Ellis Veners review of 750

[Henry Ambrose]

Well i've been intrested in this scanner for a while now but have been put off by the prospect of doing fluid mounting. So much so that i have been waiting for microteks latest offerings and see how they compair. I guess it didn't occur to me that medium format will provide a more sterner test for the scanner. I am just curious to know if i can get away with doing a regular dry scan for prints about 16x20 using 4x5 transperencies.

The answer is yes you can do dry scanning and be happy with it. There is always something better to buy, but you might just want to start somewhere. If all you do is print four foot wide from 4x5 film then the V750 is not enough. But for most folks it'll be fine for most work. When you need bigger and better order up a drum scan and pay for it.

Generally, there is no difference scanning 35mm film, MF flim, 4x5 film or 8x10 film on a square inch basis. Its all just film. The difference is how big a reproduction you can make. Bigger film lets you make bigger prints given the same scanner and technique.

The general consensus seems to be that somewhere around 4x magnification range with reasonable technique and good film most folks can make nice prints from scanners in this range. That works out to about a 16x20 from 4x5. My experience tells me this is an obtainable goal and I've made bigger prints that are excellent.

You can't buy many drum scans for what these flatbeds cost. Again, if you only print great big prints they won't make you happy. But up to about 4x repro size they're great to have and way cheaper than paying for scanning.

[Ted Harris]

The simple answer is that if you are goingto scan LF film and don't want to spend many thousands of $$ you can choose between the several 'prosumer scanners' that range in price from ~ 300 to ~ 700. Without going into the used market there are no other options without making a quantum leap forward in cost ($10K).

[mdd99]

A tip o' the cap to those who have the time, patience, and work space to have to use wet mounting to get a good scan. In fact, I'm envious. For critical work, I just let the pros do it. Prices are so much more reasonable for professional scanning work now.