We may review a posted side by side made by member Steve Ruttenberg, he purchased a drum after the V850, we may beg his permission to compare his crops after a simple but a bit more refined edition. He is new to drums, but it can be a nice starting point. I edited the crops in my PC and I could totally match the images easily, in sharpness and tonality, both BW and CN.
With the Epson a proficient scanning is required, it is not a Pro machine and to get stellar results we should fine tune focus and preform a wise workflow. A Flextight is a totally Pro machine that ensures focus to be scanning all day long without thinking in focus, this is not the Epson case, sadly.
Let me explain better that graph: A 1.2mm drop in the film height, (which would be quite easy with the old 4x5 holders with the heating during the long time the scanning takes) performance is just the half, see the graph:
Resolved target in micrometers goes from 6.8 microns to 13.7 microns with the 1.2mm height drop.
Many that had been ensuring some flatness with the old holders they did not thought that film reheats while scanning, and a 1mm drop in the height it's quite easy to happen in a 100mm scan width if reheated film is in the air. Well, the same than with enlargers, my Nega 138 glass holder ensures a flawless job, in the same way the new Epson ANR 4x5" glass holders are a great improvement, we only need for force the curling up to make the glass flattering work.
This is the new Paradigm: Want to get top notch results from a $500 cheap machine ? Be proficient...
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