HP PhotoSmart Negative Scanner reivew
This page is here to convice you to buy a negative scanner. There is alot
of information on the web about the HP Photo Smart Negative scanner (SCSI),
but there aren't alot of sample pictures. From what I understand this
scanner is identical to the HP S20 scanner which is USB, rather than SCSI.
The SCSI scanner retailed for ~$500, but since the USB version appeared, the
price for the SCSI version dropped, I purchased my negative scanner brand
new in a box on ebay for $150. Here are some sample pictures comparing
images scanned from a Kodak print, Kodak Photo CD, and from a negative. All pictures were
produced using Kodak 800 speed film which unfortunatly can be grainy at times.
This page will be best viewed with a fast internet connection and your
montior set to its highest resolution. You may need to calibrate your monitor settings using the
following pattern, or using the photoshop wizard.
Adjust your monitor until you can distinguish between all shades of gray in the picture below.
The negative scan is on the left.
The print picture (right) was brightend to enhance the detail in the shadowed area,
you can see how much of the information was lost when the print (right) was made.
6_1_negscan.jpg
6_1_kodak.jpg
Notice the wider range of contrast in the negative scan, the furnature inside
the doorway is not visible in the original print. Also notice how much
greener the leaves are in the negative scan.
4_11_fugi.jpg
4_11_kodak.jpg
4_11_negscan.jpg
The above 3 pictures have been zoomed in. Again showing the difference in
color and sharpness between a negative scan, kodak film, and fuji film.
beer_negscan.jpg
beer_kodak.jpg
Notice how much of the picture is cropped out from the print scan compared to the negative scan.
My HP negscanner
Kodak Photo CD negative scan
The files above have been compressed to the same file size (230kB). Notice how the Kodak Picture CD has been cropped (not by me), its a bit blurry (dogs face, blue cd cases on shelf) and the colors are over saturated.
My HP negscanner
Kodak Photo CD negative scan
These pictures are a zoomed in version of the picture above. The Kodak CD has much less resolution. This picture was taken with a cheap ($200) 19mm zoom lens set at 19mm and 800 speed Kodak (grainy) film.
The two scans below are taken at full resolution but have been compressed from
22MB BMP to less than 1MB JPG. They are approximately 8 MegaPixles scanned
from an 800 speed Kodak Negaitve.
You may need to Save As and open the image with a viewer to view it full size.
I hope to have a good picture taken with some high quality film soon.
Enlarge
salzburg_big
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