I've got so fed up with scanning 35mm on the flatbed (Epson Perfection 750). It has been great for 120 with a custom film holder and ANR glass inserts from betterscanning.com (http only site) but alas they are now defunct and I don't think they ever helped with flatbed 35mm scanning anyway. Unfortunately the 35mm strip holders supplied by Epson are below par and there is nothing better to replace them.
TLDR the V750 doesn't always focus on the 35mm film strip properly because the film is not quite held flat enough.
The result is I'm low-level uneasy about my photography because the scanned photos have are slightly less than optimal.
So I have replaced the flatbed 35mm scanning with a used, newly serviced Nikon Coolscan IV ED which I got for a good price. Obviously I would have prefered a Coolscan V ED but they go for almost 3 times as much. The Coolscan IV ED was also considerably less expensive than the Plustek Opticfilm 135i which would be my choice for a new scanner.
And somehow the Coolscan IV ED fits into the current paradigm of vintage camera gear. Or so my fancy tells me. Even if it is ultimately vintage digital gear.
Another reason for the Coolscan is that it fits into my Linux/Vuescan workflow. At least it does when I hook it up to a 2013 Thinkpad X230 running Arch. My later boxes have USB controllers that are seemingly not compatible with the 20 year old Coolscan. More vintage chic... I may investigate this issue further though.
Plus factors are:
- I've used one before (sadly it died completely in 2014)
- The 35mm scans are sharp
- Small footprint
- Has modular attachments
- Batch film feed
- Slide feed
- Film strip holder for damaged film (what, moi?)
- Works with Vuescan
- Works with Linux
Negative:
- 20+ years old
- Slowish (not really an issue with me, batch scanning 6 frames at a time works well) and I have the time...
- USB controller compatibility
- I now have a shitload of film to rescan
So all good