Dedicted film scanner vs flatbed

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BlackCloud

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Years ago I know a dedicated scanner would have wiped the floor with a flatbed...but would anyone be able to give an idea how something like a Nikon coolscan 3/4 (LS30/40) would compare with a flatbed like an Epson V500?

I want to scan 35mm negs (or crops of) for prints that could be A3 size? Slightly seperate question but is the V500 good enough anyway for prints that size?

Any advice appreciated.
 
BlackCloud said:
Years ago I know a dedicated scanner would have wiped the floor with a flatbed...but would anyone be able to give an idea how something like a Nikon coolscan 3/4 (LS30/40) would compare with a flatbed like an Epson V500?

I want to scan 35mm negs (or crops of) for prints that could be A3 size? Slightly seperate question but is the V500 good enough anyway for prints that size?

Any advice appreciated.
Click to expand...

If it's any help and as long as you're not in a desperate hurry I can do a direct comparison scan between the Nikon Coolscan IV and an Epson V750, probably this weekend.
 
There's a head-to-head comparison of the Epson V700 and a Nikon LS 4000 in photo-I.co.uk's review of the Epson when it first appeared in 2006.

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson V700/page_8.htm

Worth looking at the rest of the review and his reviews of other scanners (notably the V750) though not much has been added lately.

P.S. Something that may be worth factoring in to any decision is that, AFAIK, Nikon will now only do repairs on the last generation of their dedicated film scanners (the Coolscan V, 5000 and 9000). If you buy one of the earlier models and it breaks and you can find someone else to repair it, spare parts will probably have to come from a donor unit.
 
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Thanks for the replies so far, and Raglan Surf, think it would be interesting to see that comparison if you are able to do it both for me and others :)
 
RaglanSurf said:
If it's any help and as long as you're not in a desperate hurry I can do a direct comparison scan between the Nikon Coolscan IV and an Epson V750, probably this weekend.
Click to expand...

I'm interested (y)

But the general impression on flatbed scanners is:- acceptable results but will not scrape every detail off the neg/pos for 35mm and good for medium format.
 
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I use a flatbed and I would say that while definitely good enough for scanning medium format to print A3, I am not sure about 35mm... never tried it. Certainly scans 35mm good enough for A4 size, but that's probably not what you want.
 
I have a Coolscan 4 and an epson v700.

The Coolscan 4 is sooooooo much better than the v700 for 35mm. It autofocuses so you don't have to faff around with adjusting the height of the film holder like you do on the v700 and the film is held flat on the coolscan 4 whereas it bows quite badly on the v700.

Resolution is about the same between the two, despite what Epson claim (6400dpi my 'arris)

If I was just scanning 35mm, I'd have the Coolscan 4 all the time. I don't have any samples here at work unfortunately, but could do a couple over the weekend if nobidy jumps in first?
 
Flatbeds are capable of acceptable scans but I always found myself fannying about with scan heights, focus points, neg holder film flatness, black density, sharpening and god knows what else.
I couldn't get a reliable work flow going, it was a pita.
This is not an issue with my current Minolta dedicated scanner, its slower, noisier, uses outdated tech and win 98 software, but its totally reliable, the scans are good first time every time, I do not have to scan the same frame 6 times to get one half decent scan...:)
 
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