[Leica] Epson 500 scanner

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

Mike D writes:
I bought an Epson V500 flatbed for medium format work.  I found that I
actually like it better for 35mm than my older Minolta dedicated film
scanner.  In fact the Epson software is more convenient to use than
Vuescan.  The disadvantage is that with heavily curled film the holder
doesn't keep the negatives as flat.  It cost less than $200.
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The Epson 500 scanner is a fine machine at a very reasonable price.
After my high end Minolta 5400 gave up the ghost, probably because of
overwork, the Epson 500 filled in as a slide scanner quite well. But
you are right in that there are problems with curled film. The gap
between the film and the glass scanner plate is so small that a curled
film will touch the plate and cause Newton's Rings. I found that
wrapping a single thickness of rubber band around the end of the film
carrier will elevate it just enough to avoid the problem with curved
film strips. Or you can reverse the strips and correct in software. Or
if the strips are in a long roll, before scanning, coil them backward
for a day. There is no problem with mounted slides.
Larry Z