borge
Established
Hello,
I recently purchased an Epson Perfection V850 to scan several different formats; 35mm negatives and slides, 6x6 negatives, 4x6 prints from the last 3-4 decades from my family's collection.
I find that the scanner itself performs well, and even for 35mm gives me scans of good enough quality for web use and normal sized prints. I know a 35mm dedicated scanner would perform better, but it's just not practical with all the formats that I need to scan. And I want proper automated batch scanning, and would never have the patience to hand-feed a Plustek 8200i one and one negative. I'd rather get a good enough scan from the V850, and for my critical scans I would order a professional drum scan from a lab.
My problems with the V850 isn't the scanner itself. It's the holders that ship with it. Granted, the adustabje height of the new holders makes it easy to dial in the focus and get sharp scans and some of that lovely grain in the scans.
But the new holders have the AN "glass" sheets permanently attached to them. This is not real glass - but plexi glass. Plexi glass is one of the worst materials to work with in regards to static charge. The material is basically one of the worst dust and lint magnets available. Dust and lint clings on to it. It's horrible.
I find it next to impossible to get half decent clean scans with these holders. The negative strips are clean, the scanner surface is clean, I even use surgeons plastic gloves to handle everything to avoid lint, and a lint free cloth and a rocket blower to get rid of the dust. But the plexi glass in the holders acts like a magnet and just sucks dust and lint. So even if the holders are perfectly clean before mounting the film strips, by the time I finish mounting the film strips, a nice collection of dust and lint have re-appeared from "nowhere".
My wife, who has previously scanned with a V750 and the holders without the plexi glass inserts, never had this problem with dust and lint. She adviced me to return the V850 due to the poorly designed holders and rather get a used V750 and order betterscanning holders.
It just boggles my mind that Epson used Plexi, which is one of the worst statically charged materials available, as permanently attached inserts in their film holders. I have never seen as much dust and lint in scans in my entire life. And looking at the Flickr V800/V850 group discussions, I'm not alone in regards to this: https://www.flickr.com/groups/2096226@N24/discuss/72157647699420702/72157647407285343
What is your experience? And is there some 3rd party holders/inserts available for the V800/V850 that solves this?
I recently purchased an Epson Perfection V850 to scan several different formats; 35mm negatives and slides, 6x6 negatives, 4x6 prints from the last 3-4 decades from my family's collection.
I find that the scanner itself performs well, and even for 35mm gives me scans of good enough quality for web use and normal sized prints. I know a 35mm dedicated scanner would perform better, but it's just not practical with all the formats that I need to scan. And I want proper automated batch scanning, and would never have the patience to hand-feed a Plustek 8200i one and one negative. I'd rather get a good enough scan from the V850, and for my critical scans I would order a professional drum scan from a lab.
My problems with the V850 isn't the scanner itself. It's the holders that ship with it. Granted, the adustabje height of the new holders makes it easy to dial in the focus and get sharp scans and some of that lovely grain in the scans.
But the new holders have the AN "glass" sheets permanently attached to them. This is not real glass - but plexi glass. Plexi glass is one of the worst materials to work with in regards to static charge. The material is basically one of the worst dust and lint magnets available. Dust and lint clings on to it. It's horrible.
I find it next to impossible to get half decent clean scans with these holders. The negative strips are clean, the scanner surface is clean, I even use surgeons plastic gloves to handle everything to avoid lint, and a lint free cloth and a rocket blower to get rid of the dust. But the plexi glass in the holders acts like a magnet and just sucks dust and lint. So even if the holders are perfectly clean before mounting the film strips, by the time I finish mounting the film strips, a nice collection of dust and lint have re-appeared from "nowhere".
My wife, who has previously scanned with a V750 and the holders without the plexi glass inserts, never had this problem with dust and lint. She adviced me to return the V850 due to the poorly designed holders and rather get a used V750 and order betterscanning holders.
It just boggles my mind that Epson used Plexi, which is one of the worst statically charged materials available, as permanently attached inserts in their film holders. I have never seen as much dust and lint in scans in my entire life. And looking at the Flickr V800/V850 group discussions, I'm not alone in regards to this: https://www.flickr.com/groups/2096226@N24/discuss/72157647699420702/72157647407285343
What is your experience? And is there some 3rd party holders/inserts available for the V800/V850 that solves this?
Netsoft2k
Well-known
i have v700 but I purchased the v850 holders because of the extra adjustments that they offer. The holders in my opinion are overall better than v700/v750 holders but they do have two major flaws. one is what you pointed out that these LOVE dust but I am able to keep them clean with anti static cloth and compressed can air. Second, the MF film holder bends the film on the sides and its difficult to place the film perfectly on the guide edges.
Overall quality of the scans using the new holder is much better so I am not complaining much. I do have ANR glass for the v700/v750 holders and the glass quality is significantly better than the cheap plastic used by Epson.
