably also want to look into Richard Lynch's book on Elements (there's a support forum for it here over in the Education subforum). You'll definitely be wanting to use curves, and Elements doesn't support them natively.

All in all, it will probably be worthwhile for you to make the $300 upgrade investment in the full version of Photoshop, given the high-end nature of your goals.

And you won't need any RIP software.

Are you saying that the full Photoshop upgrade will accomplish everything I want more easily than will Elements with the "curves" you mention?

Are "curves" simply something that's downloaded or something I'll have to develop?
(I will also look at the Elements subforum you mentioned)

What's the downside (is it readily seen at 11X14 from a 35mm scan) to working in 16 bit mode?

Thanks,


Maurice :oldman:

Perhaps I misspoke, as Elements doesn't provide 16bit mode, so that would be a downside to Elements, not of 16bit mode. The upside to working in 16bit mode is simply that you'll start with a vastly superior number of tones to work with.

As for curves, that is a Photoshop feature left out of Elements, and Richard's book provides a way of including back into Elements.

If you have additional questions I'll split this discussion off from this thread and move it over to the Software forum.

I went ahead and bought a 3200 (refurb direct from Epson, saved big $$$)

After a few reflective experiments (flawless, exceptional) I went to the project for which I bought the scanner initially...a bunch of 35mm color neg wedding casual portraits, damaged (scratches and excess contrast) at a one hour lab.

After struggling with its neo-english support faqs, I gave up on the documentation (as usual) and learned how to use the excellent Lasersoft software...

1) I immediately got goodish color/density. Automatic.

2) IThen, the scratches...scratch control methods produced excess unsharpness overall so I went the other way, sharpened lightly instead (nice effect on eyes and hair) and retouched the scratches with Elements. Miraculous package of software.

3) Then I struggled and didn't fully succeed with the contrast of the damaged originals...many tests to get reasonable skin color/density while keeping background reasonable density (no flash...bright open shade).

Juggling "brightness" and "contrast" I got close to what I needed, but not close enough. Couldn't get adequate skin color on these very white kids without losing the background and turning the skin grey. The negs began over-processed evidently.

QUESTION (at last): Is there a way to separately control the density/contrast of faces/arms etc versus the background/clothing/sky etc?
Some sort of mask via Elements? Would this want a digital illustration pad?




Perhaps I misspoke, as Elements doesn't provide 16bit mode, so that would be a downside to Elements, not of 16bit mode. The upside to working in 16bit mode is simply that you'll start with a vastly superior number of tones to work with.

As for curves, that is a Photoshop feature left out of Elements, and Richard's book provides a way of including back into Elements.

If you have additional questions I'll split this discussion off from this thread and move it over to the Software forum.

I never was able to get used to Silverfast as a slide scanner, particularly when compared to the wonderful interface Epson provides for use with their slide holders. Silverfast is an excellent product, but it does assume you're an advanced user.

As for your question, that's a huge topic. Several image-specific ideas could be listed, but your best bet is to learn the underlying theory so you can make an informed decision. There's an excellent subforum for Elements users under the Education main forum. Also, much of the information in the general forums and tutorials can be transposed for Elements users.

If you really don't know where to start, you can simply post a sample image with your question in the Help Requested forum (specify you're using Elements so you don't get suggestions you can't use).