Medium Format / Epson V700 Unidentified scanning issue

NorthAtlantic · Monday at 4:56 AM

Hello,

Ive been successfully scanning 35mm film with my Plustek 8100 for a while now. I recently picked up a medium format camera and have started scanning with an Epson V700 I have have access to. Seem to be encountering an issue where every image has an outlined effect like the attached pictures which is really odd. I scanned in Silverfast and haven't applied any sharpening at all or additional contrast.

Any ideas what might be causing this and how to remedy. Im just using the standard film holders.

Many thanks

Ben

NorthAtlantic · Monday at 5:41 AM

Ive done some experiments and this appears to only happen on Silverfast - Vuescan doesn't outline parts of the image. I should add that im using the demo's of both versions currently. All I can think is with Silverfast that on the demo only the generic negfix is available.

koraks · Monday at 6:04 AM

Do you have ICE enabled? It kind of looks like that. It doesn't work on B&W materials.
I use Epson Scan and just disable all adjustments; this generally works great. Scan in 16 bit and do contrast adjustments etc. manually using curves.

Settings as shown above will result in consistent scans with no adjustments. It's what I use for B&W film.

NorthAtlantic · Monday at 6:11 AM

Many thanks for your reply and information. I had disabled ice and sharpening and scanning in 16bit greyscale like I do with my 35mm film. It's strange because if I scan the same image in Vuescan this outline issue disappears. Id prefer to resolve the issue in silverfast as im familiar with it after years of scanning 35mm but can't see anything obvious causes for this.

Alan Edward Klein · Monday at 10:47 AM

Have you tried flipping the film over?

NorthAtlantic · Monday at 11:51 AM

Thanks Alan, that sorted it! Much appreciated. The other issue that made this worse was id cut my film strips a little short so the end frame was only supported on the edges, not the end but was fine once id moved it to be fully supported.

Thanks again

Ben

Alan Edward Klein · Monday at 6:23 PM

Glad it worked, Ben.

John Wiegerink · Monday at 6:55 PM

I love it when somebody comes up with a solutions to someone else's problem. Good work Alan!

koraks · Tuesday at 2:16 AM

Alan Edward Klein said:
Glad it worked, Ben.

So am I, and I would have never guessed this was it - good catch Alan!

Alan Edward Klein · Tuesday at 11:25 AM

Thanks. I wish life was that easy.

brbo · Tuesday at 3:59 PM

The fix doesn't quite explain why Vuescan would not exhibit the same problem, but if the fix works... it works!

250swb · 2025-07-02T03:53:00-0400

brbo said:
The fix doesn't quite explain why Vuescan would not exhibit the same problem, but if the fix works... it works!

I think because Vuescan expects you to switch things like sharpening on and not off. It's easy to miss if new to Epson Scan (which I think is the best software for the V700) and there's no doubt that the default settings are arranged to just get something out and looking good for total amateurs. It's the same reason Greyscale seems to be the default for scanning B&W and not RGB which is a far more useful option.

NorthAtlantic · 2025-07-02T10:24:53-0400

I didn't scan the whole film using Vuescan just a few select images as it was also a demo. I suspect that it was luck of the draw on which frames id selected and it was those not fully supported on all four sides that exhibited this effect to the highest degree. I scanned those frames in Vuescan + Silverfast at different times so could've been up different ways / different ends of the film holder.

I have scanned a few more films and flipping doesn't always completely get rid of this effect 100%, although it helps. The 645 frame size is awkward in the stock Epson 120 holders and I need to be more careful cutting the strips in future to avoid the unsupported end.

Need to look in to whether alternative film holders for the v700 will add any beneficial flatness.

Alan Edward Klein · 2025-07-02T11:04:49-0400

NorthAtlantic said:
I didn't scan the whole film using Vuescan just a few select images as it was also a demo. I suspect that it was luck of the draw on which frames id selected and it was those not fully supported on all four sides that exhibited this effect to the highest degree. I scanned those frames in Vuescan + Silverfast at different times so could've been up different ways / different ends of the film holder.

I have scanned a few more films and flipping doesn't always completely get rid of this effect 100%, although it helps. The 645 frame size is awkward in the stock Epson 120 holders and I need to be more careful cutting the strips in future to avoid the unsupported end.

Need to look in to whether alternative film holders for the v700 will add any beneficial flatness.

I wonder if you could use the V850 holder, which has glass that holds the film flat. Of course, it adds more surfaces for dust to collect.

Also, my V600 has a flat 120 film size gizmo that slips over the film end to hold it flat where you're not scanning that part of the film strip. Does the V700 have the same gismo? Are you using it?

NorthAtlantic · 2025-07-02T13:21:43-0400

It doesn't look like the V700 120 holder has any additional clamping or masking points on the stock holder sadly. I think cutting my film strips to the correct length will avoid the sagging one end and improve the scans / remove most artefacts.

Despite the original topic of this thread, Ive been quite impressed with the V700 overall after only using a Plustek for 35mm which is excellent. I cut up an old 120 negative after scanning on the v700 and scanned it on my PlusTek and wasn't quite as good but almost there.

Lots of people seem to rate this Lomography film holder as an upgrade to the flimsy Epson one, might try and get hold of one at some point as it does look like it might yield a flatter negative.

DigitaLIZA 120 Scanning Mask

Take full control over digitizing your 120 negatives at home. Perfect for special Lomographic formats like extra-long panoramas and overlapping exposures.

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Patrick Robert James · 2025-07-02T13:35:53-0400

I'd recommend cleaning the underside of the glass as well as the mirrors. If it hasn't been done they will no doubt need it. Hazy optical surfaces will cause the blooming you are experiencing.

NorthAtlantic · 2025-07-02T15:09:31-0400

Patrick Robert James said:
I'd recommend cleaning the underside of the glass as well as the mirrors. If it hasn't been done they will no doubt need it. Hazy optical surfaces will cause the blooming you are experiencing.

Thanks Patrick, sounds like a good suggestion.

P C Headland · 2025-07-03T04:03:10-0400

You can also get some anti-reflective picture framing glass cut to the size of the film channel - this helps keep the film flat just laying it over the top. For really recalcitrant film, you can tape it to the glass.

Of course, that can create some dust challenges... Solve one problem, create another ;-)

Medium Format / Epson V700 Unidentified scanning issue

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