the NEW epson V500

Argh! I see Epson is about to introduce the V500 now, for perhaps half the

price of V700/750. It's not clear what the V700/V750 have that the V500 lacks;

perhaps two lenses? But, on the other hand, I assume the V500 cannot be as

good, or better, for half the price of the V700/V750, since that would just

kill off the market for the V700/V750, which are fairly new?

 

Or am I wrong?

 

Or is it too early to say, since all we have to go on for far are the specs.

 

My decision-making is getting ever harder! Any views of what the V500 might be

like, compared with the V700/750, given the specs, would be most welcome by

this newbie.

 

Thanks

 

David

One thing is that V700/750 will still be able to scan larger pieces of film and more pieces at one time. The LED light is nice in terms of warm up, but I am wondering if the light color thing is more hype than real-world improvement when it comes to the resulting scan. I expect that Epson will be releasing the LED light bar in the V700/V750 soon as part of an upgrade to a new model number.

 

The Epson store has the 4490 refurbished units on sale for $98 with free shipping and full warranty or $89 if you have access to the discount code. That is the killer deal right now for this level of scanner.

Hi, I just received my V500. I also at one time had a V700, so I have a lot of comparison scans. Last night I scanned a couple of B&W 6 by 7 negatives and the results were identical to the V700 scans. The V500 can't handle anything larger than MF. That may be why the price is less. I also think that the DMAX is less on the V500. I don't care because I do mostly B&W or color negative scans. Also, the film holder is not as robust but in all honesty I did not think much of the V700 holder.

 

One other thing is that in order to keep the film flat for the V500 and V700 scans I just had a piece of anti reflective glass cut to the size of the opening and I just lay that over the negatives. I didn't worry about ANR glass because I never had a problem with rings. It works for me.

 

One other note is that I used to have a Nikon 9000 and I also compared those scans to the Epsons for 6 by 7. There was a small difference that I can't see in 13 by 19 prints. If I continue in MF I will probably get the Nikon but for now I am happy.

 

Hope this helps.

Finally some info on the v500! I plan to buy one soon unless you or anyone else has anymore feed back.

 

I can't belive this. Epson did not make a film holder for MF 6x4.5!

V500.......

Thank you for contacting the Epson Connection.

 

Your scanner can handle the following films and slides

 

35mm Transparency Adapter

12 negatives/4 slides

medium-format film (6 x 12 cm)

 

You can create your own transparency unit (using a card board) that will

fit your 6 x 4.5 medium format film.

 

Make on out of cardboard? Oye Vie!

I also just ordered the V500, but did not notice the MF limitations. A quick search and I found some after market solutions. Has anyone tried the custom MF holders?

 

http://www.betterscanning.com/

 

I see they have some that should work on the Epson V500:

 

http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/models/v500.html

Good stuff, thanks David and Chris. So it comes with a carrier that works for 6x6 and 6x7, yes? Are the adjustable height neg carriers (from betterscanning.com) easy to calibrate?

I have it now for a week and tried it on a variety of conditions and films.

My Fuji Reala 100 negs scan beautiful but.... not with the Epson software. Epson software is great if you need to do it fast and do not expect too much from difficult images.

I do use Vuescan, it has a very awkward interface but has big advantages if you get a grip on the use of it. The scans done at 3200 dpi RAW in multi-exposure mode and 4 passes, exported to dng and processed in PS CS (I use CS2)are superb but be prepared to be veeeeeeeeeeeryyyyyyyy patient. It takes a long long time to scan a frame this way but the results are worth the waiting.

To Major Black... I'd like to see proof that raising or lowering the neg som tenths of a millimeter makes any difference. I am scaning using the carriers supplied with the scanner and aldo with the negatives flat on the scanner glass and cannot tel if there is any change even at the highest resolution.

To Leo Gottfried,

I don't know whether this applies to the V500, but the guy on this site has done a fantastic job showing in high detail the differences in resolution with height adjustment using the 5x4 film holder on the V700.

There is a lot more at his site, so I would highly recommend a thorough reading.

OOPs, I forgot the link:

 

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson%20V700/page_13.htm

<p>Ive used the V500 for Large format prints. Just scan it with no neg holder, flat on the glass. First one side of the sheet, then another pass moving it and getting the other half. Load them in Photoshop, go to Automate, Photomerge and try different options until u get a good merge. <br />some examples of scans on my Flickr:<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/agustinbarrutia">www.flickr.com/agustinbarrutia</a><br>

The photos of the last 2 weeks have been scanned with the Epson software. No addons, 600dpi some levels on photoshop.</p>

<p>cheers</p>