Epson F-3200
Epson are well known for their printers, limited camera range (R-D1), and scanners, including a wide range of flatbed scanners with transparency adapters. They are not as well known for their production of film scanners.
The Epson F-3200, sometimes be touted as a flatbed scanner turned up-side-down with a limited feature-set, unable to scan many paper sizes is one of their few film scanners.
Released in Japan around 2004, and later as a short lived international release in the USA and Europe. The scanner, for some reason did not appear to sell well.
Personally, this is one of my favorite film scanners, and if I was only allowed to keep one, this would likely be the one. I rarely shoot colour film so Digital ICE (or similar) isn’t important to me, and the scanner is capable of scanning 135 film, mounted slides, 120 medium format film, and 5×4 large format film.
As the name implies, the F-3200 has an optical resolution of 3,200 dpi. With micro-stepping this can be increased to 6,400 dpi, and with VueScan, 9,600 dpi. In my opinion, there’s often little reason to scan negatives above 3,200 dpi. A 6 x 9 medium format negative scanned at 3,200 dpi, produces an image in the region of 80 megapixels, or just under 13 megapixels for a 135 frame.
Specifications
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| APS | No |
| 135 film | Yes (Strips of up to 6 frames, scans 12 frames at a time) |
| Mounted slide | Yes (Up to 8 mounted slides at a time) |
| Medium format | Yes (6x4.5, 6x6 and 6x9) |
| Large format | Yes (Up to 5x4 in) |
| Interface | USB, FireWire, Standalone (Can connect via USB1.1, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, or standalone, saving to memory cards) |
| Resolution | 3,200 dpi |
| Dust removal | No |
Pros & Cons
- Wide range of film sizes
- Decent resolution
- Reasonable scanning speed (for personal use)
- Works with VueScan
- Multiple connection methods and a standalone mode
- Original scanning software works really well – better than any other OEM film scanner software I’ve used
- There are some quirks with VueScan
- Standalone mode offers limited and obscured settings
- Film trays are perspex backed, glass would be great, but perspex is a dust magnet
When using VueScan, the entire film tray is treated as a single image – as it would with a flatbed scanner, negatives are then highlighted for scanning. As negatives aren’t handled individually, all negatives are scanned with the same brightness level, rendering automatic brightness useless unless selecting a single negative at a time for scanning. As the original EpsonScan software works so well, I can look past this.
The one thing I would like to change, and may well attempt one day, would be to replace the perspex backing of the trays with optical glass to reduce dust.
Accessories
135 film tray
Mounted slide tray
Medium format tray
Large format tray
6×4 print tray
Optical cleaner
Software
Windows
Mac
Documentation
Sample scans
