by
stevea » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:44 am
Hi Rusty,
I loved your question. I hopped into action and found that although I could get negatives scanned using the Plustek holder and the Epson scanner, the result wasn't all that great. I compared tonight's scans with scans of the same negatives done on the Plustek this summer.
The pictures weren't as sharp as they should have been ( Kodak Tri-X and Kodacolor Gold 100) and the colors were a bit washed out. I played with one picture and improved it with USM and hue/sat adjustments. A B&W shot was much easier to improve in PSE, just like you'd expect. They were better than nothing, but you wouldn't frame them and give them as gifts. The Plustek holder prevented the Newton Rings that I described earlier.
The Plustek holder is enough thicker than the Epson that the lid didn't close right. I'm sure that the difference in thickness put the negative at a slightly different height than the original Epson holder and that must have affected how the scanner focused. Also, I had to use the Epson film holder to eyeball where to place the Plustek holder.
I'd say, if you can get a negative holder cheap (I got the Plustek from NewEgg) and you've got some free time and some patience, you might do OK.