Epson V850 Pro

[SodaAnt]

I’m looking to buy a scanner (new) to scan medium format (6x7) and large format (4x5) negatives. I have the Epson V850 Pro on my short list. Is there anything better in this price range I should consider?

 

[George Collier]

Probably not. I have the V850 and use it for 4x5, 6cm, and 35mm. It comes with Silverfast, which will work, but needs an upgrade to save 16bit files, a definite recommendation for both larger formats, to prevent banding. Some folks don't like Silverfast, but in my opinion, it is by far the most finitely controlled software, and is very stable. Others seem primitive by comparison, but if all you want to do is establish end points for the dynamic range and take what you get, then it might be over-featured for you.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Ditto George but I didn't find the need for Silverfast. See my Flickr page linked below for 35mm, 120, 4x5 scan in color and BW. Also, here's a comparison between V850 of 4x5 Tmax 100 scan against a Howtek 8000 drum scan and it compares very favorably.

Good luck on whatever you decide and come back here if you have question about setting up and using the V850.

Howtek 8000 Drum vs. Epson V850 flatbed scanners

Here's a comparison between Howtek HiResolve 8000 drum scanner and Epson V850 flatbed. Negative is mine, Tmax 100, processed normal by North Coast Photo dip and dunk with Clayton F76+ developer (similar to Kodak D76). Taken on a Chamonix 45H-1, Schneider Symmar APO 150mm with B+W orange...

www.largeformatphotography.info

 

[SodaAnt]

How is the bundled software, particularly for scanning B&W negatives (my primary use for the scanner)? I've read that Silverfast is dodgy with B&W negatives? True, or just a myth?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

What operating system do you use? I use windows 11 and Epsonscan which is fine. You can see my bw negative scans with it on my Flickr page below.

 

[SodaAnt]

What operating system do you use? I use windows 11 and Epsonscan which is fine. You can see my bw negative scans with it on my Flickr page below.

Windows 11. I'll take a look at your page. Thanks.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I bought my Epson V850 from Epson as reconditioned for a lot less money.

 

[SodaAnt]

Does the V850 software convert color negatives to positives?

 

[MattKing]

Does the V850 software convert color negatives to positives?

All the scanning software does - both the software that is purpose made for particular brands of film capable scanners, and the stuff made for multiple scanner brands.
If someone was trying to re-purpose a scanner made just for documents - something like a combined printer and scanner for office use - that software would not be able to do such conversions.
One caution if you are new to this. All scanning software offers "automatic" scan plus convert to positive functionality for colour negatives, and all such "automatic" functions are imperfect. Some are better than others, often with some films and not for others. You will have to learn how to correct things when the automatic settings don't give you what you need. In most cases, it is best to do most of that correction in an image editor like Photoshop.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Does the V850 software convert color negatives to positives?

Yes but it's often difficult to get the colors right. Portra seems to be easier than Ektar. That's why I prefer to shoot chromes (positives). Much easier.

 

[SodaAnt]

Received the scanner. The Amazon delivery gorillas nearly managed to destroy it (the foam blocks in box were mashed and the scanner was sitting at a 45 degree angle in the box), but it seems to work fine.

Boy, after many years in the software industry, I thought I'd seen some really user unfriendly software, but I think SilverFast SE has them all beat! The UI of that software is an absolute mess.

 

[mshchem]

The only software that always seems to work for me is the Buy it now button

 

[blee1996]

Epson Scan in professional mode can produce excellent results, without too much fuss. I would probably spend at least a few weeks only on Epson Scan to get the best out of your V850 before exploring SilverFast or VueScan.

 

[SodaAnt]

I’ll definitely use Epson Scan for most of what I will scan (6x7 and 4x5 B&W negatives).

The argument that I used to justify the purchase of this scanner with my wife, however, was that I’d use it to scan about a decade’s worth of 35mm negatives in our family collection. These are a mix of Kodacolor, Kodak Gold, Ektar, and Fujifilm color negatives. Does Epson Scan allow you to choose which film when scanning to optimize the scans for that film type? I know that SilverFast does, but I didn’t see an option in my limited usage of Epson Scan so far.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I don't shoot negative color film because it is harder to scan. Others have used ICC profiles with Silverfast but I never have and don't know how to do it. Epsonscan does have some selection process if you Click on Configuration at the bottom and then go to that page. Notice the ICM section in the Color tab. There's a way of scanning in target colors and then select to match but I don't know how to do it.

By the way, the V600 manual is more complete. I got the second page from it. The V850 pdf manual does not have all the same instructions. Download the V600 manual for editing and selecting scan settings and use the V850 manual for using the V850 film holders and settings unique to it.

V600 manual https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/prv6ph/prv6phug.pdf
V850 manual https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd4/cpd41530.pdf

 

[Sirius Glass]

Epson Scan in professional mode can produce excellent results, without too much fuss. I would probably spend at least a few weeks only on Epson Scan to get the best out of your V850 before exploring SilverFast or VueScan.

