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Any reviews or comments on EPSON perfection V700 scanner?


jjjjuin

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In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a detailed review of the V750 which is very similar to the V700. I'm not totally sure, but I think the hardware is essentially the same.

 

EPSON V700 review

 

I have the V750 myself and I'm generally OK with it. I mostly use it to scan 35mm B&W negatives, so I can't really comment on larger negatives or on color slides. I scanned a few color negatives but had problems getting the colors right. I have to say that I couldn't get the colors right with a far more expensive Nikon scanner either.

 

With dense negatives I had problems which are detailed in the thread linked below. This is unresolved as of now as I haven't had the time to investigate this further. I also didn't have the chance to check if I'd have the same problem with a Nikon scanner.

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/105731-epson-perfection-v750-pro-banding-dense.html

 

What I like about the Epson is that you can easily scan 24 negatives at once and that you can scan the negatives with the frame around them which is something you can't do with dedicated 35mm film scanners.

 

Many people will tell you that you should think about one of the top-of-the-line Nikon scanners or even one from Hasselblad. (Of course, they are significantly more expensive and the Nikons also aren't built anymore.) I've had the chance to compare with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 a couple of times, and indeed with the Nikon you get a bit more resolution and a bit more dynamic range - there's no question about this. The question is, though, whether you will actually need this for what you are trying to do.

 

In the end, you can only answer this yourself. It depends on what and how you are typically shooting, on the type of film you are using, on how large you want to print (if you want to print at all), and on how you print. My personal take is that for prints up to A4 (using an Epson R2880 on Hahnemühle paper) from Tri-X negatives there's no noticeable difference between a scan with the Epson and a scan with the Nikon. At A3, there are some differences, but this (again IMHO) is in the realm of technical differences.

 

In other words, if you put the two prints side by side, you can - if you look closely enough - see a difference. But does it matter for a viewer who is only interested in the photo and sees only one print? Is the A3 print from the Epson bad because you could create a "better" (or different) print from a Nikon scan? That's for you to decide.

 

If you already have a good photo printer, I can send you a scanned picture or two so that you can print them and see if what you get is what you want. Send me a PM if you're interested.

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Good info from Nhabedi

some links with scan.b&w and colour negative films :

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/103431-help-scanning.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/105169-f.html

another advantage of Epson :you can scan 6x6 or directly photos if you lose your negative (often my case)

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Guest EarlBurrellPhoto

My proofer/printer service guy has the V700, which he uses for MF and LF. He had a Nikon 8000, then 9000, and sold them, as he found the V700 in his words "every bit as good in every way". I questioned whether the Epson's dMax is up to the Nikon but his answer was that he found the Nikon's actual dMax didn't come up to their claims, but the Epson does, thereby making them basically equal. His printing is top-notch, and he's always busy, so I trust him. He did say he doesn't use it for 35mm because his Minolta 5400 is much better. FWIW, YMMV and all that :D

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My proofer/printer service guy has the V700, which he uses for MF and LF. He had a Nikon 8000, then 9000, and sold them, as he found the V700 in his words "every bit as good in every way". I questioned whether the Epson's dMax is up to the Nikon but his answer was that he found the Nikon's actual dMax didn't come up to their claims, but the Epson does, thereby making them basically equal. His printing is top-notch, and he's always busy, so I trust him. He did say he doesn't use it for 35mm because his Minolta 5400 is much better. FWIW, YMMV and all that :D

Earl,

There is especially a more important background noise with Nikon when it is pushed towards more of dpi (see link above)

Kind Regards

Henry

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Good info from Nhabedi

some links with scan.b&w and colour negative films :

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/103431-help-scanning.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/105169-f.html

another advantage of Epson :you can scan 6x6 or directly photos if you lose your negative (often my case)

 

 

thanks for your links and suggestion. very helpful.

 

kevin

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I have used the v700 for scanning both 35mm and 120 film. The only function I want out of my scanning is to be able to post the images to the web, not to print the digital image files. I prefer the qualities of analogue wet printing much, much more. As such the v700 or even the v500 would be enough for my aims. I do think I might want a NIkon 5000 or 9000 if I were to want to print digitally, however. Finem respice!

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snip

 

What I like about the Epson is that you can easily scan 24 negatives at once and that you can scan the negatives with the frame around them which is something you can't do with dedicated 35mm film scanners.

 

Many people will tell you that you should think about one of the top-of-the-line Nikon scanners or even one from Hasselblad. (Of course, they are significantly more expensive and the Nikons also aren't built anymore.) I've had the chance to compare with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 a couple of times, and indeed with the Nikon you get a bit more resolution and a bit more dynamic range - there's no question about this. The question is, though, whether you will actually need this for what you are trying to do.

 

snip

 

I recently did some tests to compare the V750 with the Nikon Coolscan 5000, the results with the Epson were pretty good, but it took 2 minutes for esch scan, whereas the Nikon took about 20 seconds.

The Nikon is the only one which does a good job of Kodahromes too.

There is a slide feeder for the Nikon, but I haven't tried that, and total cost would be about three times that of the Epson V750 (in the UK)

 

Gerry

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Important to use Vuescan software with this device, as it gives you complete control of the scans.

 

I have to voice a dissenting opinion for various reasons:

 

1. VueScan is a fine piece of software and it gives you more control in some cases, especially for color scans. For b/w scans I don't really see anything in VueScan that Epson's own software couldn't do.

 

2. VueScan isn't really designed for flatbed scanners IMHO. If you want to frame the negatives manually, that's a bit of a PITA with VueScan and much easier with Epson's software - unless I'm missing something.

 

3. The most important thing for me was that VueScan sometimes gets the position of a manually framed negative wrong. Their support (which is otherwise very good) only told me that it must be a hardware failure in my scanner which it clearly isn't as neither Epson's software nor SilverFast have this problem. I've since heard from another V750 owner who has the same problem, so I think this is a VueScan bug although they don't want to admit it.

 

The good thing of course is that you can download and try VueScan, so you can decide based on your own experiences.

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I recently did some tests to compare the V750 with the Nikon Coolscan 5000, the results with the Epson were pretty good, but it took 2 minutes for esch scan, whereas the Nikon took about 20 seconds.

 

True.

 

That doesn't bother me, though. I usually put 24 frames into the negative holder, frame them, and adjust them individually in one go and then start the scan process. That might take more than an hour, but I have a dedicated machine for my photography stuff, so I use the time to work on another computer, read a book, cook something, or take some more photos... :)

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