New Epson V500 scanner sample JPG

Hi Mary

I tend to believe that manufacturers try and make gear perform the best it can, so when I hear about stuff like fancy film-holders that supposedly make all the difference I tend to take it with a pinch of salt.

As I said earlier I am pretty happy with the results as it stands. But I might experiment. What I was planning on doing was measuring the glass to film distance in the stock film holder. Then I will cut some apertures the size of a 120 frame in thin black card. I will tape a piece of 120 film (some junk I don't care about - but sharp etc) on one of the pieces of card and then do scans with different amounts of card between the film and glass - in theory I should be able to find the optimum point or discover that it is roughly the same at various heights.

If it is best at a distance other than that of the stock film carrier I probably would consider buying an alternative.

Hope that explains my theory!

All the best. Les
 
Thanks, Les

Thanks, Les

I sort of thought that's what you meant; my big issue with the scans is for 135. I'm not that concerned but I'd sure like the negative to be flatter in the holder.

thanks for the quick reply,

Mary
 
I agree with you there Mary and betterscanning.com sells anti-newton ring glass that fits in the Epson holder. THAT would be worth having IMHO. In case you didn't know sometimes if you place film against glass you get strange rainbow moiré patterns forming, this glass prevents that from happening.

http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/insert35.html

The items for the 4490 are compatible with the V500

Let us know if you buy the glass - it's not too expensive at $30

Good luck. Les
 
Les,

Thank you for your efforts and real world experiences with this scanner. I already have a Minolta Scan Dual IV for my 35mm and the V500 looks like the way to go for low cost MF.
 
Thanks Les!
It looks ok, not great, but ok for the price and versatility. Probably a great scanner for medium format if you're not making enormous prints and scanning at 2400 dpi or below.
 
Here are a couple from my V500 ...

InfinityRow.jpg


Christmas.jpg
 
I guess i will do the infamous brick wall shot so i can tune the height of the carrier on the v700. I notice a lot of blocking up with my slide scans but I think it is the slides. Fuji 160s looks real nice on these units from my experience.
 
Does the V500 have different heights on it's film holder as the V700/V750? If so, you may be able to get huge improvements by trying other heights..
 
marbrink said:
Thanks Les!
It looks ok, not great, but ok for the price and versatility. Probably a great scanner for medium format if you're not making enormous prints and scanning at 2400 dpi or below.
Click to expand...
Maximum resolution is probably achieved at 3200 dpi though, if previous experiences from flatbeds apply. Most good flatbeds have a true resolution about half of their theoretical optical resolution along sensor axis.

I would not make too much conclusions from the 35 mm film scan without comparison to a dedicated film scanner, since it was made handheld at relatively slow shutter speed and wide aperture (of course without knowing which lense was used, it is impossible to say if lens resolution was a factor, but most slower than f/1.4 lenses typically would not have reached their optimum resolution at f/2.8). Even if there was just a slight motion blur invisible at 8x10 inch prints and the lens was still slightly soft, the aggregate effects could contribute to some softness. And of course the ISO 400 film grain might also "get in the way".
 
When I have time I'll try and do some slightly more controlled experiments. Would be interesting to see what some 35mm Velvia looks like.

I wasn't expecting much from the scanner and was really expecting to return it, but have been pleasantly surprised.

Les
 
Hi Les and Wray, could you both give me some feedback on your posted images here.


Les do I have this correct?

photo 1 : man w glasses; 35mm colour neg scanned
photo 2 : woman and fur coat; 120 colour reversal (transparency)
photo 3: woman jumping; 35mm bw neg
photo 4: wire basket still life; 35mm colour neg

BTW who is the model 'jumping'?


Wray

Photo 1: what BW film?
Photo 2: what colour film?
 
Les Hall said:
I scanned a $10 bill as well at high res to see how much detail it captured and it was amazing - you could read all the tiny micro printing and see the threads in the paper. I knew there was some clever Federally mandated trickery if you scanned money and sure enough a dialog came up saying that I was scanning currency and that I could open it but would not be able to print it.

Thanks Les
Click to expand...

I know that on the new bill notes, on the back, there are these yellow numbers in the background. eg $20bill, there are these yellow "20" numbers scattered.
they are suppose to be in a special pattern to alert copy machines that it should not be copied...


on the main note, this scanner looks awesome!
i have been looking for a scanner to scan my MF negs. :D :D :p
 
just one 6by7 at a time

just one 6by7 at a time

but the new LED light needs no warmup time so you're scanning at a record speed compared to, say, the V700 which doesn't have the LED technology. I don't know what the warmup time for the V700-750 is, but on the V500 I can do a batch scan of my 35 negs (scanned at 300dpi for web use) 12 per scan in just a few minutes... I don't know the actual time because I'm usually reading or editing on another computer while the V500 is scanning. It takes a few minutes to edit each thumbnail, but once that's done you can look at your scans and decide which ones get the "big" treatment.
If the V700-750 ever come out with LED light technology I'll buy one...

HTH,
Mary in Fort Myes, FL

einolu said:
good samples, thanks a lot!

so you can scan like 2 6x7s at the same time? or just one?
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Another 120 B&W V500 scan

Another 120 B&W V500 scan

Another blast from the past - Sharon Summerall a Dallas model who went on to become Don Henley's wife. Here a bit from Wikipedia, imagine having this band jamming at your wedding reception....

"Performers at the wedding included Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Billy Joel, John Fogerty, Jackson Browne, Donna Lewis, Sheryl Crow, Glenn Frey and Tony Bennett."

http://www.leshall.com/sharon.jpg pretty much a straight scan out of the machine 3200 dpi scanned at 16 bit but had to be saved at 8-bit for JPEGs. Tri-X probably processed at the lab so probably D-76?? I think I did unsharp mask in CS3 - really should keep notes ;)

Les
 
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einolu said:
good samples, thanks a lot!

so you can scan like 2 6x7s at the same time? or just one?
Click to expand...

No only 1 1/2 6x7 - two 6x6. But 35mm you can scan 12 frames of film or four mounted slides. That is using the carriers I haven't tried laying anything just on the glass - the area that scans film is roughly 3" x 9". wether that equates to a scanning area of that dimension I don't know.

Oops sorry Mary - you answered already!

thanks Les
 
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The 120 carrier's aperture is roughly 12.2 cm x 5.7cm so I guess whatever can fit in that. So yes to your question.

Isn't the Xpan a 35mm?? That should be fine as the 35mm neg carrier is roughly 22.5cm x 2.4cm

Hope that helps. Les
 
Les Hall said:
NO leveling or color balance done in CS3 apart from some dust touch-up

Les
Click to expand...

Les
Epson website says the product has the Digital Ice technology.
Did you manage to use it? Is it good?
Is this the same ICE as what Nikon has?
:confused: :confused:
 
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