Holders for V700

[Two23]

I just got a deal on a used Epson V700. I intend to use it to scan 6x9 and 4x5 negs, mostly b&w. The V700 comes with plastic holders but I know from experience (I had an earlier model) these are likely rinky-dink. Since I saved so much on the scanner I can spend some on an after market film holder. The "Better Scanning" products I've seen mentioned here look good, and wet mount is something I could find useful. Anything else out there that's better? V700 came with Silverfast SE, which I intend to use. I have CS4 as my main processing software.


Kent in SD

[Ash]

I think this needs to be an article on the main page (and if it is already, then a sticky in the forums to link it), seems to be asked so often...

[David Higgs]

no problem with asking again, as forums can often spout facts as gospel, when fresh thoughts can make all the difference

my theory is that the standard Epson holder works well most of the time, but, using the better scanning holder enables the more curly film to be held in check.

I've recently 'saved' a 6x9 that I thought was taken out of focus as I could never get s a sharp image, despite the better scanning holder, looked ok on the loupe. I used a 6x17 ant newton glass on it and its almost perfect, good enough for a 16"print. Looks like some film moves during the scanning process itself, maybe due to heat?

[bsimison]

Yeah, the film definitely will bow as it heats up in the scanner. I keep my 8x10 film flat with a piece of anti-newton glass from focal point (http://www.fpointinc.com/glass.htm). Film emulsion side down on scanner glass, AN-surface facing down on top of the film base.

[rdenney]

Getting the film at the right distance above the glass is more important than anything. Sometimes, the Epson holders do that and sometimes they don't. The Better Scanning holders have adjustable feet so that this distance can be fine-tuned.

As to wet-mounting, that becomes an issue of contrast more than sharpness. You can solve the sharpness problem (if it is caused by mis-focusing) without using wet mounting.

Rick "whose Epson holders are pretty well focused" Denney

[Gem Singer]

There are no 5x7 or 8x10 sheet film holders for the Epson 700 series scanners.

Larger sheets if film need to be mounted directly on the glass.

The V700 is not designed for wet mounting the film directly on the glass.

The V750 is equipped with a separate wet mounting glass tray for that purpose.

The plastic film holders that came with my new 700 series scanner are an improvement over the film holders that came with my previous Epson 4990. They are not as flimsy and they hold the film much flatter.

However, the focusing ability if the scanners sensor is another matter. That's where the Better Scanning holders have the advantage. They are adjustable to the ideal focusing height above the glass.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Having gone from a 4870 to a V700 with the Betterscan holder, I can say, as many others will too, that the improvement is substantial. After seeing the difference dry mounting, I am now learning wet mounting, and it is even better.

[Acheron Photography]

Getting the film at the right distance above the glass is more important than anything. Sometimes, the Epson holders do that and sometimes they don't. The Better Scanning holders have adjustable feet so that this distance can be fine-tuned.

As to wet-mounting, that becomes an issue of contrast more than sharpness. You can solve the sharpness problem (if it is caused by mis-focusing) without using wet mounting.

Rick "whose Epson holders are pretty well focused" Denney

Rick

Intuitively this is obvious - indeed I can't see how it cannot be true. But when I went through the tedious 'adjusting the feet' business on my betterscanning holder I found that for quite a large range of heights (a whole turn of the screw) there was no discernable difference in scan quality. The only way I think of explaining this is if the scanner itself adjusts for film height to some degree. Any thoughts?

David.

[Greg_Thomas]

Rick

Intuitively this is obvious - indeed I can't see how it cannot be true. But when I went through the tedious 'adjusting the feet' business on my betterscanning holder I found that for quite a large range of heights (a whole turn of the screw) there was no discernable difference in scan quality. The only way I think of explaining this is if the scanner itself adjusts for film height to some degree. Any thoughts?

David.

I don't think so but the depth of field is considerable. If your default film holder is in the sweet spot of that DOF then it's going to be hard to see a difference while adjusting the feet.

AFAIK, the only height adjustment that the V700 does is when switching from a film holder to full area scanning on the glass and vice versa.

[JosephBurke]

......being I've only had my V700 for a bit I will say that my scans from film in the holders (120--quick and dirty for the web and 4x5) vs. on the glass is very different regarding sharpness. The scans by just placing the negs/pos flat on the glass are far superior to the film being scanned in the holders. I actually have a Nikon 9000 for my 120 film but for quick/lower resolution and contact scans the V700 is much faster. I'm very pleased with the V700.

[Two23]

I just received my V700 and think I got a deal. I intend to buy the wet scan system for 120 & 4x5 from Better Scanning as soon as I think my wife isn't watching. ;) I think the wet scanning deal will help with dust control if nothing else.

Now for a second question. I intend to scan at max resolution and resize as needed in CS5. My computer is pretty robust: quad core AMD processors, 8gb DDR2, video card with 1gb memory. V700 has provision for FireWire. Will I see an improvement if I install a FireWire card vs. just using USB 2.0? Those 4x5 files have to pretty big. Will mostly be scanning b&w, but maybe some color on occasion.


Kent in SD

[Nathan Potter]

Rick

Intuitively this is obvious - indeed I can't see how it cannot be true. But when I went through the tedious 'adjusting the feet' business on my betterscanning holder I found that for quite a large range of heights (a whole turn of the screw) there was no discernable difference in scan quality. The only way I think of explaining this is if the scanner itself adjusts for film height to some degree. Any thoughts?

David.

David, turning the height adjusting screws on the "Betterscanning holder" will only slowly change the focus plane on the V 750 if you are already in the vicinity of best focus. There is a surprising Depth Of Focus on these machines. For a sense of what it is you can go to another post I made on 20 Sept 2010, (post #31), Re:[www.betterscanning.com] ...., where you will find a plot of the DOF for this scanner. Note that at about a 12um resolution you will have on the order of 2 mm DOF centered well above the scanner glass platen. As you move well away from the sweet spot for focus the resolution degrades very quickly in a somewhat hyperbolic function that I think would not be unusual for a simple short focal length lens, but is pretty impressive for this consumer product. :)

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Acheron Photography]

David, turning the height adjusting screws on the "Betterscanning holder" will only slowly change the focus plane on the V 750 if you are already in the vicinity of best focus. There is a surprising Depth Of Focus on these machines. For a sense of what it is you can go to another post I made on 20 Sept 2010, (post #31), Re: www.betterscanning.com ...., where you will find a plot of the DOF for this scanner. Note that at about a 12um resolution you will have on the order of 2 mm DOF centered well above the scanner glass platen. As you move well away from the sweet spot for focus the resolution degrades very quickly in a somewhat hyperbolic function that I think would not be unusual for a simple short focal length lens, but is pretty impressive for this consumer product. :)

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

Thanks Nate - I appreciate the reference. You're right - that is an impressive DOF.

Kind regards

David.