Facing the truth about V500 scans

[goo0h]

Doesn't really change things, but I notice the V600 was just announced....

http://www.photographyblog.com/news/epson_perfection_v600_photo/

 

[Matus]

V600 you say? Hmm - wondering whether it will be able to do 4x5 with some 3rd party holder ...

 

[sevo]

V600 you say? Hmm - wondering whether it will be able to do 4x5 with some 3rd party holder ...

Given that it has the same backlit scan area as the V500, nope.

 

[Brad Maestas]

I got a V500 just to have a scanner of some sort and one that would fit within my budget at the time. I plan on getting a dedicated negative scanner in the future but I needed something quick and cheap for the web, not for making prints. So far I have gotten decent results with the stock holders with both chromogenic XP2, true Silver and slides (haven't tried BW400CN or color reversal yet).

Remegius, I have been having the exact opposite dilemma as you. My local mini-lab (a family-run shop) has been giving me pretty low-res, dirty scans for a while now even after complaining about excessive dust and artifacts. I was sick of paying for sub-par scans so I went to the nearest store (Staples) and ended up getting the V500. I am going to be ordering some of the ANR inserts from BetterScanning but in the meantime I've been experimenting with the stock configuration, trying to acclimate myself with its quirks and trying to extract the most out of it. For web work, it's been just fine. Some important frames I have sampled at very high dpi and have been impressed with the results. Of course I have not had a Nikon 5000 or 9000 around to put it to shame but it does enable me to get my work online which is the whole reason I got it. That and the fact that I'll eventually be scanning in some 4x5. Perhaps I will upgrade to a better flatbed in the future, to complement my negative scanner but for now, the small demands I am putting on this scanner are being met.

 

[brett]

Improving the V500

Improving the V500

Well...my truth. I spent the better part of this afternoon trying to get the best possible scan from a 35mm BW400CN neg, and nothing I did was capable of matching the 3087x2048 scans I get from Costco. Nothing. I tweaked, I fiddled, I tried different scanning resolutions (with Vuescan), but all for naught. The V500 is a nice little scanner, and it does a credible job with MF negatives, but it just doesn't cut it for 35mm. At least IMHO. Fortunately Costco is five minutes away, and the scans they turn out with C41 BW films have printed very well, up to 11x14 so far. Still, I would like to be able to turn out very good 35mm scans at home, so I'm going to begin investigating whether or not that is possible without having to sell my soul.

Cheers...

Rem

I read a very good review of the scanner that said they gave up on the Epson software and used Vuescan... and then found the B&W negative scanning in particular to be excellent.

 

[68degrees]

I scanned emulsion side down with film directly on the scanner bed and the glass on top of the film and the results are much better that I could get from having film in film holders.

The thing to make sure is that the scanner is set to film area guide.

On the v500 I dont see anything that says 'film area guide'. Can anyone enlighten me on how to do this with myv500?

 

[68degrees]

Can't do that with the V500.

Cheers...

Rem

so cannot put directly on glass with v500?

 

[Bingley]

Rem,
For 35mm scans; have you tried putting the neg, emulsion side down, directly on the glass and then covering with ANR glass?
Works satisfactorily for me. But maybe my level of acceptance isn't very high.
Gerry

I have tried putting negs directly on the glass of my V500 and the scanner won't recognize them. I understand it can be done on a V700 scanner, but if anyone has successfully done it on the V500 I'd love to know how.

I'm generally pleased w/ bw negative scans on the V500, although it took me quite awhile to figure out what to do (including setting the inputs and outputs for the histogram, and scanning as tiff files). For color, though, I get better results from Costco.