Which scanner for 5x4 film?

Hi Guys,

I usually shoot 35mm and med format, I have a Epson V500 and have produced scans I am happy with.

This year I am trying large format 5x4 and want to continue to self-dev/scan to keep costs down.

Can anyone recommend a good scanner with maybe some sample images? I want to spend less than £800. but am aware that this may be too little.

Thanks

Paul

10speeduk said:

Hi Guys,

I usually shoot 35mm and med format, I have a Epson V500 and have produced scans I am happy with.

This year I am trying large format 5x4 and want to continue to self-dev/scan to keep costs down.

Can anyone recommend a good scanner with maybe some sample images? I want to spend less than £800. but am aware that this may be too little.

Thanks

Paul

Click to expand...

I can recommend an Epson 3200 film scanner for 4x5, which I have and would be willing to sell for that price.It needs 220V, but that's not an issue in the UK right?

If you wish to buy new I think the Epson V700 or V750 is probably the best for your price range. If you are happy with your current scans then you should be happy with the bigger Epsons for 4x5. I have an older 4870 and it's decent for negative scans enlarged 3 to 5X. That should give you very nice 16x20 prints. I would start out with the Epson V750 and try the fluid mount holder. Film flatness and focus point are the weak areas of the Epsons, and those can be fixed.

There aren't a lot of other options for 4x5 besides the Epsons that I know of. A used drum scanner will give you better quality, and with patience can be found for your budget as well. But drum scanners require more learning, support is more difficult to obtain, and they are considerably larger. Most are also 15 or more years old at this point. If you like to play with old computers and equipment getting a drum scanner can be fun, but it probably isn't a good option for most people.