7. July 2003
Flatbed Medium format scans vs. 35mm film scanner scans

This article answers a very specific question, namely : " How does medium format scanned on the Epson Perfection 1640SU scanner compare to 35mm scanned on a dedicated 2820dpi scanner?"
It was a question that I came upon in an on-line forum.
The Epson 1640SU flatbed scanner is capable of scanning at around 1000-1200dpi optical. It isn't a state-of-the-art flatbed scanner, but it might be interesting for you also, to see how it compares to a 35mm film scan.

Test conditions

2.25″x2.25″ (aka 6x6) frame.

24x36mm frame.

I've shot the same scene with two different cameras : A Rolleiflex 2.8GX (6x6) and a Nikon F90x (24x36) with a 50mm f/1.4 lens.
Both pictures where taken at 1/125 sec. at f/11 on Fuji Provia 100F.
The medium format frame was scanned on an Epson 1640SU at 1600dpi (resembles 1000-1200dpi) and the 35mm frame was scanned on a Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro set at 2820dpi to mimic a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III and the likes.
The medium format scan was enlarged a bit (Photoshop bicubic) to closely match the size of the 35mm scan. It was given a bit of sharpness after the resize.

Just for the fun of it, I've also scanned the medium format frame on the Minolta scanner, to compare it with the Epson scans.

Sorry for the big file sizes here, but compression artefact has to be kept to a minimum, resulting in large files.

Results
Medium format 1640SU scans vs. 35mm Minolta scans:

6x6, 1640SU at 1600dpi

24x36 at 2820 DPI

6x6, 1640SU at 1600dpi

24x36 at 2820 DPI

6x6, 1640SU at 1600dpi

24x36 at 2820 DPI

The Epson scans compared to dedicated film scans (Minolta PRO files was resized to match the smaller Epson scans):

6x6, 1640SU at 1600dpi

6x6, Minolta PRO at 3200dpi

6x6, 1640SU at 1600dpi

6x6, Minolta PRO at 3200dpi

6x6, 1640SU at 1600dpi

6x6, Minolta PRO at 3200dpi

Conclusion
Although the Epson 1640SU scanner presents (or presented, it has now been replaced by the 2400 and 3200 scanners) a very good value for the money, it isn't really up to the quality of a real film scanner, not even 35mm.
Going up in image size, such as perhaps 6x7cm medium format, will of course improve on the image quality that the Epson scanner delivers, however, there's still a long way up to the quality of the film scanner...

Links
You might want to visit other articles like this one:
• What resolution do I need?
• CCD Scanner internals
• Canon EOS 1Ds vs. Medium Format.
• Canon EOS 1Ds vs. 35mm.
• Medium format vs. 35mm vs. consumer digital.