Mike,
I agree with Arthur's comments. I bought an HP S-20 and was doing OK with
it, but not stunned by the quality of scans. A friend of mine with
scanning experience caused me deep distress by suggesting that the S20 was
a toy and not worth having, and that I should get (at that time) a Nikon
LS30 for not much more.
After looking at my scans a bit more critically and not getting any joy out
of HP on a problem with banding, I sent it back and bought an LS2000.
While the LS2000 wouldn't win any awards now, the improvement over the S20
was spectacular and immediately obvious. Proved my friend's point, and my
advice to anyone is don't get an S20 unless you REALLY want the dual
transparency /positive option and you are not fussy about quality.
Why anyone would want the positive scanning option I don't know as you can
do a better job with a cheap flatbed. As Art says, the optical path in the
S20 is complex and prone to misalignment etc.
Sorry to be so down on what was probably a carefully researched purchase
decision, but I do think it likely that you'd be happier with a different
brand. You could try sending the thing back with example scans to HP but I
don't think much of your chances.
I just thing the S20 is a disappointing scanner.
HTH
Julian
At 21:02 07/07/02, you wrote:
Hi Mike:
Before I make any comment, below is the exact note I supplied to my
computer retailer when I returned my HP S-20 for a refund (they had to
ship it back to HP, so they asked me for a defect list...)
HP S-20 Scanner SN.SG8BBX
Problems:
1) Color fringing (red/green) in bars going across image width
Attempted suggested correction by HP of turn scanner over and
cycling through modes several times. Did not improve matter.
2) excessive response to reds in transparencies, causing burned
flesh tones, which are difficult to correct.
3) Double cycles eject when ejecting slides and negative strips.
Sometimes doesn't acknowledge slide or neg when introduced into carrier.
===
Make sure your images are not manifesting color fringing from optical
problems with your camera lenses (although you seem to imply this isn't
the case). Look over your images with a quality loupe. Then try what
HP suggested, turn the scanner over, and cycle it through the three
different modes (slide, neg, print) several times, and the try it again.
My S-20 had two types of fringing. The type I can see in your image,
and a micro fringing that you had to zoom in tight to seem. It was a
type of banding fringing that was directly related to the resolution I
scanned at. It was also red/green, and it was particularly obvious if I
scanned a black and white slide or a black and white negative as a
slide, since it was the only color in the image.
History:
My first film scanner was a HP S-10. I went through 3 of them trying to
get one that didn't band in the shadows, and all of them suffered from
one defect of another.
Finally, HP offered me the new S-20, although the banding was gone, it
had a number of other problems, and eventually it too went back to HP,
and I ended up with A Minolta Dual II, a much better scanner, but still
not without defects and problems.
The problem is that the optics are just not good enough in that scanner.
It has a very complex optical path due to the feature of allowing it
to scan both transmissive and reflective things (reflective at 300 dpi,
which my today's standards is a bit of a joke). There are so many
moving objects in the scanner light/optical path (mirrors, etc) that I'm
amazed it works at all.
At the time the S-10 came out, that model was the least expensive film
scanner on the market. Today, there are numerous better models for
about the same price (The Canon FS-2710, the Minolta Dual II, and
cheaper ones (although slightly lower resolution) like the Primefilm 1800U.
If the unit is still under warranty, get in touch with HP about it. If
they can't replace it with one that doesn't fringe, get your money back
and buy something else. Slide scanners should not show color fringing,
any more than should a quality lens.
Art
Mike Brown wrote:
I'm relatively new to the list so apologies if this one has been done to
death but...
I recently bought a cheap-ish scanner, an HP Photosmart S20, and I've
been a
bit disappointed with the results. I'm getting better results overall now
I've bought Vuescan but haven't resolved the fringing issue. It's difficult
to know what to expect as nobody ever puts full size sample files on their
websites! I've done the usual trawl around the net but can't find fringing
mentioned as a particular problem.
I started off scanning some very old slides noticed the fringing.
Initially I put it down to having used a cheap teleconverter with a russian
lens. I've noticed the problem with other slides and negatives though and I
think it's something to do with the stepper motor drive or film slippage.
The fringing is
