Epson V700 vs. Nikon Coolscan V

[morphomir]

Hi all -

I'm sorry if this has been talked about before, but I was curious as to which negative scanner you would recommend (hopefully based on some experience); the V700 or the Coolscan V. Anyone have any experience with either of these that they're willing to share? I'd be very grateful. I just want to make sure I make a good purchase.

Thanks in advance for anything anyone can provide.

-mcs

 

[M. Valdemar]

If you only want to scan 35mm slides or negs, get the Nikon.

If you need to scan other formats, the Epson is good.

 

[morphomir]

Thanks for your feedback, Vlademar.

Yeah, I'm only looking to scan negatives and maybe slides from time to time. I don't care about scanning papers to PDF and the like. So you would say that the negative scan quality on both is about the same?

Thanks again for your reply.

 

[thomasw_]

It depends on the aim of your scanning. Is it to print the digital file or is it to upload to a hosted site? Get the dedicated film scanner if you want to print the digital files. Otherwise I think the V700 is excellent for scanning for posting to the web. Many of us on RFF use it for this aim; I use it for slides, 35 mm BW negatives and MF. Also the convenience of batch scanning - 24 exp of 35mm - is a time saver. For printing negatives, I prefer the old wet prints, as I think they just look better than any scans 🙂

 

[M. Valdemar]

The scan quality of the Nikon is noticeably better for 35mm.

The Epson is still excellent for 35mm, and if you want to scan 120 film as well, for example, I would buy the Epson.

Both of them will give high quality scans suitable for most purposes.

I would also consider using Vuescan software.

 

[wjlapier]

I've recently purchased a Coolscan V and at it's basic settings it is an awesome scanner. I have 30 year old slides and many look excellent on screen after a basic scan. Basic meaning one pass with ICE set to normal and everything else neutral. Files are massive--130mb tiffs at 14 bit. I save to jpg excellent quality.

This scan is 30 years old and the original jpg was 27mb.

Bill

 

[Henk]

I use a Nikon Coolscan V ED. And thinking about getting a Epson V750 M Pro as well, because I can make use of a friend's Mamiye 645.

I think the Epson will give a faster workflow and has an optical resolution of
6800 dpi !

What I can tell you is that I get much better results with the Nikon scanner
buy using silverfast AI studio as opposed to the Vuescan software, but that is only
my opinion of course. Vuescan is a good piece of software as well, and cheaper.

Henk

 

[morphomir]

Thank you all for your input into this matter. Very much appreciated.

It's a tough choice, no doubt about it. But as some of you have brought up, I'm just looking to upload to Flickr, not print my photos. So I'm not looking to do anything fancy with it, but I do want a *good* scan from the negatives or slides. If I'm dropping that kind of money, I want something great.

I might end up going with the Epson only because it's more easily available than the Coolscan V. I hope it'll be the right choice.

Thanks again, all. You're always a very reliable bunch.

 

[d_ross]

this review will tell you pretty much all you need to know, and has comparisons with the coolscan http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson V700/page_1.htm

 

[venchka]

If you aren't printing, the Epson V500 or a used/reconditioned Epson 4990 should be sufficient.

Why don't the scanner makers have to provide independant verification of their wildly overstated optical resolution, hey?