#Silverfast epson how to#
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Optimum Optical Resolution Testĭoing all these tests is tedious but simple. If you are like me and use a different holder, you just need to start with the lowest possible height and increase it step by step until you found the best position. Sometimes it might be even necessary to increase the maximum height of the original holders even further. The Epson film holders use variable pins to change the height. I used several layers of thin cardboard to heighten my mounting solution until I got the best and sharpest scans. A quick way of finding the optimum height of your film holder is, by doing some sample scans at 2400spi resolution and varying the height for each scan. In order to use it properly it is required to mount it carefully and to make sure you scan it at the focus point of your flatbed scanner. It will determine the maximum optical resolution of the system. The idea is to find the biggest bar which the scanner is still able to discern. The target is printed on positive film and consists of groups of bars with dimensions from big to small. The US Air Force set the standard for testing the performance of optical systems and their test target is still widely used to measure the performance of scanners. It makes no sense to clutter your hard-drive with unnecessarily big files. It increases file size significantly and you can always do the same thing with Photoshop or Lightroom. While this is not really bad, it just does not add any additional information or detail to the scan. This interpolated resolution does nothing else than up-scaling the digital file. For marketing reasons scanner manufacturers often add an additional value to their specifications in order to let their product appear even more powerful.

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Feel free to use my values for the optimum sharpness settings but without placing the film correctly on your scanner, these settings are less valuable. This might be the most important test you really need to do on your own. The film holders can be adjusted slightly, but in order to get the highest possible quality, I suggest doing some tests to find the sweet spot of your personal system.

The Epson film holders are optimized for this point, but due to building variations many scanner units are the sharpest at a different height. Unfortunately there is no focusing option built into the scanner and that means we have to live with the fixed focus that lies somewhere above the flatbed surface. Mostly the center is the sharpest and sharpness drops towards the outer areas.

Additionally the real optical resolution can vary along the scanner surface due to the complexity of the system. We need to be aware that the optical performance of the scanners may vary from system to system. Other factors on resolution and sharpness That means the real optical resolution is smaller than the one stated by Epson. The optical group that includes the CCD sensor is quite complex and small variations and inaccuracies reduce the optical quality slightly. Epson states a theoretical optical resolution of 4800spi for all of their V-series scanners. These two elements determine the theoretical optical resolution in both directions vertically and horizontally. After my tests it turned out that these values are close to the optimum settings but with some adjustments I was able to reveal even more and cleaner detail from my scans.Įpson uses CCD sensors (Charge-Coupled Devices) for their scanners and these CCD elements are moved by an stepper motor underneath the glass surface of the flatbed scanner. In the past few years I simply used 2400spi (samples per inch) as a standard resolution setting for all my scans, as well as some sharpening presets that seem to work most of the time. So it is totally up to you if you want to do your own tests or play around with my settings and see if they work for you. In this blog post I will explain what is required to do the tests and provide you with the link to some more detailed explanations. Of course the optimal way of doing it, is investing some time and money and do your own tests. These settings work great on my scanner, with my mounting solution and chances are that they work for your flatbed scanner as well. I did some testing with an USAF 1951 resolution target and I will share my findings with you. Have you ever wondered what would be the best settings for your scans with an Epson flatbed scanner? Well, there are two ways of getting those values and one of them is a s simple as reading this blog post.

#Silverfast epson how to#

How to get the most out of your Epson V700, V750, V800 or V850