I agree. I have the Epson Perfection V850 Pro. My HP 4100 printer scanner shows that HP took a great leap backwards when they added WiFi to their printer scanner ==> every hiccup with the WiFi requires copious amount of time getting it working again and talking to my computer. I have been programming since October 1962 [Cuban Missile Crisis] as well as taught seniors and graduate students Electrical Engineering & Computer Science for over a decade so calling the HP 4100 a peice of shit would be an insult to every piece of shit from the birth of time into the future.

 

[SodaAnt]

I agree. I have the Epson Perfection V850 Pro. My HP 4100 printer scanner shows that HP took a great leap backwards when they added WiFi to their printer scanner ==> every hiccup with the WiFi requires copious amount of time getting it working again and talking to my computer. I have been programming since October 1962 [Cuban Missile Crisis] as well as taught seniors and graduate students Electrical Engineering & Computer Science for over a decade so calling the HP 4100 a peice of shit would be an insult to every piece of shit from the birth of time into the future.

I feel your pain. I will opt for a wired connection every single time over wireless. Much less to go wrong in my experience.

 

[Duceman]

I don't shoot negative color film because it is harder to scan.

I use an Epson V750. For black/white negatives, the Epson Scan software works fine. I have scanned color negatives with that scanning software, but the images were always a bit flat. Then I started using Affinity Photo, including for acquiring color negative images with the Epson V750. Seems to do a much better job.

 

[blee1996]

I use an Epson V750. For black/white negatives, the Epson Scan software works fine. I have scanned color negatives with that scanning software, but the images were always a bit flat. Then I started using Affinity Photo, including for acquiring color negative images with the Epson V750. Seems to do a much better job.

I guess if you can get accurate color from scanning a color negative, it is ok to be a bit flat since you can always boost up in digital. I'm not so scientific about my color negatives, and I judge mostly by my eyes (on the calibrated monitor).

My friend Jan, who is meticulous in processing, uses custom color profile for every type of color negative film he scans using SilverFast Ai. But there is one assumption, that you have a fresh roll from the same batch to shoot a few frames of standardized color target in order to get the calibration. I don't have experience with the built-in profiles for different negative color films.

 

[250swb]

Another vote for Epson Scan, don't get bogged down by the labyrinthine Silverfast, and scanning software does not need to be sophisticated anyway. As always with scanning your scanned image should be within the histogram to capture all the information available, so it should ideally look a bit flat straight out of the scanner with no spikes at each end, if the scanner can do that it's a success. Photoshop/Lightroom and the operator have a much bigger combined brain than any scanning software so this is where final adjustments to the image should be made.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Another vote for Epson Scan, don't get bogged down by the labyrinthine Silverfast, and scanning software does not need to be sophisticated anyway. As always with scanning your scanned image should be within the histogram to capture all the information available, so it should ideally look a bit flat straight out of the scanner with no spikes at each end, if the scanner can do that it's a success. Photoshop/Lightroom and the operator have a much bigger combined brain than any scanning software so this is where final adjustments to the image should be made.

Set the levels manually. Don't use Auto levels in Epson Scan as they tend to clip. Or scan flat and do the adjustment in post.

 

[250swb]

Set the levels manually. Don't use Auto levels in Epson Scan as they tend to clip. Or scan flat and do the adjustment in post.

I fully agree with you, because that's what I said.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I fully agree with you, because that's what I said.

I was clarifying the auto-level adjustment. Some people may assume that it will keep the levels outside the histogram. It doesn't. It will clip. The levels must be adjusted manually.

 

[grat]

I actually like Silverfast. It's a bit peculiar to get used to, but once you realize you can set up one frame, and copy those settings to all other frames, hit go, and walk away....

Personally, I use very few functions in Silverfast when scanning-- I set the histogram for the image, turn off nearly everything except iSRD (if it's color), I do use negadoctor (although if I'm unhappy with the official preset, I'll use one that's close enough). I do final color tweaking in Affinity, along with sharpening via Frequency Separation.

Epson Scan is a bit too jumpy when setting the inversion parameters-- Both can be picky (with silverfast, you want the exact photo borders selected), but Epson has occasionally jumped the track between preview and final.

 

[Brad Deputy]

I too use Silverfast 9 with my Plustek and I have little difficulty getting far-better results than any lab or noritsu, the one exception would be thedarkroom.com (they are very very good)

It's not for everyone. Took me several months and over a thousand scans to really nail it. I've been using it to scan my late father's slides (early 50s to 90s kodachrome and ektachromes) and his Seattle film works negatives (yeah he fell for that scam).

I find their negafix profiles only get you so close, then you need to finish the job yourself. I have to make adjustments to each and every scan to get the result I'm after.

I refuse to pay ongoing fees to use Photoshop or Lightroom, and I'm sure I would get great results with that.