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If you have read glowing comments at betterphoto about scanning film with the Epson 4990, I predict you will read more of the same about the V700 and V750. The more expensive 750 is said to have a better coated lens and a fluid-type film holder, and a more comprehensive software package. For my needs, the V700, for about $450-500, is cost-effective and practical. The V700 scans 24 frames of negative film in one operation, or 12 slides. Having used several film scanners, I have learned not to pull what's left of my hair out expecting perfect scans from any scanner. I set the scanner to output a high resolution, high bit file that I can tweak in the high bit mode in Levels or Curves in Photoshop (or Elements 3, 4 or 5). When I am satisfied with the image's brightness, contrast and color, I take it down in Image Mode to 8-bit to save file space. Set to do no or minimal tonal or color correction, the Epson returns scans that need a mere post-scan tonal tweak in Curves and a touch of Mid or Highlight in Curves' eyedropper to color correct. Read up on this color correction method in any book on Photoshop. Scans at 4000 ppi from my Canon FS-4000 dedicated 35mm film scanner are sharper in small detail than those from any flatbed, but not to a profound degree if the largest image you need is an 8 x 10. I am not experienced with dedicated medium format film scanners, but V700 scans of my 645 negs and slides seem amazingly sharp to my eye.
Epson's interface is intuitive and simple. Use the Professional mode, as it gives you more options, which will be discussed later. Load your negatives in the holders provided, using Epson's user guide. Use the generic Preview Mode, NOT the Thumbnail Mode (Thumbnail's auto cropping is sometimes off the mark). Click once in each image you want scanned, and draw a marquee around it, even if you need to Zoom to draw it more accurately. You should see the tones in your selected images shift to normal looking colors. If this doesn't happen, push the Auto Exposure button ONCE. If the highlights blow out, push Reset and use the tonal correction button instead, moving the highlight slider all the way to the right. You can adjust the whites to your liking in Photoshop later in the high-bit mode. Pushing the ALL button will show a marquee around each of the images you have chosen. Push SCAN and all images having a marquee with a dotted line will be scanned while you have a quick cup of coffee. Save sizing hassles by Outputting to original size. This means you will get an image in Photoshop the same size as the original neg, at the high res at which you scanned. Do your image sizing in Photoshop's Image/Image Size or in the Elements equivalent.
Epson's own dust cleanup feature is a joke, at least for scanning film. Other reviewers and I have found it too destructive to the image. Perhaps it was designed for scanning damaged prints. Scroll down instead to the Digital Ice feature and choose the Speed method, as the more thorough "Quality" version is also too destructive to film scans. Also, no dust cleanup feature works with Kodachrome slides or with silver-based black-and-white. You must clean these up manually in Photoshop or Elements, using the Healing Brush or the Clone tool. I don't use any Grain Reduction feature, as I shot fine grained films all these years. Try it only if a scan shows a pronounced grittiness from film grain
I turn off EpsonScan's Sharpen features. Scans made with the V700 and maybe all scanners require sharpening, but one-button fixes, in scanner software or in imaging software, are not the way to do this. Sharpening is best done after your edits in Photoshop or Elements, using Unsharp Mask. Read up on techniques for doing this properly. Finally, Doug Fisher at betterscanning.com sells a more durable, height-adjustable medium format film holder. The holder Epson supplies isn't bad, but Doug's may last longer, hold the film flatter and give you a height adjust option to make your scans even sharper. (My scans look quite sharp to me without fooling with the holder height. Epson supplies height adjusters, but does not reveal in their cryptic instructions what they are for.)
This scanner is a natural for folks like me who have been shooting film for 40 years or more. You will get decent results scanning batches of negs or slides with a minimum of bother. Plus you get a superb flatbed for your home office. Why, then, use a dedicated film scanner, such as my Canon FS-4000? Thirty-five, because of the tiny negative size, needs high resolutions and an ability to reach into shadow areas of dense slides. A dedicated film scanner, the Nikon Coolscan V and 5000 being the only quality options these days, coupled with a good scanning software such as Hamrick's VueScan or Silverfast, will wring the best images from your 35mm film short of a $10,000 drum scanner. Hamrick's VueScan gives the $500 Nikon Coolscan (and the Epson V700) an overscanning capability they do not otherwise have. Scanning the same frame repeatedly, although it takes a pretty long time, will wring the detail from those dense shadows in slides. Remarkable, though, is not how far the Epson V700 falls short on 35mm, but how amazingly close it comes to a dedicated 35mm film scanner in scan quality.
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