Epson Perfection V850 Pro scanner

An excellent device. Probably the best available right now for the price point.

Great resolution and scan quality. Easy to use for color slides, prints, negatives, etc. I knew when I purchased the V850 that it lacked wireless capabilities. I waited as long as possible, predicting that a wireless model would be coming out just after the Amazon return date, but this hasn't happened as of today. I recommend VueScan software vs Epson Scan 2, although the latter can set the scanner to auto-turnoff. 12 color slides can be processed with the multi-holder, but scanning more than 2-3 5x7s is difficult. For the price, I couldn't find a comparable or better scanner. Have a zillion slides/prints to digitize, but running the numbers, I decided that the V850 offered better results and would be less expensive than sending to a photo lab and paying $$$ for hi res scans.

I like that I can scan 12 slides at one time using the provided trays. One tray can be scanned while the other can be filled. It takes about 4 minutes per slide to scan, so it takes a while, but the scans have very good detail. You can zoom in quite a ways without pixelization. I didn't even use the highest quality. The unusual slides were not scanned perfectly and were kind of a pain. For example: I had some glass mounted slides. These didn't fit in the tray holders, so I had to take the transparencies out of the mount. I also then had to use metal tape to create a homemade mount. If I didn't, the scanner got confused and scanned the slide multiple times, none of which were centered. I also had some larger square slides which when scanned produced images with all the corners cut out.Overall, I am very happy with this scanner. I did use the dust removing feature, but I still needed to clean dirty slides. It seems only able to remove very minor dust spots.

June 14, 2022 - After at first becoming extremely frustrated with the finicky, and often non responsive scanner. I let the V850 scanner sit idly in a corner for about eight months, until I had the time and inclination to spend a lot of time learning to use it. I have built all of my desktop computers for years, and am somewhat Tech savvy. However, this scanner put me to the test. Once I decided to very carefully follow each and every instruction that comes with Epson's and a third party's software. I began to get good results, and the V850 functions properly. I think that Epson has very good scanning software that is basically very easy to use. However, since the V850 scanner is basically for professional use. The third party scanning software probably is what a professional would need, but the average user not so much. If you purchase the V850 scanner be prepared to very carefully study the instructions for both the software , and the scanner itself. I received no comments or offers of assistance from Epson when I posted my originally extremely negative review of this scanner on Amazon. Other companies and manufacturers often reach out to Amazon customers who have purchased their products. Epson has a very spotty record when it comes to assisting customers, or addressing issues they may have with their products. I repeat, if you don't want a complicated piece of equipment that requires time to learn. Don't buy this scanner. Otherwise, I do recommend it as a very useful piece of equipment.

We purchased this scanner because we acquired more than 50k negatives from the newspaper office that went out of business. Ribs simple to use and does a wonderful job copying and downloading them into folders on my computer. Great scanning capability for all sizes of negatives

At $1200, the Epson v850 is definitely priced in the professional scanner category. You would expect every single feature of this scanner to perform better than a scanner that costs under $200. However, this scanner disappoints in a major way that Epson still has not been able to resolve. This makes the scanner a complete waste of money for the prosumer who is photo archiving old photos, slides and negatives.The Major Issue:-When scanning from the Epson v850, you have several options, including one of the most important known as the “Dust & Scratches” filter. TWhen enabled, this feature allows the scanner and its software to analyze the image to remove small flecks of dust, scratches or tears which may exist on the photo or negative.-When you enabled this feature on the Epson scanner, the result is extremely disappointing. The result is an image with MAJOR COLOR COMPRESSION throughout the entire photo, which causes serious defect to the scanned image. It doesn't matter which level of D&S you use, the compression is always present. The compression does not exist with any other feature, it only exists with the Dust & Scratches filter.-This is an extremely horrible side effect that completely ruins the scanned image. What makes this such an important consideration is that the D&S filter is probably the most important filter for scanning old photos, slides and negatives to both prosumer and consumer alike. Without the ability to use the built in D&S filter, the scanner becomes effectively useless to all but professionals who have quality aftermarket software and are willing to put in the additional time to clean up their scans.-NOTE: It is likely that the Epson D&S filter issue is software related, and impacts all of Epson scanners which use this same software package. We hope it is resolved, but have little hope since the software has been in use for years and seen multiple updates without resolving this significant issue.Other Comments:-For professionals who won’t need to use the D&S filter, there is one area where the Epson excels, and that is dark area image quality and detail. However, this is still balanced by the fact that in general, the Epson tends to deliver less detail over all from its scans then Cannon scanners. It’s a give and take situation, there is no clear winner. You can either have good detail throughout from a Cannon, or softer Epson scans with greater black area detail.All of our tests were done at optical resolutions of 600dpi on photos and negatives. We compared hundreds of scans of the same image using a variety of scanner driver features. The Epson tends to scan a softer image that has more red bias and less yellow overall. The Cannon scanners provide full image detail (akin to looking at the image under a magnifying lens), and provide richer color.If you are scanning photos only (not negatives or slides), then amazingly, the very inexpensive ($90) newer Cannon Lide400 scanner delivers low res scans (600dpi or less) equal to or better than the Epson v850 pro. It also scans more quickly through its USB 3.0 interface.Unless you are using the v850 for its advanced features (including negative scanning), its hard to see why anybody should shell out the $1200 price tag for it. The D&S filter issue, all but makes the scanner useless for the average consumer, and for professionals, is unable to replace every other scanner on your workbench.