> But he uses only one single slide to make his tests and determinations.
> And
> the tests are done by unknown people with unknown skill levels using
> undefined
> parameters. They can do whatever they want with the scan and use
> unknown or
> different software for each unit.
>
> Sharpness is commented on using a slide that has unknown inherent
> resolution.
> Not even a simple resolution target is scanned to check resolution.
> Noise
> comments are wholly subjective and only after some unknown person has
> fiddled
> with curves in an undefined way. Most scans have horrible color due to
> the
> operator doing unknown things to it.
>
> And there are no tests scanning negatives. How can any site claiming
> to rate
> scanners not even look at negative performance? There are no
> quantifiable
> tests performed. Everything is subjective.
>
> This list goes on but if this isn't the very definition of test
> methodology
> that is full of holes I don't know what is. Why doesn't it get your
> "this
> site is harmful if used for selecting a scanner" stamp ????
All these are valid observations, but I never set out to provide objective
testing, nor do I claim any such thing. The purpose was to provide a
subjective, relative assessment based on a common target and detective
work.
Initially I didn't even want to do that, I just wanted to bung up Q60
samples with no commentary, so people who were as stuck as I was for
comparative samples had somewhere to get them. But it became apparent that
many people would not be able to make sense of what they were seeing.
The instructions for creating the samples are quite precise, but of course
operator competence is a factor no matter how much I'd like to eliminate
it. That's why I spend a lot of time figuring out which flaws are easily
correctable, and could have been by the operator, and which are endemic to
the system. Occasionally I can't tell, and say so in the text, but
generally I can.
At the time I started doing this, there were only sites showing disparate
photos, and no common references at all. Also differences between scanners
were quite gross, and substantial, and often rooted in hardware.
This has changed, and the limitations of the method become obvious. As I
say, evaluating the Polaroid 4000 took a week, and I barely touched on
colour neg and only ran a few tests with B&W for my own education. I want
to do all future evaluations at least that thoroughly, but simply cannot
take 10-14days off trying to earn a living for each new model. Hence the
requirement for some sort of business model & bailiff/divorce avoidance
scheme. Ads or sponsorship would immediately impeach the integrity of the
enterprise, so it has to be subs. There are big problems there with long
shelf-life and intermittently changing content, so I've had to devise a
scheme which is equitable.
Your group scan project *is* a good idea, but has limitations of its own -
and actually scarcely different to my original, more limited intention to
just stick up a bunch of Q60 scans using OEM s/w. Its objectivity relies
on this one, fixed Vuescan version being utterly consistent with disparate
scanners, and donors doing as they are told. And then what? Let people
just look and draw their own conclusions? Not everyone is anywhere off the
baseline where scanning skill is concerned, and IME most visitors will
have no experience whatsoever. They will ask you to explain : which is the
best scanner under $500 'cos I don't understand, what is gamma? They will
ask you questions about their scanners and how to use them. I just dealt
with one this morning : what's the best way to scan cross-processed E6
with a Polaroid 4000? Pfft, 20mins out of my day, just as well I am
fascinated by this stuff.
In 2yrs time, after replying to a few thousand emails from confused
punters, and finding that in order to avoid answering the same questions
over and over again you have to add analysis and background info to the
site, and spending a few grand on doing this stuff, and nights and
weekends that used to be leisure time, and adding a mailing list to deal
with the queries more effectively which generates another half hour of
admin every day, you'll probably have need of a subscription scheme. In
which case I may be able to help...
Jeez, there goes another 15mins.
Regards
Tony Sleep
http://www.halftone.co.uk - Online portfolio & exhibit; + film scanner
info & comparisons
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