Epson Perfection V750-M PRO scanner

I've used the Epson 4870 and 4990 for a few years now, although the 4990 had excellent density resolution it would not handle my 4x5 inch negatives at 4800 dpi in one pass (too much data) and it had quality problems (internal dust and color shifts), and even the 4800 dpi resolution wasn't entirely adequate for landscape photography. I took another chance on Epson and the V750 pro didn't disappoint me. It's somewhat noisy and takes about 77 minutes to scan a 4x5 but the resolution is phenomenal, the color and density resolution are excellent, and it scans an entire 4x5 at 6400dpi and 48 bit color in one stroke, 3.6+ GB per image. I'm not a big fan of digital ice since it doesn't seem to perform well over fine detail so I can't comment on any differences there and I shoot only color film so I may never use the wet mount, but for my purposes, so far, this is the scanner of my dreams.

Sometimes I feel like a steam engine operator when I'm using Epson equipment. They are capable of doing wonderful things but be ready for issues.

My biggest gripes about this machine is with negative scans which is my primary use. I needed a fast scanner that could handle all kinds of formats including Kodak Disc film and this fit the bill.

I truly have a love hate relationship with this machine. From a software standpoint I'm reasonably happy with the interface but it simply from time to time will lock up and I have to unplug the unit to get the software to quite. Forced quit will not work.

It's nice that you can save settings in pro mode but you can't name the settings so you have to have a separate list somewhere. Get with it Epson...this is a pretty run of the mill feature in this day and age.

Batch scanning order is completely unpredictable. On the Epson negative carriers there are numbers indicating strip 1, 2 ,3 and 4 (carrier dependent) along with numbers that indicate frame order. What the point of this was I have no idea because if you create your own marque set for a batch scan as I must do there is no rhyme or reason to the order the scanner scans the frames. I contacted Epson about this issue. They gave me a case number...I haven't heard back from them and the was months ago.

As to hardware. The unit could use a bit more depth of field. If you're scanning old cupped negatives they will not be super sharp across the plain of the film which brings me to a major gripe. I bought my first epson combo flatbed scanner around 7 years ago. It had carriers where you would slip the negative into a slot and the slot was tight enough that the negative was secure and also flattened due to the tightness of the slot. I don't know why they moved away from this system to the complete garbage swinging door system they now use. If you have brand new super flat negatives they work ok. Any cupping at all and be ready for a headache.

Epson is really good at putting out potentially wonderful products and then falling on their face because they ignore what should be simple design considerations.

5 stars for a potentially great product
0 stars for failing on the details
=2.5 stars