Nikon Coolscan V ED vs. Epson V700 for slides

[Michael Ray Brown]

I'm trying to decide between buying a Nikon Coolscan V ED and an Epson V700.
I have a few thousand 35mm slides and about as many negatives to scan. The
Nikon is about $100 more than the Epson, and that's as far as my budget will
allow. I've seen comparison scans, and it's clear that the Nikon is
superior, although the Epson comes close after sharpening. Even then, the
Nikon has greater dynamic range, which is evident in the shadow detail.

How much of a drudge is it for the Nikon to scan each slide individually?
Although the Epson scans 12 slides at a time, I have a feeling it's not
going to be as simple as tossing the slides on the platen and pushing a
button. Each slide may need some exposure adjustment, and the Epson
apparently requires some fine-tuning of the spacers for optimum focus. I
won't be scanning any large-format items, just 35mm slides and negatives.
Which should I buy?

 

[-]

and the Epson apparently requires some fine-tuning of the spacers for
Luckily, this is usually just a one-time thing. You shouldn't have to do it
for each batch.

I think one of the biggest deciding factors is the intended final output for
your images. The quality requirements for submission to a stock agency to
sell as magazine covers would be quite a bit more demanding than if you are
just planning to scan the family snapshots to view on the computer or the
family televison.

Doug

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

In terms of quality, it's mostly for archival purposes and for family.
However, I'd like to have the option to submit certain images for
publication. I used to be the travel editor of a glossy magazine, and have
many shots that might be salable as stock images.

 

[tomm42]

I'm trying to decide between buying a Nikon Coolscan V ED and an Epson V700.
I have a few thousand 35mm slides and about as many negatives to scan. The
Nikon is about $100 more than the Epson, and that's as far as my budget will
allow. I've seen comparison scans, and it's clear that the Nikon is
superior, although the Epson comes close after sharpening. Even then, the
Nikon has greater dynamic range, which is evident in the shadow detail.

How much of a drudge is it for the Nikon to scan each slide individually?
Although the Epson scans 12 slides at a time, I have a feeling it's not
going to be as simple as tossing the slides on the platen and pushing a
button. Each slide may need some exposure adjustment, and the Epson
apparently requires some fine-tuning of the spacers for optimum focus. I
won't be scanning any large-format items, just 35mm slides and negatives.
Which should I buy?

I've been using the Epson V700, I did direct comparisons with an older
Nikon LS2000, the Nikon was sharper (I felt barely and the Epson had
better dynamic range ). The work flow of the Epson is not bad, I feel
it is easier than using the Nikon bulk scanner.
1) Use the pro version of the Epson software (you have 3 choices
including pro)
2)Slides in the tray emulsion up
3) Preview
4) outline each image, making adjustments as you go, the outline is
sticky
5) Activate the slides you want to scan by holding the control key and
clicking on the edge of each out line.
6) Scan
My scanner seems told hold the sharpness fairly well with no focusing.
If you want to publish some pics, save your best slides and have the
magazine do the scanning. Most want drum scans anyway.

Tom

 

[Surfer!]

I'm trying to decide between buying a Nikon Coolscan V ED and an Epson V700.
I have a few thousand 35mm slides and about as many negatives to scan. The
Nikon is about $100 more than the Epson, and that's as far as my budget will
allow. I've seen comparison scans, and it's clear that the Nikon is
superior, although the Epson comes close after sharpening. Even then, the
Nikon has greater dynamic range, which is evident in the shadow detail.

How much of a drudge is it for the Nikon to scan each slide individually?

A huge drudge I imagine. Will a little bit of holding on allow you to
get a Nikon LS5000 and the batch slide feeder? It does need tending,
but is much faster & easier. I got the batch slide feeder on Ebay for
half the new price, but with scanners it wasn't worth going there as
they were going for only a little less than new, without a warrantee.

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

A huge drudge I imagine. Will a little bit of holding on allow you to get
a Nikon LS5000 and the batch slide feeder? It does need tending, but is
much faster & easier. I got the batch slide feeder on Ebay for half the
new price, but with scanners it wasn't worth going there as they were
going for only a little less than new, without a warrantee.

You're right about the price of the scanner on eBay. It's amazing that
people are snatching up used Nikon scanners for only about $80 less than the
price of a new one. In any event, I can't afford to spend more than $600
for a scanner, and the combo you're suggesting costs more than twice that.
Perhaps the Epson flatbed is the least painful route.

 

[Ralf R. Radermacher]

However, I'd like to have the option to submit certain images for
publication. I used to be the travel editor of a glossy magazine, and have
many shots that might be salable as stock images.

In which case there's no way around the Nikon.

I have the V700 and a Minolta 5400. The difference in quality between
the two is the smallest I've ever seen between a flatbed and a dedicated
35 mm film scanner, BUT it is strikingly obvious.

Ralf

 

[Marc Heusser]

You're right about the price of the scanner on eBay. It's amazing that
people are snatching up used Nikon scanners for only about $80 less than the
price of a new one. In any event, I can't afford to spend more than $600
for a scanner, and the combo you're suggesting costs more than twice that.
Perhaps the Epson flatbed is the least painful route.

I did scan microscopic slides just now - the Epson 4990 (predecessor of
V700) stops at resolutions of somewhere between 4800 and 9600 dpi, and
you have to manually assure the slides are in the plane of focus.
ie it can be done, but a dedicated scanner is better if you need the
last bit.

HTH

Marc

 

[Anthony Nelson]

I did scan microscopic slides just now - the Epson 4990 (predecessor of
V700) stops at resolutions of somewhere between 4800 and 9600 dpi, and
you have to manually assure the slides are in the plane of focus.
ie it can be done, but a dedicated scanner is better if you need the
last bit.

HTH

Marc

The actual maximum resolution of transparency scans with the 4990 is
approx. 2.400 dpi, as can be found out easily by scanning with
different resolutions, upsampling each scan to the highest resolution
and comparing the details in each result.

From what could be read so far, the V700 / V750 is not much improvement

in resolution over the 4990.

However, 2.400 dpi is aleady a good resolution for film, more dpi will
resolve already grain details.

Another issue is the resulting quality in shadows (Dmax / noise
capabilities), where the Nikons are quite an improvment over flatbeds.

Anthony