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Thread: Soft scans with Epson V750?

  1. #1

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    Soft scans with Epson V750?

    Soft scans from Epson V750?

    I’ve just been reading Jack Flesher’s account of his first impressions of the Epson V750 compared to the 4990 (soft scan but better dmax). As I was just about to buy a 750 this has made me wonder whether I might not be better off with a 4990 after all.
    I shoot colour slides, more 6x9 than 4x5 until now.
    Has anyone else had the same or different experiences to Jack? I’d be most appreciative of any help. In addition, as I haven’t got any software, do you think it’s worth getting a package which includes Silverfast Ai and Monaco color or not (e.g V750 rather than V700)?
    Thanks,
    Mike

  2. #2

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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    I own a V750 using Silverfast. My scans aren't soft.

    Did Jack Flesher turn off all unsharp masking? All scanners add a little softness to the original image. My Nikon 8000 does. So I always use a "slight" amount of unsharp mask when doing any scan.

    Mostly I'm scanning 8x10 color negs. The scans I'm making with the V750 is far superior to the old Epson Expression 1680 I use to use. Not a fair comparison with the 4990.

    I don't think you'll be unhappy with either the 4990 or V750. As with any tool, you'll be the best judge of what is good or not. How you use it may be different than Jack or me.
    Last edited by Walter Calahan; 13-Sep-2006 at 06:59.

  3. #3
    Jack Flesher's Avatar
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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    To be clear, when I compared them 1) I did turn all sharpening off and 2) it was only a single sample of the V750. It is certainly possible there is some sample variation and a good 4990 will be sharper than a poor V750 or vice-versa.

    The point of my commnet was that folks should check them out for themselves before they buy and if you already own 4990, not to expect significant gains from the V750.

    Cheers,
    Jack Flesher

    www.getdpi.com

  4. #4

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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    I have the 700 and scan 120, 4x5 and 8x10. I note no softness in the scans and I normally have unsharp off. I have not compared to 4990, but am very pleased with this scanner. I also am not dissappointed with the bundled software given that I do little besides crop to my photos.

    Stew

  5. #5
    Ted Harris's Avatar
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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    See my earlier posts on the tests of the V700 that we did (the results should apply to the V750 as well). A full review of the V700 is in the current issue of View Camera which is on the newstands now. To summarize:

    1) The refinements in the V Series over the 4990 are lost on the LF user since you need to use the highest resolution setting to take advantage of the second lens system; doing so gives you huge file sizes, larger than most computer systems can handle. Even so the resolution is only marginally better than that of the 4990.

    2) Our tests showed that the V700 resolution, when set at the 3200 dpi setting, was slightly worse than that of the the 4990. The results obtained here and in 1 above were observed measurements from an AIG T20 Test Target, one of the industry standards used by scanner manufacturers.

    3) The Dmax of the V700 was exactly the same as that of the 4990 when measured from a Stouffer Stepwedge. It is possible that, because of the antireflection coatings on the CCD and mirrors, the Dmax of the V750 is slightly better, but it will not be a marked improvement.

    4) None of the above implies soft scans, that is, the scanners perform in the same general range as the others in their class, but they are not markedly superior.

    Our overall conclusion, buy a 4990 and save a few hundred dollars.
    Last edited by Ted Harris; 13-Sep-2006 at 12:06.

  6. #6

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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    Many thanks Walter, Jack, Stew and Ted for taking the time to answer and for the useful points, they are most appreciated!

  7. #7

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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ted Harris
    1) The refinements in the V Series over the 4990 are lost on the LF user since you need to use the highest resolution setting to take advantage of the second lens system; doing so gives you huge file sizes, larger than most computer systems can handle. Even so the resolution is only marginally better than that of the 4990.

    Our overall conclusion, buy a 4990 and save a few hundred dollars.
    Good thing I still have lots of MF stuff to scan and ALL of the old 35mm in boxes and boxes.

    Also, I got my V700 for $476 shipped. Similar pricing for 4990 is around $445 at places I checked. Hundreds difference may be list pricing, but street may not be so much.

    Stew

  8. #8
    Leonard Metcalf's Avatar
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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    I understand that getting the right height of the neg/trannie carrier is important in reducing softness. Put the tabs to the highest position and check again.


    Len Metcalf

    Leonard Murray Metcalf BA Dip Ed MEd

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  9. #9

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    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    If you are doing black and white 4x5 and using Vuescan, you can scan at the highest resolution and have Vuescan downsample the files before writing them to disk. While I have not tried with a 700, I have done it with a 9950 scanning color at 4800 DPI, which gives about the same size file as black and white would at 6400. This lets me do the scan on a computer with WinXP and only 1 gig memory.

  10. #10

    Re: Soft scans with Epson V750?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ted Harris
    Our overall conclusion, buy a 4990 and save a few hundred dollars.
    Would that also be true for the photographer who shoots in more than one format and needs to scan 120 and 135?

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