Q: Professionally, all my film gets drum scanned. For personal testing/experimenting, the costs for drum scans and iris proofs become prohibitive. Can a flatbed with a transparency adapter offer decent 35mm film scans to reproduce up to 11x14 size prints from a good inkjet or from a service bureau printer.
A: I don't think you will be satisfied with the quality of an inexpensive flatbed unit's slide scans, as you have been "spoiled" by drum scans. A Nikon Super CoolScan slide scanner or something similar would be my choice, or have all your work scanned onto Pro Photo CD. Neither will give you drum-scan quality, but they will be far above a flatbed's quality. My opinion of scanning 35mm slide images on flatbeds changed when I compared the results from the Epson flatbed and other low-cost flatbed models I reviewed to those of a Super Coolscan. If the CoolScan won't work for you (say, for example, because you only want to own one scanner that must also be able to handle prints and other flatbed-oriented materials), then you can get "okay" results from a good (>$1000) flatbed with a proper transparency adapter. However, at that price range, I'd be inclined to go for two dedicated scanners: a low-end slide scanner such as the HP Photosmart S20 (reviewed below) and, with the money left over, a flatbed. These days, $300 or so buys a surprisingly decent unit.
I am confident that today's better inkjets will give you print quality that you will be satisfied with -- and our feature on Fade Resistant Inks and Papers will help you keep your prints looking good for years to come.
See Tony Sleep's Tech page at http://www.cix.co.uk/~tsphoto/ for direct comparisons of scan quality using the Kodak Q60-E3 reference transparency.
He compares:
Says Tony, "The LS2000 samples include Multi Scanning and ICE retouching examples, so the page will take a while to download. Be patient, it's worth it :)"
The Minolta Scan Dual Dimage turns out to be rather good too.
For further reading:
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