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September 21, 2005
[ DIGITISING NOSTALGIA ]
DPEXPERT has had the little EPSON PICTUREMATE “personal photo lab” on the test bench for the past week or so. This is Epson’s printer that produces standard size [10cm by 15cm] prints.
We have been so impressed by the stunning output of this printer that we were moved to dig out some of our slides from years past and to turn them into prints.
40 years ago we took a trip around the Flinders Ranges in the north of South Australia, toting a Pentax SLR. Remember the early Pentaxes that had a semi-automatic diaphragm and no built-in meter? You weren't born yet? Oh well, take our word for it... The Takumar lenses were a revelation but operation was pretty clunky. Nevertheless, using a mix of Kodachrome [ISO 32 anybody? How can they make such a fast film without grain raising its ugly head?] and Ektachrome we took some nice shots.
Once we got them back from Kodak processing we put them through the projector once and then put them in a box and they haven’t been seen since. What a waste!
So the other day we found the box, fed the slides through the old Epson FilmScan 200, and more or less reprocessed the pictures through Photoshop. It is amazing how much dust settles on slides stored in closed boxes. But it is also amazing how well Photoshop can remove dust from solid areas of colour, such as skies.
We selected the sky area in each photo, clicked on Filter/Noise/Dust and Scratches and with one click of the mouse the skies came up clean as a whistle. We didn’t bother poking around in the densely detailed areas of the pictures – we let the dust pose as grass!
Once we started we couldn’t stop! We now have 50 prints of photos last seen in 1965 and we have the virtuous feeling that we have rescued something from the waste dump.
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Posted by terry at September 21, 2005 06:58 PM
Comments
What I'd like to know (but have been unable to ascertain precisely from Epson) is how this Epson Picturemate compares with the Epson RX630 MFP which has a resolution of 2400 for the printer and 2400 on the scanner with optical density of 3.3 and scans 35 mm films and slides. (It is a special in the Officeworks catalogue this week for $349 although usually available in the Green Guide for $355).
Epson advises that the ink cartridges are different (although six in each case) so the colour rendition may be slightly different, but I am more interested in the rendition of the detail. The problem with all these machines is that it is not possible to inspect the finished product until the box is opened and the machine is operated.
The RX630 may also be used as a stand-alone unit without connection to a printer.
I also have many slides and negs. from a Pentax Spotmatic purchased in 1967, but overtaken by an Olympus OM2 Spot-Program in 1985 and a Canon A85 more recently.
Posted by: Geoff Preston at October 2, 2005 10:22 PM
Geoff:
I have tried the Kodak dye sub printer, the Canon dye sub and the Sony dye sub. I have also tried the Canon inkjet. So my comparison is with what I consider to be the best of the small printers and I like the Epson Picture Mate best.
I haven't tried any of the multi-function devices so I can't say how the Picturemate would compare with them -- but the Picture Mate uses pigment inks and I don't think that any multi-function unit does. The pigment inks last decades longer than the dye inks and probably twice as long as dye sub prints.
Hope this helps.
Posted by: Terry at October 7, 2005 09:49 PM
I forgot to add ...
My first SLR was a 1964 Pentax with the semi-automatic diaphragm. It had to be manually opened with a lever and it closed automatically to the preset aperture. It didn't have any sort of exposure meter.
My first Olympus was an OM1 [1975] and later two OM2s. I still have one, with lenses. I am looking for a museum to donate it to.
Posted by: Terry at October 7, 2005 09:51 PM