4x5 Wet Scan Test On Epson 4990
I purchased a variable height mounting station for my 4x5's from BetterScanning.com. It does both dry and wet scans. I was mostly interested in its ability to adjust its height and scan the long direction of the negative instead of the short that the OEM carrier does. So I thought I'd give wet scanning a try with it.
Things didn't start off well. The glass plate for the mounting station did not fit. Some of the glass edges were not cut square making it too wide. Fortunately, I have a oscillating drum sander that I was able to square up the edges and make it fit. And the masks they send are blanks and you have to make the 4x5 cutout in the center yourself. Mounting the wet scan was pretty easy as there is so much space to work with.
Here is a shot I have already scanned some time ago with the OEM carrier and the wet scan version. I tried to adjust it the same as the first time I did it. As far as saving time with dust, that really is not much of issue for me with 4x5's on this scanner and the OEM carrier. There is usually not much dust to clean up on them. Most certainly a piece of cake compared to the 9000ED and its glass carrier. And the wet scan was not 100% free of touch up either. So it's a push in that department, I'd say.
Both scans are 2400dpi. I really don't see much of a difference on a web display version. A little more definition looking at the river rocks and trees up stream. But that's hard to say if that's just not tone adjustment. And on the full size files, there was more detail in those dark trees. So for most web display, I don't think I'd bother with the wet scan and save it for maybe when doing a print from a scan instead.
Wet Scan With BetterScanning's Variable Height Mounting Station Schneider Super-Angulon 90mm f8, f64, Tri-X Pan, PMK Pyro Dry Scan With Epson's OEM Carrier
Last edited by tuco; 05-15-2011 at 03:07 AM.