Prime Film XEs super edition vs XAs super edition

denada

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i went with the XAs due to better dmax. but it doesn't have film holders.

has anyone who has used both know which creates less of a problem with film curl? are the both good in that area? or do they both have problematic film curl. i can still cancel my order if the XEs is better or if they both have issue with film curl -- which i cannot stant.

almost every online review said prime film and all the other brands it goes by across the word blow plustek outta the water. i also saw reviews saying they beat fuji frontier series scanners, so everything online comes with a grain of salt.

thanks!
 
It would take a lot, and I mean a lot, to beat a Fuji Frontier .
 
yup. frontier series is my favorite line of scanners. but a frontier isn’t an option for me. not for home scanning.

why i said everything online with a grain of salt. even though i’ve read a review making the claim, i know it’s not true.
 
I am pretty confident that you can get a Home scanner that is affordable and yet decent. I have an older Minolta that must be 20 years old now and it has done a pretty good job for me although I need about a 2003 computer with the SCSI
 
It would take a lot, and I mean a lot, to beat a Fuji Frontier .

Only the Noritsu 1800 series scanner is a bit better. Have not worked with a Prime Film Scanner but specs look good. I not sure you can really tell the difference between 3.9 or 4.2 D-Max. Most slide films have a max D-Max of 3.5 with Fuji Velvia having a 4.0. Color print (C-41) and BW a 3.0 at most.
 
I am pretty confident that you can get a Home scanner that is affordable and yet decent.
i’m hoping this XAs is that scanner. i don’t wanna go the old route because i live in chicago, like the city not greater chicago, with an apartment accordingly sized. so needing a 90s desktop to make my scanner work isn’t ideal. plus when those scanners go, that’s that.

though i might get rid of my bed to make room for a frontier sp3000. no freight elevator in my building, so i’d need a teleporter to get it to my floor.

the XAs arrives this week. fingers crossed it satisfies me. scanners are the weak link in film, and i have a particularly difficult time making peace with the results.
 
man, between sliverfast, vuescan, and cyberview, i am getting the best results with silverfast. i know people rave about vuescan and hate on silverfast, but it's just not working as well for me. i figure this is user error, but these are all pretty complicated programs to learn when i'm only going to stick with one.

slide is velvia 50 or 100 ...

river%2Bfinal.jpg

silverfast

vuescan%2Btest.jpg

vuescan, in case the ridiculous watermark didn't give it away.

i know the colors in the silverfast are ultra saturated, but i didn't do anything to make that happen and velvia is ultra saturated. i think the silverfast scan is truer to the film. and just overall better looking. post was individually adjusting r, g, and b in levels and then reducing with bicubic sharper.
 
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Yeah I know what you mean,scanners are the critical link when using film. Over the past five years I have read some very encouraging test reports and findings from people who are using a hi megapixel digital camera and a very good flat field macro or enlarger lens and a decent light source to take a picture of film frames. Now that 24 to 50 megapixel cameras are available this seems like a pretty good way to go, and I have heard that dust and scratches are much less of a problem when working with film that is not super clean. In my case for example, I have a lot of film from the 1980s, And as such the film is no longer clean and it may have scratches.

I have actually read quite a few articles by people who were very impressed with this new way of digitizing film images. I have seen some very good work done with 24 to 36 megapixel cameras.

This method has several advantages,One of the primary advantages is speed. As you know scanning film is not exactly a rapidfire activity coma and a good day for me is 50 images digitized.
 
yes, i've read very positive reviews about using macro lenses and building scanning apparatuses with their digital cameras.

though so far i'm impressed with this XAs. just gotta figure out which software serves it best. initial impressions are silverfast, but i've spent 15 minutes on each so i don't wanna jump to conclusions and go too far down the wrong path, if it is the wrong path.
 
That Silverfast scan does look better. Personally I'd rather use a dedicated film scanner over a digital camera set up but I'm spoiled working in a lab with one of the best film scanners made.
 
Look into some articles about how great a good set up works. I was surprised myself, but High-density 24 million pixel sensors do a fantastic job. The other advantage is the tremendous dynamic range that modern sensors give. A raw capture off of s high dynamic range sensor is pretty good.as in conventional photography, it is possible to do an exposure that is biased toward the highlights and one that is exposed more in favor of the shadows,and to make a conversion using both RAW sources.

Although it might seem that the scanner is actually better, the tests that I have seen show the digital camera is far less prone to showing scratches than is a conventional scanner.
 
Yeah I know what you mean,scanners are the critical link when using film. Over the past five years I have read some very encouraging test reports and findings from people who are using a hi megapixel digital camera and a very good flat field macro or enlarger lens and a decent light source to take a picture of film frames. Now that 24 to 50 megapixel cameras are available this seems like a pretty good way to go, and I have heard that dust and scratches are much less of a problem when working with film that is not super clean. In my case for example, I have a lot of film from the 1980s, And as such the film is no longer clean and it may have scratches.

I have actually read quite a few articles by people who were very impressed with this new way of digitizing film images. I have seen some very good work done with 24 to 36 megapixel cameras.

This method has several advantages,One of the primary advantages is speed. As you know scanning film is not exactly a rapidfire activity coma and a good day for me is 50 images digitized.

I just started playing around with it. With color film, its way easier than to scan. I have been using a tablet and a white jpeg to place the negative on. There are several videos on it.
 
With color film, its way easier than to scan. I have been using a tablet and a white jpeg to place the negative on.

Are you sure about that? Screen white is not *traditional* white but narrow bands of red, green and blue. As the traditional tripack film uses complementary filters and an overall orange mask I though it imperative that you have a complete balanced spectrum otherwise accurate colour reproduction is impossible.

Edited- Actually, and funnily enough when I was writing this reply, I started by saying that the narrow bands of red, green and blue would have to match fairly accurately the complementary dyes in the film. As both systems are based on the human eye this is not beyond the realms of possibility and apparently newer OLED iPads are pretty close, as long as you keep some distance between the film and screen.

;)
 
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With color film, its way easier than to scan. I have been using a tablet and a white jpeg to place the negative on.

Are you sure about that? Screen white is not *traditional* white but narrow bands of red, green and blue. As the traditional tripack film uses complementary filters and an overall orange mask I though it imperative that you have a complete balanced spectrum otherwise accurate colour reproduction is impossible.

Edited- Actually, and funnily enough when I was writing this reply, I started by saying that the narrow bands of red, green and blue would have to match fairly accurately the complementary dyes in the film. As both systems are based on the human eye this is not beyond the realms of possibility and apparently newer OLED iPads are pretty close, as long as you keep some distance between the film and screen.

;)

I have not had an issue yet but I have only done it a few times. I just haven't found the time to get a light box. I pick a white bit off the edge of the negative and adjust the white balance, so far it's been fine. I want to get something larger and brighter. I had one at one time but gave it to my son along with all my art supplies and he uses it a lot. I seem to recall it was fairly expensive at the time.
 

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