Epson V600 v Canon 9000F Mark II

It has to be one of the 2. The Epson V700 might be much better but it is simply too expensive even used. Drum scanning is not available where I live even if I could find the time to go back and forth to the lab. My goals would be the below:

1. To be able to check the negatives (contrast, brightness, sharpness etc.)
2. To be able to show some shots online
3. To make a self-published book in the future

So, in terms of $ the V600 is about $100 more expensive than the 9000F (at least in Greece) therefore the latter has probably a better value for money. But I am mostly interested in IQ and I want a scanner to last. So, which one would you go for?

I mean Is the V600 "$100 worth" better over the 9000F or just slightly better because in such a case I could go for the 9000 and use the extra cash to buy a nice camera bag for my new Mamiya 645 Pro!

P.S. I plan on scanning 35 & 120mm B&W negatives as well as 120mm slides.

Thanks!

Check my Flickr site for scans of 120 and 35mm with my V600. I believe the Canon 9000F Mark II only scans 35mm and not 120 film. If you self-published book is for personal use, you should be ok with the V600. If you plan on publishing for sales of the book, I'm not sure if either would be acceptable. I never made a book. You may want better scans for just those pictures you are inserting in the book. Good luck on whatever you decide.

Alan Klein said:

Check my Flickr site for scans of 120 and 35mm with my V600. I believe the Canon 9000F Mark II only scans 35mm and not 120 film. If you self-published book is for personal use, you should be ok with the V600. If you plan on publishing for sales of the book, I'm not sure if either would be acceptable. I never made a book. You may want better scans for just those pictures you are inserting in the book. Good luck on whatever you decide.

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Thanks Alan for your input. You have some great shots, congratulations. Especially the MF ones are really just the way I like them contrasty/punchy colors/good details. I see the V600 does a pretty good job when it comes to MF but 35mm is a different case apparently. I more I read online about this topic the more I realize that for 35mm you need a dedicated film scanner not a flatbed, but since I shoot both formats I guess a flatbed is the more sensible option. Just 2 questions please if I may:

1. Do you use Silverfast/Vuescan or the Epson software with the V600?
2. You mention on some shots "chrome scanned" what is this exactly?

Many thanks!

I have the 9000F I. It scans 120 film, assuming they still give you the holder for it. I would go for the v600, judging by examples I've seen.

hoakin1981 said:

Thanks Alan for your input. You have some great shots, congratulations. Especially the MF ones are really just the way I like them contrasty/punchy colors/good details. I see the V600 does a pretty good job when it comes to MF but 35mm is a different case apparently. I more I read online about this topic the more I realize that for 35mm you need a dedicated film scanner not a flatbed, but since I shoot both formats I guess a flatbed is the more sensible option. Just 2 questions please if I may:

1. Do you use Silverfast/Vuescan or the Epson software with the V600?
2. You mention on some shots "chrome scanned" what is this exactly?

Many thanks!

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I agree that the V600 does a better job with larger formats like 120 than 35mm. I see that on my scans. Especially in the shadow areas. These flatbed machines can only pullout so much detail. The more detail in the original because of larger size, the better the scans.

Regarding your questions:

1. Epson scan software. I scan flat and do the adjustment in post processing. However, if you're going to do a lot of scans, you might want to try the auto settings during the scan to save a lot of time. Try it both ways on a few shots and decide which way works best for you.
2. Chromes are just another name for color slides or positive film like Kodachrome, Ektachrome or Velvia that you can project in a slide projector. They're opposite negative film (either BW or color) where the color or BW tones are reversed and you print directly from the negative.

You might consider looking for a refurbished V500 at the clearance center on the Epson website. They were $99 last time I looked. I prefer the Epsons due to their higher film suspension height (every little bit helps when it comes to minimizing Newton Rings) and the design of their software. In terms of optical resolution, I think they are so close that most people could not tell the difference.

Doug

The V500 is similar in scanning results to the V600. However, the V600 scans at one setup time: (3) 6x7 negatives. The V500 only scans: (1) 6x7 or (2) 6x6 negatives at one time. The V500 slows down scanning time and requires more work to set up because of this limitation. Also, if youre scanning photos, ICE that reduces spots, creases, scratches, etc can be applied with the V600 but not with the V500. ICE is however available for film scanning on both models.

Alan Klein said:

The V500 is similar in scanning results to the V600. However, the V600 scans at one setup time: (3) 6x7 negatives. The V500 only scans: (1) 6x7 or (2) 6x6 negatives at one time. The V500 slows down scanning time and requires more work to set up because of this limitation. Also, if youre scanning photos, ICE that reduces spots, creases, scratches, etc can be applied with the V600 but not with the V500. ICE is however available for film scanning on both models.

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I have a v500. I think the main difference from the v600 is the film holders, as Alan points out. However, if you invest another $80 or so, you can purchase the aftermarket Betterscanning holder for the v500, which allows you to scan an entire strip of 3 6x6x or 4 6x4.5 or two 6x7 at once. The betterscanning holder also has anti Newton Ring glass to hold negatives flat and adjustable height. The adjustable height feature is critical. It can make as much difference in the resolution as stepping up from the v500 to the v750. For some samples of these two scanners, see my other thread in this forum:
http://www.dpug.org/forums/f6/comparison-some-flatbeds-holders-3525/

For 35mm, yeah, the limited resolution of flatbed scanners really begins to eat at performance. In addition, I don't believe Betterscanning makes a 35mm holder for the v series Epsons. I think you can buy anti Newton ring glass though, and you could prop up the Epson 35mm holder on thin pieces of cardboard to find the optimal height.

For at least two of your purposes, web display and a substitute for contact prints, a flatbed is fine. I would say you can obtain good 35mm scans up to about 2400x1600 pixels, which may be suitable for printing in a book if you don't make a huge image (i.e. don't use a scan from a 35mm for a two-page full-bleed spread).

Here's a low res web image from a v500 scan of a 35mm colour negative.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hsandler/12645803185/in/set-72157632891133869
I have used Silverfast, but not Vuescan; however, I prefer good old Epson scan software, because it's simple and I understand everything it's doing. The main thing is to scan in 16 bits per channel and avoid clipping black and white points. After that, you can make all adjustments as well or better in Photoshop than in scan software.

Nice bird and scan.

There's also the new Epson V550. I believe it scans 120 and 35mm but don't know how many of each at one time. Not sure of the complete specifications. Priced between the V500 and V600.