Comparing Film Scans: Drum vs Flatbed vs DSLR
174,626
Published 2020-01-27
- Betterscanning fluid mount station: www.betterscanning.com/
- Silverfast Ai Studio: bhpho.to/2RSqRPA
- Negative Lab Pro: www.negativelabpro.com/
- Contribute: www.nickcarverphoto.com/contribute
Table of Contents:
- About the test - 2:42
- About the prints - 3:42
- If you please - 6:29
- What this video will cover - 7:11
- Criteria: How the scans were done - 7:32
- Criteria: How the files were prepped - 13:26
- Results: Sharpness - 15:00
- Results: Grain - 17:23
- Results: Dynamic Range - 18:58
- Results: Dust - 20:38
- Results: Color - 21:43
- Results: Workflow -27:32
- Conclusion: What will I do going forward? - 33:05
Whoaah, nellie, this video took a lot of work. And it's long. Sorry about that. But hey, it's just 36 minutes of your life...and several months of mine. And sure it may have been some work, but I NEEDED to know: how does a drum scan vs a scan on my Epson V750 vs a scan with my digital SLR compare? How big are the differences and how much do they translate to the print?
You know how I love printing. I'm all about it. I especially love printing my 6x17 images at 24"x72". That's a 12x enlargement. And so I started to wonder, is my Epson really up to the task?
So in this video I'm comparing the print results from 3 different types of scans on 2 different types of film with 2 different types of printing processes/paper. We'll look at how they stack up in terms of sharpness, grain, dynamic range, dust, color, and workflow. Some of the results were as expected, some were quite a surprise.
Some of you might think "just do a darkroom print, idiot." Yep, that would be really cool. And I probably would print in the darkroom if I had a darkroom and an enlarger and all the necessary trays and chemistry to make 6-foot wide color prints from a 6x17 negative (know anyplace?). That day may come one day, but until then, I'm perfectly happy with digital c-type prints and digital pigment prints.
There's a lot to cover here. We won't agree on everything, but I did my best to remain honest and unbiased. I hope you find the video helpful!
Website: www.nickcarverphotography.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nickcarver
And check out my online course all about light metering for film photography! www.nickcarverphoto.com/metering
All Comments (21)
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Here I'll summarize the comments section for ya: Most comments: "Hey cool thanks man" or "here are some helpful tips to get better results with you DSLR scan" A few comments: "You suck, your camera sucks, you didn't even use a camera with pixel shift, and you're an idiot" I guess we can't all still be friends ๐ On a more positive note: THANK YOU to the many folks who made a contribution! I'm very encouraged and surprised by the number of viewers who were kind enough to pitch in a couple bucks to make more videos like this possible. I look forward to bringing you more entertaining and informative videos this year!
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My favorite thing about Nick is that he hates on his haters before they can even hate
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I followed your instructions and scanned my film with a Etch-a-Sketch. I got nominated for a pulitzer prize, thanks!
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Thanks Nick for doing this for all of us. I have been waiting for a comprehensive test like this for a long time. Certainly a lot of factors to consider going forward, and things to weigh back and forth. Your hard work is appreciated.
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Thank you all the way from Tel Aviv for making such a brilliant video on this fascinating subject matter!
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All of the questions I had in my head while watching Nick's video - were all answered after the video was completed. Thanks Nick!
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I'm ridiculously selfish in that I wish YouTube was your main gig. In a world of endless repetitive photography gear review videos that all say the same thing, you're actually dolling out some useful information. Your videos inspired me to dive back into film and it 100% saved me from the boredom I developed with digital. Thanks for all that you do. Oh, and cheers!
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This is exactly what I wanted to see, thank you Nick! Love your channel and your work!
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Such a great video! Really appreciate the time and effort that went into this. Great humour too. Two thumbs up!
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Damn son you clearly put a ton of effort into testing all these methods, appreciate ya ๐
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Sir, you've done great work! Good methodology, good presentation, and a very good assessment based on what's important to you. You hit all the right points and you've done it in really clear and concise manner. Kudos! I also appreciate how much work it took to do all of these tests and analyze the results. Thank you.
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Outstanding analysis! Thank you for sharing your data and thoughts.
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Dude, thats great... So much work in just one Video... That alone deserves a thumbs up :)
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Strickland's work is amazing. I'm glad he reached out to you. He's a film photographer so he gets what we are up against when it comes to scanning our film. Really nice video, Nick. Thanks....
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exactly the video i was looking for these last couple days
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What a FANTASTIC video. Amazing information presented in a straight forward manner. I appreciate the many hours it must have taken to produce this video.
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Not only is this wonderfully organized and presented, itโs entertaining af. Kudos to you Nick ๐๐๐
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My god, the difference between colors with Aztek and Strickland scans ๐ Fantastic video as always! I come for the knowledge and stay for the charisma
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Well done Nick! Didnโt even feel like a 36 minute video. It was interesting and kept my attention.
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Nice to see Nick back. Great comparison and very informative.
