Are flatbed scanners a waste of money?

[peter_n]

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I'm in the market for a flatbed too as I just acquired a MF camera and my little Minolta scanner is 35mm only. I also liked Andy's pix and did a bit of research on his scanner, the Epson 4990. It turns out the 4990 is discontinued by Epson and has been replaced by the V700 which is also very highly regarded. Here's one review:

 

Epson V700 review

 

The street price of the V700 is about $450 here in the US.

[Guest wls.shanghai]

The EPSON V700 is also a fanastic scanner!

I use the V700 for 35mm and 120 film (neg. and slides) and all my BW photos.

I`ve produced perfectly great A3 prints from it.

 

You can see the results in the FORUM, all my images here in the forum

I made with the V700

 

Regards

wls

[andym911]

The newer model over mine should be a great buy, if my 4990 was not still going strong that is the one I would get over all other film scanners available...price and quality are unbeatable IMO.

 

andy

[devils-advocate]

Flatbed scanners have become shockingly good for the price. They provide really good scans. That said, if you are aiming to do really top quality work and wring out the maximum from your negatives, a film scanner really is necessary. The difference is small, but noticeable, and comes at a high price.......not unlike the difference between Leicas and other camera systems....

 

Buy a good flatbed for a few bucks and see if it's good enough.

 

- N.