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I thought that some may be interested in a "first impressions" of the Betterscaning Mounting Station for the Epson V700 scanner. I ordered a Station that would allow both fluid and dry mounting about a week ago and the package arrived today.

My first impressions:

1. Level of customer service - SUPERB. I had constant emails from Doug Fisher regarding confirmation of choice/alternatives as well as shipping info. Doug replied to emails VERY promptly and this helps to instill confidence in his product.

2. Quality of product - SUPERB. The Epson film holder is absolute rubbish by comparison. There is no flex and the holder is weighty enough to ensure that it will stay put. The mounting station comes with a hex key (to adjust the height of the holder above scannner platen) as well as a set of comprehensive instructions. I ordered the Wet/dry option which comes with a sheet of Anti-Newton Glass. The station also comes with a set of black plastic sheets to use to make templates for film formats to be used. There are about 20 downloads on the Betterscanning website that cover most formats, including 6x12, 6x17 (cropped and open), as well as 5x4 masks, again cropped slightly as per the Epson holder and with a slightly larger aperture to allow full frame/rebate of 5x4 sheet to be scanned. I ordered additional/spare sheets too - about 30cents each!

3. Ease of use - well I managed it The instructions are very easy to follow and time from start to finish - downloading templates and cutting apertures, to cleaning glass and running the tests to judge optimum scanning height took about an hour and a half.

4. Results - better than the Epson holder. I say "better" in as much as the variable height allows a much finer degree of variation in height than the Epson. I found the "sweet" spot with the mounting station and compared it with results from scans made with the Epson holder (an additional 45 minutes) and there is a noticeable difference between "best" Epson and "best" mounting station. To be fair the Epson 5x4 holder does a good job of holding the film flat in the gate but a real improvement was noticed when I taped a 6x17 transparency to the anti-newton glass. The film is held absolutely flat - unlike the Epson 120 roll film holder where there are clear ripples in the film. The real benefit, I imagine is if I ever decide to wet mount. The Betterscanning system would appear to be much easier and less messy to use than other methods?

5. Rating - 10/10.

Hi Paul,
I'm quite interested in the holder for dry mounting 4x5.
Would it be possible to post some crops of the comparison scans that you made between this and the epson holder?
Thanks,
Tom.

Hi Tom.
Unfortunately I've deleted the comparison scans as there were loads of them and the tests had served their purpose.
I don't think the advantage of this holder over Epson's is necessarily seen when dry mounting 5x4. Personally I can see an improvement (albeit slight) when scanning (dry) a sheet of 5x4 (but maybe its my eyes/wishful thinking!) but I plan on having a go at fluid mounting and I hope that this system is cleaner/easier to use than alternative methods and combined with the adjustable height should improve scanning quality - although I'm very impressed/pleased with the quality of scans I'm getting and I'm only playing at it as I'm a newbie to this digital workflow lark
For me the other issue was scanning 6x17. The Epson holder is okay but the ability to tape the 6x17 neg to the anti newton glass in this holder AND being able to vary the height for scanning means that the roll of film is held perfectly flat - something I was having issues with using the Epson holder. This system allows scanning of all formats up to 5x7 inches.

In reseraching an alternative for wet mounting I did search for a supplier in the UK of Anti-Newton glass but drew a blank. I figured the cost of the mounting station/AN Glass was worth the "chance" - even if the mprovements scanning dry were minimal - in being able to get hold of a user friendly wet mounting system AND a sheet of AN Glass! Total cost including shipping was about £60GBP.
I'm also looking forward to having a go at fluid mounting 6x17!
I'm sure I'll play around with some more "test" scans shortly so I'll send you some images then.
But bear in mind that the optimum scanning height can vary quite a bit even between scanners of the same make/model. Before I purchased the mounting station I was aware that not everyone sees "noticeable" improvements in scanning quality by comparing dry scans on this and the Epson holder - the blurb on the Better Scanning web site covers this point. But the flexibility offered by the BetterScanning station seems, to me, to be worth the price. Hope this has helped? Regards Paul

Paul, thanks for your report on the Better Scanning holder. I shall be sending off for mine when I get back home at the weekend.

Joanna

Thanks Paul,
sounds like it might be worth me getting one, I'm sure my scans at the moment aren't quite in focus.

I was initially against throwing any more money at my V750, but did actually go ahead and buy Doug's new work station. I had used the ScanScience kit prior to that, but Doug's unit is better all round, in the ease of fine tuning the height adjustment for optimum focus, and also the physical process of attaching the tranny to the ANR glass. I strongly recommend fluid mounting, as it resolves more detail, especially in shadow areas. The original colours seem to pop out more, without the need for much adjustment to levels, curves etc, in PS.

Hi

Has anyone tried scanning 10x8 negs using the anti-newton glass on a V750 pro.

I was going to get the ScanScience kit but having second thoughts after reading this.

I like the idea of getting the fluid all together which draws me to the ScanScience - if you use the Betterscan set up where are you getting the fluid from in the UK?

Also, there's a lot of stuff with the ScanScience - squeegees, glass cleaning kit etc, is all this kit necessary do you think?

Hi all

Concerning uniB' s last Q on where to get wet mounting fluid in the UK, anybody have any recommendations?

My kit is on it's way from Betterscanning but I am flummoxed by the best fluid to try out.

Any suggestions gratefully recieved

Jon

Hi Jon

www.haynes-graphic-arts.co.uk

They sell Kami fluid, which works well, and dries leaving virtually no marks on the transparency. They also sell a kit with cotton gloves, and other bits and pieces, but not worth the money for me, and not the best quality.

Stu.

HI Chipper and thanks,

I take it you mean the kit is not worth the money but the fluid is good?

Jon

Yep, in a nutshell. I seem to remember someone else here with pretty much the same opinion. You really just need the fluid, sheets of mylar, 3M (as in the brand name) tape, white spirit for cleaning your ANR glass, cotton gloves for handling the film, and some cloths for drying the ANR glass after you've cleaned it. Thats all I use, but others may use other materials. Hope that helps. Stu.