Epson V7xx or V8xx + Imacon Flextight 848 (rental) = A Reasonable Solution?

[Dave Gesell]

I'm looking for opinions on whether this seems like a reasonable, low cost solution to scanning B&W 4x5, as well as medium format (6x6 to 6x12, colour and B&W). The lab I take my colour film to rents the Flextight 848 in house for $25 an hour, so I thought a decent compromise would be one of the more recent Epson flatbeds for proofing, image sharing and smaller prints (I'll likely give wet mounting a try), and if I wanted to go bigger/better, go to the lab and rent the Flextight.

I'd appreciate any thoughts. Thanks.

[adelorenzo]

Man I'd jump all over time on a Flextight at $25/hour. That seems like a steal to me.

If I had that option that's the workflow I'd use. Proof on my flatbed and scan for prints on the flextight. Check epson.ca they often have refurbished scanners for sale, I got a really good deal on a V700 that way.

[Ari]

Check epson.ca they often have refurbished scanners for sale, I got a really good deal on a V700 that way.

Indeed, there's a v850 refurb at Epson Canada for $759.

[Dave Gesell]

Indeed, there's a v850 refurb at Epson Canada for $759.

Not anymore! Well, unless they have more than one available. @adelorenzo thanks for the heads up about the Epson refurb/clearance store! I added on the fluid mount tray and a 1 year extended warranty, and after tax I'm still about $350 under the pre tax price of a new one at my local brick and mortar store. That'll buy a good amount of film and Imacon time.

EDIT: Annnnnnnddd...cancelled. At least for now. Wow. What a journey. So I placed my order, got an order confirmation number, and then my phone rang. Caller ID showed an unfamiliar number in Long Beach California. I didn't pick up since that's been a long standing policy of mine. If a message is left, I call back. Several minutes later I got an email from Epson saying the order has been cancelled. I go back to the order, realize the credit card information isn't correct, I make the changes and re-submit the order. Order confirmation -> call from Long Beach -> email from Epson saying the order has been cancelled. I Google the Long Beach number and find it's associated with Epson, so I call back. After being transferred several times I'm speaking with a customer service rep over a bad connection and after 20 minutes we get everything cleared up, but she'll have to call me back after she gets confirmation from inventory control to verify they actually have a refurb V850 to ship. About an hour later, she calls back, "Yes we have a scanner for you." "Great" I say. Then she asks me if I read the Guide to Closeout and Refurbished Products on the Epson website. Here's the pertinent bit:

"Refurbished products may or may not contain a media pack or the same software package as new models."

I asked her plainly if the only way for me to know what's in the box is to open the box after it arrives and she said "Yes". So I cancelled the order. Not sure I wanted to take the chance and save a lot of money by possibly not getting Silverfast, the xRite software or the IT8 targets.

[pinup tragic]

Use the 3F workflow on the hire scanner / copy to a portable hard drive, get a copy of Flexcolor it is very good software costs a massive = FREE... you just bang in the film and scan and afterwards edit at your own speed

[Ari]

And the Epson scanning software is allI ever used with the v750, I hope that's not what stopped you from buying the scanner.

[adelorenzo]

My refurb unit came with Silverfast, Photoshop Elements etc. Silverfast wouldn't install on my Mac though so I can't comment on how well it works. Tried Vuescan but doesn't give me any better results than the free Epson scanning software. That's what I use as well.

[Ari]

My own refurb v750 came with nothing, not even a power cord, but I got it up and running the same day it arrived.
All the software is out there, and I'd disagree about the need to color-calibrate any Epson scanner; they're good enough out of the box unless they're broken.

[williaty]

;) I'll disagree with Ari :lol:

Getting the V850 new was really worthwhile for 2 reasons:

1) Getting the i1Scanner profiling software and (more importantly) targets has made it considerably easier for me to get high quality scans without a lot of work
2) The SilverFast included with it can be affordably upgraded to Ai Studio 8.8 which allows me to make top-notch scans faaaaaaar easier than any other scanning software I've worked with (including Epson Scan, Nikon Scan, and VueScan over the years).

[Ari]

I'll agree with williaty :) except to say that the Epson can perform very well right out of the box, so if the a lack of included software was the OP's reason to not buy the unit, he should re-consider.
The upgrades mentioned are very good, but not absolutely necessary in order to get scanning.

[EdSawyer]

The epson is about the best option for DIY 4x5 scanning out there, but depending on how much you have to scan, the rental flextight may be a better deal. I am going through that consideration myself currently (Except with the option of a flextight x5 rental instead of an 848). I am leaning towards the rental, since the flextight will outperform the epson on 4x5 scanning, no question, and given the scan time on the flextight of about 2 minutes per sheet, one can do quite a bit of scanning for the price of the epson.

[Dave Gesell]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I got busy this week so I didn't check in to the forum that often. I ended up going to my local brick & mortar store and got a "friend of the store" deal on a new V850 that ended up being not a heck of a lot more expensive than the refurb. @pinup tragic, I was hoping to use the 3f files with the rental scanner. I watched a tutorial on YouTube about using that workflow and I thought it a very clever solution. I've only been able to play with the V850 for a few hours on Monday night, but I'm pretty impressed so far after scanning some 4x5 and 6x6 negs. I'm not terribly impressed with the neg holders but there are remedies for that. @EdSawyer, my issue with using the rental Flextight exclusively is that the lab is a fair trip from my apartment, and closes before I'm sometimes able to leave work. Add those factors to my impulsive nature and it wouldn't be workable for me.