Upgrade from V500 to V700/750 - worth it?

[Steveh]

I've been getting more and more into medium format over the next year or so - mainly B&W but some colour as well. I'm getting scans that are "OK" from my V500, but I'm sure there's a lot more potential in the negs that I'm not able to unlock at the moment, and it's starting to frustrate me.

Can anyone who's upgraded from a V500 to a V700/750 tell me if there's an appreciable difference in image quality? Is it worth the step up? I've already ruled out a Coolscan 9000 on cost grounds and I no longer shoot 35mm film, so this is only for MF negative scans. I mainly print A4 but I'd like to be able to print A3 as well - I don't think I'm getting the quality out of the scanner to let me make really good A3 prints, which I can get out of my digitals (D700 and Panny G1).

Also has anyone tried the Betterscanning holders for the V500? Again, are they a worthwhile upgrade?

Thanks!

 

[gavinlg]

I've been getting more and more into medium format over the next year or so - mainly B&W but some colour as well. I'm getting scans that are "OK" from my V500, but I'm sure there's a lot more potential in the negs that I'm not able to unlock at the moment, and it's starting to frustrate me.

Can anyone who's upgraded from a V500 to a V700/750 tell me if there's an appreciable difference in image quality? Is it worth the step up? I've already ruled out a Coolscan 9000 on cost grounds and I no longer shoot 35mm film, so this is only for MF negative scans. I mainly print A4 but I'd like to be able to print A3 as well - I don't think I'm getting the quality out of the scanner to let me make really good A3 prints, which I can get out of my digitals (D700 and Panny G1).

Also has anyone tried the Betterscanning holders for the V500? Again, are they a worthwhile upgrade?

Thanks!

The v500 has a particular lens that allows a big depth of field in scans, compared to the v750 which uses a separate lens with a much thinner depth of field, though higher quality, so can taken advantage of height adjustable holders.

This is how I understand it anyway.

I get pretty epic quality MF scans with my epson v600, I've heard that the biggest advantage of the v700/750 is that it's better for 35mm quality.

 

[ethics_gradient]

I have a V500 at home, and use a V750 at work on occasion. I haven't done a scientific, side-by-side comparison with the two, but I do prefer the V750. Even if you aren't doing large format (which I do), the bigger scanning area means you can set it up to scan twice as much (or more) as a V500, which takes a lot of the tedium out of scanning. The better Dmax helps too. I would probably sell my V500 and get a 700/750, but I'm planning on moving in a few months and a scanner would take up way too much room packing up.

 

[Steveh]

Thanks all - I might start looking out for a V700 and see if it makes a difference.