If I were you, I would buy the betterscanning holders and ANR glasses. You will need to upgrade that on v750 as well because those holders have their own share of issues.
Overall quality of the scans using the new holder is much better so I am not complaining much. I do have ANR glass for the v700/v750 holders and the glass quality is significantly better than the cheap plastic used by Epson.
If I were you, I would buy the betterscanning holders and ANR glasses. You will need to upgrade that on v750 as well because those holders have their own share of issues.
borge
Established
I would love to buy betterscanning holders with real ANR glass to avoid the static charge of plexi. But it's sadly not available for 35mm negatives, which is actually the holders that I struggle most with getting clean scans from.
If only it was possible to take the plexi sheets out of the V800/V850 holders and replace them with real glass, or for flat film, not use any glass at all, that would help.
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
I use a zerostat anti-static gun, commonly used by djs to keep static off vinyl. It really helped in tackling static while batch feeding whole rolls of 35mm into my coolscan 5000. It is a worthwhile investment regardless if you end up ditching the v850.
Dan Daniel
Well-known
I worked at product prototyping for years, including color design. Apple's Imac success made our life miserable- having to put transparent and translucent paints on clear acrylic parts for models and sample chips without ending up with dust specks buried in the finish.
Fabric softener clothes dryer sheets. Basically a light wax on a carrier clothe. I'd recommend the ones with no odor unless the smell of fake sunshine makes you happy. Or for scanning, Ilford's anti-staticum clothe is probably a better bet. That's what I use on the acrylic I use for quick scans on my V700. Keep the Anti-Staticum in a bag whenever you aren't using it so it doesn't get dusty.
Actually, I first clean any plastic parts with acrylic cleaner/anti-static spray. The spray-on material. In the US, the common brands are Brillianize and Novus #1. Do NOT get the type of cleaner for removing scratches- this is a polishing compound. The plain cleaner is, again, wax, in a liquid carrier this time. Spray on a soft cotton clothe and wipe everything down. Use a dry cotton clothe to dry. Then the Ilford clothe for final wipe down before blowing with air. I have a small air brush compressor that I use to fill a five-gallon air tank. A small nozzle spray handle, and three differnt oil/water filters in the line. 30-40 pounds of air pressure works well- much more and you create so much air motion that as much dust as you blow off is pulled back into the area.
The Anti-Staticum clothe can also be used to wipe down the film itself. I do a very light wipe, pulling the film across the clothe barely touching. I do this on 'final scans' only because of the risk. For bulk scanning it's probably not a good idea to do this to every pieceo f film.
Be careful what fabric you use for wiping acrylic. Most synthetics will actually scratch it. Cotton or micri-fiber clothe only. Watch for trim areas having synthetics or synthetic thread. Out of paranoia I even trim the edge off of the Ilford clothes.
Fabric softener clothes dryer sheets. Basically a light wax on a carrier clothe. I'd recommend the ones with no odor unless the smell of fake sunshine makes you happy. Or for scanning, Ilford's anti-staticum clothe is probably a better bet. That's what I use on the acrylic I use for quick scans on my V700. Keep the Anti-Staticum in a bag whenever you aren't using it so it doesn't get dusty.
Actually, I first clean any plastic parts with acrylic cleaner/anti-static spray. The spray-on material. In the US, the common brands are Brillianize and Novus #1. Do NOT get the type of cleaner for removing scratches- this is a polishing compound. The plain cleaner is, again, wax, in a liquid carrier this time. Spray on a soft cotton clothe and wipe everything down. Use a dry cotton clothe to dry. Then the Ilford clothe for final wipe down before blowing with air. I have a small air brush compressor that I use to fill a five-gallon air tank. A small nozzle spray handle, and three differnt oil/water filters in the line. 30-40 pounds of air pressure works well- much more and you create so much air motion that as much dust as you blow off is pulled back into the area.
The Anti-Staticum clothe can also be used to wipe down the film itself. I do a very light wipe, pulling the film across the clothe barely touching. I do this on 'final scans' only because of the risk. For bulk scanning it's probably not a good idea to do this to every pieceo f film.
Be careful what fabric you use for wiping acrylic. Most synthetics will actually scratch it. Cotton or micri-fiber clothe only. Watch for trim areas having synthetics or synthetic thread. Out of paranoia I even trim the edge off of the Ilford clothes.
Netsoft2k
Well-known
One option is to buy v700/v750 holders but just know that they have very limited height adjustment options. Also, you'll need 3rd party ANR glass from eBay to avoid newton rings for color films.
If you want best quality, the variable height wet and dry mount from betterscanning is best bet. You can always dry mount it if you want to save the time. This will work with all films upto 5x7.
Pali
frank-grumman
Well-known
FWIW, I got this item 2 years or so ago. I just got an Epson V850. I never worry about static or dust on my film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKgX7M4RPos YMMV