Scanner Recommendations for 35mm Panoramic?

[mel]

Which scanner is best for Widelux 35mm pics?
I spent a small fortune to have 7 rolls scanned medium and highest quality at A&I today. May as well invest in a scanner. Will the Epson V700/750 do?
Thanks.

P.S. FWIW the clerk said a lot of people had come in today to have panos developed.😀 Can't wait to see mine.

 

[Colin Corneau]

I've owned the Widelux F7 and the XPan...I currently own an Epson v700 and it works wonderfully.

Sharp scans, good tonal range, super easy to use. The built in Epson software works great, too (I take my scans into CS3 to work them).

 

[mel]

Colin, thanks so much. I'm thrilled to learn the v750 is not essential.

 

[kievman]

I have a epson 4180 and it works fine on my horizon 202 negs and MF negs I paid 200.00 new for it from epson. I know referbs of later models of this photo scanner can be bought for 100.00 from epson, sometimes cheaper- Kievman

 

[bolohead]

I scan Xpan on my Epson V500 without problem.

 

[trev2401]

Alternatively, the coolscan 9000/8000 would work perfectly too... but they currently cost as much as a used Honda after nikon discontinued them.

 

[damien.murphy]

If you're going the flatbed route, just beware you can have a lot more issues with dust. I'm just finding this out now, as I finally get around to doing some scanning from 35mm negatives.

For the above reason, I am considering a dedicated 35mm negative scanner, where with the unit being more enclosed, I'm hoping dust will not be such as issue as it currently is with my flatbed (a Canon 8800F).

I suspect though in your case, going the dedicated 35mm scanner route would mean stitching several scans to get the full panoramic neg.

Also, unless the V700/ V750 is a lot better than my 8800F for 35mm negs, the quality may not be high enough for your needs. I'm happy with my 35mm neg scans for web images (1,000- 1,200 pix wide), but my happiness ends there..

 

[varjag]

I scan on plustek, 35mm dedicated scanner. The frames are 24x36 only, so it takes two scans for each frame (with some overlap for stitching).

 

[tj01]

I use 8800f Canon, on 1200 dpi, they scan around 8 minutes and 6 panorama frames. The files are around 1MB. As I'm on Mac, they bundled MP Navigator which I'm happily using because I like the easy route. However, the software can't detect panorama , but it's no problem as I simple drag out the selection frames of the 36x24mm. As I don't print digital files, I'm perfectly happy with my setup. I don't do any manipulation from direct scans , as I'm lazy as is. The magic happens when the lights go off.

 

[Matus]

One dust comment - I use a flat bed and I do not use the ICE (Microtek F1). I just dust the film (when mounted in the scanner holder) with canned / pressurized air (one needs test several different ones). If you are careful not to spill the fluid gas out (just do not shake or tilt the bottle - especially when newly opened) than you can get nearly dust-free film for scanning. It does take some training though.

The hand blowers like the Rocket blower are way too weak.

Just be careful not to blow the film away 🙂 Happened to me with 4x5 film already.

 

[mel]

Thank you so much for all your responses.
I'm going to give the Epson V700 a whirl.
If it doesn't work out I'll unload it on that
famous auction site like everything else.
Thanks again.

 

[LKeithR]

I have a V750 which works very well with the Epson software. Vuescan is supposedly much better. Most people will acknowledge that dedicated film scanners are better than flatbeds but less versatile. With a flatbed you can scan larger negs as well as prints; very necessary if you're trying to archive family photos from the past...

 

[Colin Corneau]

One dust comment - I use a flat bed and I do not use the ICE (Microtek F1). I just dust the film (when mounted in the scanner holder) with canned / pressurized air (one needs test several different ones). If you are careful not to spill the fluid gas out (just do not shake or tilt the bottle - especially when newly opened) than you can get nearly dust-free film for scanning. It does take some training though.

The hand blowers like the Rocket blower are way too weak.

Just be careful not to blow the film away 🙂 Happened to me with 4x5 film already.

This is definitely a consideration with any flatbed. I go over the neg holder, the negative, the glass bed and the machine with an anti-static cloth first...then use compressed air.
A humidifier, during dry months, also helps.

 

[FalseDigital]

I second the Epson V500 Suggestion. Works great :]

 

[abumac]

Canoscan 8600f with Silverfast. I like the results. Take a look: http://mimpresion.blogspot.com/search/label/Horizont