Epson V800 , V850

<p>As best I can tell, the only difference between the Epson V800 and the V850 is the software. Is there any other difference? I plan to scan mostly 35 mm negatives and slides.</p>

<p>+ wet mounting gear.</p>

<p>I have no idea what you want to do or what kind of quality you are after. I wouldn't buy an Epson of any variety for 35mm. It won't do much more than snapshot level. I would get a dedicated film scanner.</p>

<p>That is sooooo funny.</p>

<p>Can you tell us why it's funny, Peter?</p>

<p>I have owned many scanners......I don't find my Epson V700 inferior in any way. I can only surmise you are an inexperienced person at scanning, or have never used an Epson of this quality. </p>

<p>Found this interesting and exhaustive study comparison between several Epson scanners showing 35mm samples and addressing keeping 35mm flat in the holder...<br>

http://www.stockholmviews.com/epson_v850/</p>

<p>Peter Carter . I have a V700 too. I use it with a Betterscan holder and AN glass for medium format film and IMO I'm distinctly size limited on the prints I can make- certainly more so than I am with a Nikon Coolscan film scanner ( which I've also owned), a Hasselblad/Imacon , and drum scans, all of which have been used extensively on my work, to facilitate prints and digitise MF slides for stock agencies. So IMO the Epson V700 is clearly, visibly, inferior to all of those if what you want to do is make prints much bigger than around 7" x 5" from 35mm. </p>

<p>I don't always agree with Lenny Eiger, but on this I think he's dead right. If the OP is planning to use Epson scans for screen-based applications or small prints that's one thing; if he wants to hang prints on a wall , or create a fully capable archive copy of 35mm frames, then that's quite another. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>I have owned many scanners......I don't find my Epson V700 inferior in any way. I can only surmise you are an inexperienced person at scanning, or have never used an Epson of this quality.<br>

</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Really? Seriously? You want to put the consumer flatbed's up against a drum scanner? I have an Aztek Premier, it does 8000 ppi, its known as one of the best scanners ever made. It is actually quite sharp, edge to edge, and is far out of the range of what the best Epson can do. (Yes, I have tried this.) I scan professionally, people send me film from all over the world. I'm not trying to sell anyone on anything, but I've been doing this for a while and no, I'm not inexperienced at scanning, in fact, quite the opposite.</p>

<p>Gentlemen (David and Lenny), I never said the V700 was the best scanner in the world. I did clearly insinuate that the product is not inferior as Lenny had insisted.</p>

<p>David, I exclusively wet mount everything I scan. My scans are likely the best I can get out of the unit and I am quite satisfied. My 13 x 19 prints are quite pleasing to the eye.</p>

<p>Sorry Bruce for the distractions. They can happen a lot around here.</p>

 

<p>I don't mind the distractions, but now I've developed second thoughts. I do want to make some prints larger than 7X5. I'll now modify my original post: How do the results from the dedicated film scanner Plustek 8100 (somewhat cheaper than the Epson) compare with scans from the Epson (35mm film)? I should come clean, I do have an old Nikon film scanner, the CoolScan 5000, still working-- but, for how long? I worry. (I have not yet cranked it up in Windows 10 with VueScan, probably should.) So another scanner, may be in the future. Larry Dressler seems to like his Epson, but I think he only scans 120 film -- not sure, but his reasonable enthusiasm for it is why I am considering them .</p>

<p>Sorry, can't help on the Plustek. Maybe a tenable strategy is to get a flatbed for the less demanding scanning tasks and smaller prints, forming your own view on when the flatbed runs out of steam, maybe give wet mounting a try, and using the Nikon for when you need something beyond the Epson's capability. If at some point the Nikon 5000 gives up the ghost - and you never know, that could be a while- then you have a choice between replacing it with a film scanner, getting your bigger scans made by a lab, or accepting what the Epson will do, which by that point you'll understand relative to your eye and needs. That decision would in part I guess relate to the quantity of scans you want to make beyond what the Epson will deliver. </p>

<p>David as stated, I regularly do 13x19 of my 35mm frames and I don't have issues with them.</p>

<p>From what I know about LarryD is that if you can put film in it, he's shooting it and likely scanning it. I don't think there is much he won't try at least once.</p>

<p>I have a plustek 7200i which is virtually the same spec as the 8100. I liked the scanner, but they didn't release a new driver for windows 8 and above making it useless for me. Note that these scanners are only about 1/2 the dpi as stated. They produce good quality scans and focus is not an issue.</p>

<p>The only real issue with the epson is the stock holders. I use wet mounting and I find the scanner to be exceptional. I would have to pay significantly more to get better scans.</p>