V700 alternatives? Help!

[Ash]

Before I blow a fair amount of money on the Epson V700, are there any alternatives that will do better within the price range?

Reason I ask is I try to avoid Epson at all costs, but this time I'm not sure I'll be able to!


I'd like the scanner as fast as possible as, although I'm using an iBook G4 1GB ram and 1.4ghz processor, I can be disappointed when waiting 10 minutes for a neg and finding the scan isn't up to scratch.



If there are any alternatives please let me know, otherwise positive reinforcement toward purchasing the V700 would help.


Thanks!

[z_photo]

and larger than 1Gb as well

[Jeremy Moore]

Before I blow a fair amount of money on the Epson V700, are there any alternatives that will do better within the price range?

What size negatives? If you're only doing up to 4x5 you could get away with the older Epson 3200 for about $100US or the 4990 for up to 8x10. These are older scanners so they are a little slower and the quality may not be the same as the V700, but it really depends on final output size if they would work for you or not.

Reason I ask is I try to avoid Epson at all costs, but this time I'm not sure I'll be able to!

Why? If you avoid them at all costs then pony up and buy a Creo

I'd like the scanner as fast as possible as, although I'm using an iBook G4 1GB ram and 1.4ghz processor, I can be disappointed when waiting 10 minutes for a neg and finding the scan isn't up to scratch.

The only way to make it run faster would be to get a faster computer, but you can do a 300dpi scan to of the negative to see what you think before doing a larger, master scan.

[Ash]

Jeremy,

I'd like to do more than one 4x5 at a time (capable of 5x7 or 10x8 in the future). I'm keen on recent versions and models, rather than older scanners (since this one is already a couple years old - I've been using older flatbeds and I want to move away from them). Once I buy it, I won't be replacing it any time soon, so an older model is begging to be replaced from the moment I set it down in the house.

Budgets dictate!
I avoid Epson as much as possible due to the rep that I had a run in with for weeks on end at a store I worked with. I didn't like the way he went about his business in-store, and I didn't like the way he recorded images of customers well under 18 and kept copies for himself.

Faster computer is on the xmas wishlist

[Don7x17]

Jeremy,


I avoid Epson as much as possible due to the rep that I had a run in with for weeks on end at a store I worked with. I didn't like the way he went about his business in-store, and I didn't like the way he recorded images of customers well under 18 and kept copies for himself.

Faster computer is on the xmas wishlist

Don't you think that you should report this to Epson? At the very least he's losing sales for them. At the most, they need to be aware of his activities which certainly aren't part of Epson's sales program. Under 18 images? Epson should know this as well.

[Ash]

In fact his sales were through the roof. He did very well in comparison to non-represented products.

To an extent it would have been considered an attempt to sabotage, as at the time I was representing Canon. So to avoid drawing attention to myself I couldn't raise a point of it. This was last December. Along from this I didn't get the name of his agency he worked through. I may be consulting a colleague from another agency separate to myself or him who witnessed it as well. Maybe she knows more. We were both unsure as to whether we could believe what we were hearing and how far to take it.

[Matus Kalisky]

Hi, I have not direct personal experience with flatbed scanners, but you may want to have a look at Microtek M1. it misses the hardware dust and scratch removal, but to my understanding it has about the same resolution as V700, but better Dmax. Just my 0.02$.

[Brian Ellis]

According to the reviews I've read (mainly the late Ted Harris review in View Camera) any difference in scan quality between the 4990 and the V700/750 is minimal to non-existant. I've used my 4990 since new with 4x5 and 8x10 negatives and always been pleased with it for prints up to about 13x17 or so. You can get a refurbished one for a good bit less than a V700/750.

FWIW, it seems to me that you're only hurting yourself if you avoid a respected brand name like Epson because you didn't like one of their reps. I avoid B&H because of a bad experience with them and specifically their "customer relations" guy but only because I can always get the same thing for the same price somewhere else. If something I wanted could only be bought at B&H I'd hold my nose and buy it.

[Frank Petronio]

I had quality control trouble with two identical Microtek scanners, which were hardware related as opposed to a poorly behaving rep.

While I haven't tried the M1 or Epson 700/750, the Epson 4990 that I bought after dicking around with the Microtek has performed perfectly -- for what it is. It doesn't compare it to an Imacon, a Creo, or a drum scanner -- but it fits on your desk and you can buy one for only a couple hundred bucks.

[Peter De Smidt]

Canon 9950F does a good job. They're only available used.