Negative Scans
The 35 mm negative holder is well designed and simple to use, allowing up to two strips of film to be positioned correctly on the flatbed. Kodak Gold film (200-6) was used in the following examples, and the first scan was made without any correction or sharpening. A full scan at 2400 ppi takes about five minutes, thanks to USB 2. This compares favourably with similar flatbed scanners currently available, but not quite as fast as some dedicated film scanners. The second image has been sharpened a little in Photoshop (unsharp mask) and adjusted to remove the slightly yellow cast and improve brightness and contrast. Two detail views are included: [1] showing just a hint of colour fringing in a high contrast area; [2] strands of fine hair on the head. They stand up pretty well against the 4000t examples also shown.

Epson 2450: Negative Scan

Epson 2450: With Sharpening & Colour Adjustment

2450 Detail [1]

2450 Detail [2]

4000t Detail [1]

4000t Detail [2]

The quality of these scans speaks for itself: not necessarily the sharpest I have seen, but certainly very acceptable for a machine in this price bracket. There is a hint of colour fringing in Detail [1], but [2] reveals strands of fur quite clearly.

Film Holders
I have been prompted to include the following comments concerning the use of film holders, partly as a consequence of my experience with medium format scanning, and partly because of emails I have received about the scanning of panoramic film. First of all, the main purpose of the film holders is to keep the film flat in the correct location, and probably to allow the scanner's automatic preview option to work properly. Aside from these considerations, however, I have found it possible, when necessary, to scan film satisfactorily without using a holder.

Whilst making some 120 film scans, I soon discovered that the automatic preview option was not reliable, sometimes failing to find the whole image. Curiously, this was never the case with 35 mm or slide film. Fortunately, I was able to switch the automatic preview off by unchecking the appropriate boxes in the Configuration menu of Epson's Twain 5 software. This time the preview scan revealed everything in its path, so it was just a matter of manually selecting the image before proceeding to a full scan.

So what about panoramic, 24 mm x 65 mm film? There is no dedicated holder for this size of film, but the existing 35 mm holder may still be used, as Epson has designed it without the usual 35 mm frame dividers. I see no reason why the procedure outlined above (manual preview and selection) couldn't be used successfully in conjunction with this holder. I am not an Xpan user myself, but a reader of this article has confirmed that this approach works fine.

The supplied holders allow for most film sizes, but if necessary film can be placed directly on the scanner flatbed. If this method is used, it is important to locate the film in the central area of the glass platen, in line with the light source above. I have tried this with a flat strip of 35 mm film. The only difficulty was in keeping the film straight, but it did work, and fortunately the film did stay reasonably flat.

Placing film directly on the glass platen can theoretically produce Newton rings, which appear in the final scan. These are moiré-like interference patterns which can occur when the film is in close proximity to the glass platen. In the few tests I have made so far, there was no evidence of this - but it is something to be aware of. Additionally, without a holder, there is nothing to keep the film flat on the platen, leading to uneven focus. One solution to this might be to make a customised holder by cutting a window(s) in a piece of matboard or similar stiff card.

Colour Management
As suggested at the start of this article, the standard ICC profile provided by Epson is unlikely to be equally effective for all tasks. The next two scans, of a reflective IT8 target, demonstrate the improvement in colour accuracy that can be achieved with a customised profile. They have not been sharpened or altered in any other way.

IT8 Target Scan: Epson Standard Profile

IT8 Target Scan: With Custom Profile

No doubt you are wondering how I obtained this profile. The answer is an inexpensive and simple to use application known as WiziWYG, produced by Praxisoft. The software may be downloaded from the Praxisoft web site free of charge, but to use it you have to purchase the appropriate IT8 target, like the one above. WiziWYG can also help to produce profiles for your monitor and printer, and there is an upgrade path that includes a transmissive IT8 target (slide) and a colorimeter for more accurate calibration, but this does become more expensive. Unfortunately, the Windows versions only work with Win 98 and 2000 at the moment. Since writing, ME and XP versions have become available, so it's best to check with Praxisoft for the latest information.

In the meantime it may be worth experimenting with profiles that already exist on your system. For example, I have found one or two Microtek slide profiles on my system that handle certain transparencies better than Epson's Standard Profile.

Conclusions
Apart from reservations about the 'softness' of some transparency scans, I still think the 2450 is a good scanner. This is a flatbed that compares well in most respects to dedicated film scanners costing twice as much. It is quite simple to use, supports ICC Profiles, and performs astonishingly well. For the time being, however, I think I'll stick with my 4000t for scanning slides.