A quick comparison between a Nikon 8000ED and an Epson 4990 scanner(s) using 120 (medium-format) film.
Plymouth, England, "The Barbican" from July 2005 -- note the rectangle on the right describing the inset boundaries.
Ilford HP5 120 format @ 400 ISO, developed in HC-110, solution B. Mamiya 6 and 75mm lens.
Inset images are crops of actual scans saved at 100 (highest) quality jpeg in Adobe Photoshop.
Photo is copyright 2005, Matthew Clara.
Epson 4990 @ 4800 ppi
Nikon 8000ED @ 4000 ppi
Epson 4990 downsampled to 4000 dpi
Conclusions: I won't be using the 4990 to scan medium-format film, but then I knew that already. That's what my 8000ED is for. The 4990 does look more than capable with large-format films as evinced by the scans found here. The difference between that scan and the 4990 scans on this page is two fold: the film is bigger, and the ilford delta 100 has a much finer grain. I think my love affair with HP5 might be drawing to a close--sorry to be so fickle...
