Product Review: BetterScanning.com Variable Height Mounting Station

[Michael Gordon]

If you own an Epson flatbed scanner, you owe it to your photographs to scan them with better quality! Check out my brief review of the BetterScanning.com Variable Height Mounting Station on my blog.

[vinny]

Nice review. Epson scanners are okay but it's too bad that the film holders they include with their machines are worthless.

[PenGun]

It is quite possible to get the Epson mounts to the point of focus. Takes a little fooling around. The scans in the article are wildly out of focus with the Epson mounts.

Feel free to buy these I'm sure they are good but certainly not at all essential.

[SW Rick]

Good report- why is it that companies can't be bothered supplying decent accessories, limiting the value of their products? "If only government could be run like business" (as the saying goes). Unfortunately, it is.

[J.Medlock]

Thanks for the review. I recently ordered a V700 and the BetterScanning mounting system, so am looking forward to using both once I get them.

[Sergei Antonov]

Epson holders could be easily modified to make height adjustable. It will cost you fraction of price that betterscanning.com charges for a piece of brittle plastic. Like PenGun above I too suspect that scans made in review with Epson holders are out of focus too much, and this makes the review quite questionable. I am using V750 with Epson holders for several years now, and I am normally getting much sharper scans. I have drum scanner that I use for small part of frames and could compare results -- I think that the scanner with OEM holders is quite capable.

[Michael Gordon]

Sergei: aside from adjusting the Epson holder height by other artificial means, the only adjustments that can be made to the holder are by either keeping in or taking out the five plastic pieces (marked with arrows). I'd call this far from precision focusing. I've done the tests, and the BetterScanning holder is still better. Sure, you can shim your Epson holder all day, but for my money the BS holder is worth it.

If you question my review, then you'll also need to question the manufacturers review, as they also provide clear and obvious comparisons that point in their holder's favor.

If the lousy stock Epson holder suits you, fine. I don't get any profits from the sale of these things, and I've got better things to do with my time than modify a holder that should be optimized for the scanner to begin with.

[Jon Shiu]

Sergei: aside from adjusting the Epson holder height by other artificial means, the only adjustments that can be made to the holder are by either keeping in or taking out the five plastic pieces (marked with arrows). .

Actually, to be more precise, the Epson holders can be adjusted to + or 0 with the feet in, or take them all out. Also, have to determine whether to scan emulsion up, or down.

Jon

[Paul O]

I have to disagree with Sergei - the Betterscanning Station are not simply "pieces of brittle plastic"??? Compared to the offering from Epson they are a massive improvement in their "holders"!

With both 5x4 and 6x17 negs mounted in the Epson version the film is visibly not held flat! If you do manage to get focus correct with those plastic feet the chamces are the film is buckled anyway!

Betterscanning offers a "mounting station" not just a holder; this allows film to be held flat with the use of AN glass sheets or plastic ribs for 120 roll film. It allows a simple and cleaner method of wet mounting and what's more it allows me to mount 5x7 film on the station too. The method and degree of adjustment possible with the Betterscanning station ensures optimum focus. I have tried both types and the Epson versions are in a box somewhere in my house gathering dust.

What's more they are VERY cheap to buy!

[PenGun]

I will most probably buy one of these when I get to wet mounting negatives.

It's obvious if you hunt for focus that there is an area of perhaps a mm or so where focus changes little. I have tried to nail the center of that so negatives not glass mounted (with the inevitable slight curve) are largely in focus. I'm not sure glass mounting is better given the slight bit of depth of field available.