I am upgrading my classic Mac pro and need to update my Epson 500 32 bit photo scanner since it is has not been working well with OS 10.13.6 and I expect macOS Mojave to break it. Scanners have not changeed in years and they are all still USB 2.0 and makers are having difficulity keeping up with changes in the Mac OS. Anyone know of a proper 2018 film/photo/flatbed scanner that will work with my new Imac Pro when it gets upgraded to OS 10.14?
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What film and flatbed scanner for new 2018 mac
- Thread starter rjtiedeman
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What are your format scanning requirements?
I have a long-standing issue with the Epson medium format film holders, but there are alternatives and it's hard to beat the V600 and V800/V850 in the consumer space.
The big difference in those is that the V600 can only handle medium format film, while the V800/850 can go up to 8x10.
Vuescan is also always an option, although I do not care for their implementation of IR cleaning and prefer the "real" Digital ICE available in the Epson software.
I have a long-standing issue with the Epson medium format film holders, but there are alternatives and it's hard to beat the V600 and V800/V850 in the consumer space.
The big difference in those is that the V600 can only handle medium format film, while the V800/850 can go up to 8x10.
Vuescan is also always an option, although I do not care for their implementation of IR cleaning and prefer the "real" Digital ICE available in the Epson software.
Have you tried downloading the driver directly from the Epson Support site. I have never tried running the V550 on my MacBook Pro as it is hooked up to my Windows PC. I do see that they have a driver for OS 10.13.X. Not certain how the v500 and the v550 differ but see the mac driver for both. I will say that look and feel of the driver/software changed significantly when I upgraded from the V100 to the V550 but the underlying response id the same and finally found the look I was use to.
My scanning requirement is I need a working multipurpose flatbed for scanning sketches and artwork. I Also need an occasional slide scanned at high-rez for reference and my portfolio. I like the EPSON V800/850 but as god as they are it is old technology. Epson has been selling the same box for some time now. What’s next?? I would hate to spend $800-$1000 on a new/old scanner and find when my new mac arrives with OS 10.14 and it’s obsolete. Is this the end for scanners?
Unfortunately, high end scanners are a bit of a dead-end technology.
Flatbed scanners have always been a less than great solution for scanning film-there are too many glass-to-air surfaces and it's hard to optimize the optics for two different scanning distance. Those of us who shoot larger formats tolerate them because there's enough resolution in the film to mask their deficiencies somewhat and alternatives like the Coolscan 8000/9000 have been $$$(I have an 8000 on Lay-a-way, and once I get it paid off my V700 will not touch another medium format negative-I already do 35mm exclusively on a Coolscan V).
Although I haven't experimented with it personally, DSLR "scanning" of 35mm is getting really popular, and with 36mp+ cameras can give results as good as a scanner
Unfortunately, of the available sub-$1K scanners, I think the V800 is probably the best of the lot. An Imacon, Flextite, or Hasselblad won't do any better for flats, and a dedicated Nikon film scanner(preferably a Coolscan V/5000) will do better for your transparencies. Of course, the downside to the Nikons is that they really do best with the Nikon software and it will not run on an OS newer than Snow Leopard.
Flatbed scanners have always been a less than great solution for scanning film-there are too many glass-to-air surfaces and it's hard to optimize the optics for two different scanning distance. Those of us who shoot larger formats tolerate them because there's enough resolution in the film to mask their deficiencies somewhat and alternatives like the Coolscan 8000/9000 have been $$$(I have an 8000 on Lay-a-way, and once I get it paid off my V700 will not touch another medium format negative-I already do 35mm exclusively on a Coolscan V).
Although I haven't experimented with it personally, DSLR "scanning" of 35mm is getting really popular, and with 36mp+ cameras can give results as good as a scanner
Unfortunately, of the available sub-$1K scanners, I think the V800 is probably the best of the lot. An Imacon, Flextite, or Hasselblad won't do any better for flats, and a dedicated Nikon film scanner(preferably a Coolscan V/5000) will do better for your transparencies. Of course, the downside to the Nikons is that they really do best with the Nikon software and it will not run on an OS newer than Snow Leopard.
Time has moved on and even though the industry has reached a dead end we will still need to use scanners to get our work into digital format. As you have noted film scanners have not advanced much beyond the NIKON V/5000 but try to hookup a scsi cable to a new mac. That would be a challenge. Which goes back to my question. Going foward to 2019 what high-end multipurpose scanner will work or connect to a new IMP or MBP soon to be running OS 10.14. Spending money on dead end tech is a bit sad.
YES. My V500 photo works OK as a flatbed but never worked well for scanning slides. Scanning slides on this machine is a waste of time. A associate at work suggested sending everything offshore since they can do a better job for less than the cost of a good slide scanner. I also contacted Epson tech support “We strive to keep our current products up to date with changes in supported operating systems” mine is not a current product so it’s a safe bet it’s toast come 10.14..
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Vuescan will work if it is set to open in 32 bit mode. My mac is running OS 10.13.6 and requires 64 bit software. My understanding is this workaround of switching to 32 bit mode may be gone in Mojave.
My epson V500 is working for now on my 2010 cMP with epson software. My concern is that my new Mac, planed for later this year will no longer work with the better scanner i would like invest in.
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Hate to ask this but have you tried running it with a Windows driver under Parallels? Procrastinated for the longest time but finally broke down and got Parallels as a couple programs I use would never transition to Mac.
Thank-you—-No windows for me. I’ve been a Apple user since my apple ii. I am not ready to go down the windows rabbit hole. If needed I can keep my old 2010 cMP and just use it for orphaned technologies like scanners. I can add it to My Mac G5 room which I held-on to so that I could open old files when Minicad and Freehand went away.
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