I went for a long drive (for me, at least) today. I had the opportunity to buy an Epson V850 Pro scanner for a very good price and, rather than have it shipped, I agreed with the seller to meet up and collect in person. As he lives right down on the south coast, and I’m in Yorkshire, halfway up the country, we met at a service station in Oxfordshire, which was a little over 2 hours each way for me. I took the opportunity to listen to podcasts during the journey, and the time passed quickly as a result.

The scanner is now set up and will replace the Epson V700 I’ve used for the last few years. The V700 is still in full working order but, given the recent news that Epson may be cutting manufacture of it’s film scanners, I decided to future-proof myself with a more recent model.

I’ve already scanned a roll of 120 film this afternoon to put it through it’s paces and the results are good. One thing I’m not sure about are the film holders that come with the V850. These have anti-newton inserts to hold the film flat, which is a good thing, I thought. However, what it also means is that it’s quite easy for dust to get between the film and the inserts where it can’t be removed with an air blower, resulting in marks on the scan. I guess I could be extra cautious to remove any dust each time, but this is some extra faff I’d rather avoid (I don’t really have issues with dust when scanning with other methods). Luckily, the V700 film holders can also be used with the V850, so I think I will keep hold of those and use them instead (unless I get a particularly curly strip of negatives!).

Today’s picture was scanned on the V700 a couple of months back. A fencepost gradually being colonised by ivy. You can already see the hopeful feelers reaching out for the next piece of real estate.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°

Taken on 28 December 2024