With Epson's V800 discontinued, is an update in the cards?

With Epson's V800 scanner finally listed as discontinued [1], is there a new scanner like a V900 in the cards for medium and large format scans or will Epson just keep the V850 around and then exit the market for this type of scanner? Any guesses?

 

[1] Epson Perfection V800 Photo Scanner

It's listed as out of stock on Epson's site but not discontinued. But assuming it is discontinued I wouldn't hold my breath for a V900.

 

They have virtually no competition in the high-end flatbed scanner market and I would think it's a pretty small market anyway. So not a lot of incentive for them to invest R&D money into a new scanner model. The market might be small enough in fact that they decided it wasn't worth producing two separate but very similar models.

@ tomspielman, I checked Epson's webpage and agree, but B&H list it as discontinued; see the link. I fear that the V850 may be all that is left and share your pessimism about the market and the lack of competition. Still, given the interest in analog photography, even a slightly modernized V900 would be very welcome, ideally they would add autofocus as in their very large (and expensive) XL series.

There is some reason for hope. If I were them I'm not sure that I'd go with the 850 if I was going to sell only the one model. An "830" makes more sense to me. I believe the only physical difference between the two models is better optical coatings on the 850.

 

I've heard that those coatings allow for faster scans since there's less processing that the scanner has to do. So there is a firmware difference. Other than that I think it's just the extra trays and full version of Silverfast. Maybe they provide a discount coupon for that instead and save the people who don't want that some money.

I've heard that those coatings allow for faster scans since there's less processing that the scanner has to do.

How could letting a tiny bit more light through the imaging lens possibly have such effects?

That's just another piece of Internet Nonsense I'm afraid.

How could letting a tiny bit more light through the imaging lens possibly have such effects?

That's just another piece of Internet Nonsense I'm afraid.

 

I'm also skeptical but that's what a senior product manager at Epson claimed:

 

[The V850 Pro] will also scan a little bit faster because we know the processor understands the data coming in is cleaner, that there is less processing to do to make sure that image is very precise, so we can run it a little bit faster because of it.

 

Epson V800 vs V850 — The 5 Differences and Which You Should Buy

If the speed is so critical, how does that affect Silverfast's slower speed multiple pass operation?

Btw, Epson has now officially discontinued the V800 on their own webpage. I have a Coolscan 5000 for 35mm now, but I am still looking for a good scanner for 120mm and possibly 4x5.

@ tomspielman, I checked Epson's webpage and agree, but B&H list it as discontinued; see the link. I fear that the V850 may be all that is left and share your pessimism about the market and the lack of competition. Still, given the interest in analog photography, even a slightly modernized V900 would be very welcome, ideally they would add autofocus as in their very large (and expensive) XL series.

 

I'd be surprised if they add autofocus at that price point. It's one of the major selling points for the XL series, and a lot of colleges, museums, archives, etc, who could get by with the smaller form factor for photography would gravitate towards it.

 

I could be wrong,. But we see from some of Apple's decisions about things like not being able to put an i7 in the previous 27" iMac (at least, it was the last , so it's the i5 or paying a huge premium for the i9). Now you can get an i5 or an 8-core i7, but not the i9. Most of these companies don't look to deliver value, they're about delivering "just enough" to increase margins at the lower level while protecting the larger margins at the higher price points.

Btw, Epson has now officially discontinued the V800 on their own webpage. I have a Coolscan 5000 for 35mm now, but I am still looking for a good scanner for 120mm and possibly 4x5.

The V850 is still available.