V700 still the top choice?

<p>For scanning <strong>120 medium format film</strong> and in the <strong>under-$1000</strong> price range, is an Epson V700/V750 still the top model of choice?<br>

Or maybe there are other manufacturers with new scanners on the market that can compete with it?<br>

I have around 50 rolls of film that I've shot around the world this last year that I need to scan soon ...<br>

Right now, I'm not ready to shell out for a Nikon Coolscan ED and don't want to tackle drum scanning again for the time being.</p>

<p>Well its my choice, which doesn't necessarily mean its the best choice. I'm sure some will say that the wet-mounting options from the very similar V750 are worthwhile and for any of these Epsons the addition of a third party adjustable film holders and AN glass improves scan quality. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>i also looked at the canon 9000<br>

vbut a review said it had issues scanning 120 dilm<br>

not mechanical but from a software side.<br>

epson on the online store does not list the c700/750 on the closeouts and refiurnbs.,<br>

too nbad.</p>

The v700 will scan up to 4x5 film. If you are only scanning 120 film, why not go for the v500? It scans just as well and costs less.

<p>The V700/750 does an excellent job--for the price. I have the V750, and I wouldn't hesitate to print up to 16x20 and get very good (if not quite amazing) quality.</p>

<p>That being said, it isn't perfect. True resolution maxes out at around 3200 dpi, dMax is not fantastic, and, even with the Better Scanning holders, it's hard to keep the film perfectly flat. However, for the price, it does a <em>great</em> job. If you're wanting higher quality, well, you'll have to expect to pay for it.</p>

<p>As for the Plustek, I'd not rush to call it vapourware, even though it is running behind the announced schedule. They have, after all, produced a very good 35 mm scanner already, a company rep has kept us up to date on developments and delays here at photo.net--and it is, apparently, shipping now in small quantities.</p>

<p>The only question will be whether it is better than the Epson, or better enough than the V750 to justify paying roughly triple the price. And of course it depends on your budget--if you can't spend two grand and want to do your own scanning at home, the Epsons <em>are</em> the best tools in the game at present within those constraints.</p>

<p>The Plustek Opticfilm 120 is readily available in Europe now, at least.<br /> Some early scans by a user on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_df/</p>

<p>Just following up a little- I agree with what Bernard Miller says on the V700, and it doesn't surprise me that he says he can print to 20" x 16" with it. But if you habitually want to print that size, I think you have to question whether thats the best you can get, and IMO it isn't. </p>

<p>If what you want is a scanner to put your work on websites , send out CD's, or make prints up to about 12" square, the V700 with Betterscan holders and AN glass will give you results where you won't do that much better no matter how much you pay for scanners or scans. They won't actually be the best scans, but for screen-based applications and smallish prints you just won't notice a huge difference. By the time you get to 20" x 16" prints from medium format, that no longer applies. The Coolscan 9000 and even more so the Imacons will turn out scans with more detail and more shadow detail, and its noticeable. It won't be bad- as Bernard indicates- it just won't be the best you can get, thats all. Even then if most of your scans are for relatively undemanding print sizes and applications, but you need a few of larger sizes, you can still try your V700 for the bigger stuff and if you're unhappy, well you can buy in a scan on a one -off basis without paying drum-scan prices - I'm certainly not advocating that we all have to own scanners that will perform brilliantly at the largest size we're ever going to need. Just drawing a distinction between what you can get and what the scanner is best at, that's all.</p>

IMO no. Why not send them out to a service? I hated my Epson, and never got a MF scan that I was happy with. But,

you may shoot different subjects and have different expectations, so it could work for you. Just prepare yourself for a lot

of post process work. I was happy with every other scanner I tried. IMO, if a coolscan is out of budget, then send them to

a service.

 

Just felt that a dissenting opinion was needed. Had hoped someone would have warned me before I spent time on

Epson.

<p><strong>@Matt</strong> I'm always tempted by the ease of scanning services, but the only decent ones I found that could do 'volume' work (entire rolls) were on labs in California and done on Fuji Frontiers. The results were decent, but I wouldn't say the quality was amazing - and the price still hurt my pockets. Maybe you or someone else can suggest other labs? (I've used North Coast and Photoworks so far).<br>

Sending out for drum scans isn't an option for me at all price wise. On a tangent - I actually used to have my own Optronics drum scanner (long story) but got tired of the labour it required, and something was off with it anyway so I never got amazing results from it that'd be worth all that hassle.<br>

The Plustek 120 is out of my price range even when it becomes available. A used Imacon or Nikon 9000 is as well.</p>

<p>My 2c. <br>

I have a V700, and a Coolscan 35mm version. Yes the V700 isn't as good as the CS, yes if you seen what a CS can do you may not be satisfied but in the eyes of the observer of your print they may not be noticeable. To me it's maybe using the V500/700 as a preview and outsource the few great shots to a pro lab who scans for you. I think the Coolscan 8000 might be around $1000US and there is the Plustek as mentioned new around $2000. But re: the Coolscans none of them including the CS 9000 can be serviced due to parts that's coming from Tokyo, I have friends there and they did my liasing ... I also visit Japan now and then I figured that if my home country (NZ) doesn't service I was betting on Japan - but nope ... They can fine tune and clean/calibrate though .... If you are adventure enough a few have used copy stands with high megapixel dSLR (and a macro lens).</p>

<p>Well, I went ahead and ordered a V700, should be arriving any day now. I'll be getting the Better Scanning film holder as well soon.<br>

<strong>@Ray re copy stands</strong>, I've tried, but it's a lot tougher to make one that works for 645 size medium format (than 35mm) - and my homemade copy stand was never stable and would often topple over. I also think it's not any faster than fltabed scanning, and removing the orange mask from color negatives is a real problem with this method (most of my work these days is color C41).</p>