{"id":32372,"date":"2018-05-29T14:19:52","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T18:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dougbardwell.com\/db\/?p=32372"},"modified":"2021-02-04T13:13:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T18:13:54","slug":"why-epson-v850-is-the-ideal-scanner-for-your-old-film-and-slide-collections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dougbardwell.com\/db\/why-epson-v850-is-the-ideal-scanner-for-your-old-film-and-slide-collections\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Epson V850 is the ideal scanner for your old film and slide collections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Updated 2\/5\/21<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve got slides, prints or old negatives sitting in a box or a drawer somewhere, chances are they aren\u2019t getting the love they deserve. With the Epson series of scanners, you could turn those negatives and slides into easily shareable digital photos in your spare time.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been using the Epson V850 for the past couple months, and I\u2019m delighted with the quality and speed of scanning the full range of film products sitting in my cabinets.<\/p>\n

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Epson V850 \u2013 for high-quality scans<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"Epson<\/p>\n

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Updated 2\/5\/21\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Current price at Amazon is $1,149.00\u00a0 Click here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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At the top of the line in Epson scanners, the V850 is an amazing workhorse.\u00a0 It comes with multiple film\/slide holders, so you can really fly through your archives. Each slide holder holds a dozen slides, and while those are being scanned, you can be unloading the last 12 and reloading it with 12 more.\u00a0 That makes for constant progress through however big a collection you have.\u00a0 With the standard slide holder, you can hold slides of multiple formats.\u00a0 Do you remember these old formats?<\/p>\n

\"110,<\/p>\n

Here’s a tip…\u00a0 As you scan, you can assign a basic name to all the slides you are scanning in one batch, and the standard software will assign a three digit suffix to each.\u00a0 If you want them in a particular order, here’s how to arrange the slides.<\/p>\n

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In addition, you can scan to a huge variety of resolutions.\u00a0 Depending on your intended use, you can optically scan from 50 to 6400 pixels per inch (ppi), making it easy to email your low-resolution images or print your high-resolution images on the highest quality printer available. Want mural size images from your old Kodachromes?\u00a0 No problem, the Epson V850 will handle it.<\/p>\n

One caveat.\u00a0 The V850 expects your slides to be rectangular – either horizontal or vertical.\u00a0 When it encounters something with proportions other than the standard modern 35 mm slide, it’s liable to give you black bars on either side, like this scan of a square format 126 slide.<\/p>\n

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When scanning film, you need to make sure you place the sildes or negatives on the scanning bed properly so any writing will not be reversed.\u00a0 Luckily, all the film holders give you a representation of proper placement so you won’t accidentally scan your film backwards.<\/p>\n

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If you are loaded with negatives instead of slides, the Epson V850 handles them in bulk as well.\u00a0 The three slots will hold up to six images per strip.<\/p>\n

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Using a high-resolution setting, I was able to pull a very workable 10,000 pixel wide image from this business card size image of my great-grandfather.<\/p>\n

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I ran the V850 through its paces, scanning 110, 126, 35mm, 120mm, and 4×5 positive and negative films \u2013 all with great success.\u00a0 There are holders for all of them.\u00a0 And of course, there is a plain white pad to back up any prints you want to scan as well.<\/p>\n

Is the Epson V850 the best available consumer scanner?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The quality of the V850 is as good as anything I\u2019ve seen available to the consumer market and while there is a bit of learning curve, you\u2019ll be scanning prints and film the very first day you open the box.<\/p>\n

Maybe the biggest decision you\u2019ll have to make immediately is what resolution you want to use when scanning your materials. For me, most everything was scanned at 2,400 ppi when scanning 35 mm slides or film.\u00a0 That created digital images slightly larger than 3000 x 2000 pixels.<\/p>\n

Using my Epson WF-7620 printer, that allowed me to print beautiful 8.5×11 color or B&W prints.\u00a0 I also printed a few at 11×17 and they were definitely frame-worthy.<\/p>\n

Scanning snobs will probably insist that you should scan so that your print resolution is 300 pixels per inch, but I\u2019ve found that my Epson printers do quite a good job with a minimum resolution of merely 120 pixels per inch, and they certainly scan and print much faster that way as well.<\/p>\n

Another issue that scanning professionals will insist on is using high-priced scanning software and the V850 comes with samples of two:\u00a0 X-Rite and LaserSoft.\u00a0 However, the included versions are “limited” and don’t handle batch scanning, so I didn’t use either.\u00a0 Scanning takes some serious time, and batch processing allows me to automate the process while I walk away and do something else in the meantime.<\/p>\n

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The best and the least best<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My favorite feature of the V850 is being able to batch process 35mm slides, 120 format film, and 35mm film.\u00a0 It will do 12 slides at a time, 18 35mm negs at a time and up to three 120×120 format images at a time. With two film holders for each size, that means you can keep the workflow in constant motion.\u00a0 That can make the difference in starting a job or putting it off for another day.<\/p>\n

My only issue with the V850 is that there have been situations where black and white negatives with lots of dark areas confuse the scanner, and cropping is thrown off with what is part of the image and what isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Kodachrome slides also seem to throw off the automatic cropping as well and have to be manually cropped to avoid having too much cut off.<\/p>\n

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Luckily, with a bit of cropping, you can always make sure you capture your entire image by manually scanning each image.\u00a0 Even with manual selections, it will still batch scan all of them at once.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in the box?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to the Epson V850 flatbed scanner, you\u2019ll find:<\/p>\n