[germar]

Just a heads up for those thinking about buying a BetterScanning.com MF holder for their Epson V700 series scanners. I just attempted to order their 90 dollar holder and got back a note telling me the new price is 140 dollars! They've made the ANR glass "standard" and raised their price 60%. Ouch, I wanted to try this, but having the holder alone cost a THIRD of what the entire scanner costs has made me think twice.

The salt on the wound is the web site is not updated .... you get a surprise note about the price hike AFTER you placed your order! I hope he'll get that fixed asap.

Meanwhile, anyone have some low-cost ideas on how to get cleaner V700 120 film scans? Hate those newton rings!

[k0og]

Just a heads up for those thinking about buying a BetterScanning.com MF holder for their Epson V700 series scanners. I just attempted to order their 90 dollar holder and got back a note telling me the new price is 140 dollars! They've made the ANR glass "standard" and raised their price 60%. Ouch, I wanted to try this, but having the holder alone cost a THIRD of what the entire scanner costs has made me think twice.

The salt on the wound is the web site is not updated .... you get a surprise note about the price hike AFTER you placed your order! I hope he'll get that fixed asap.

Meanwhile, anyone have some low-cost ideas on how to get cleaner V700 120 film scans? Hate those newton rings!

Germar,

That is sad news. Here comes the inflation (in case you haven't noticed it already at the grocery store and gas pump!).

Last year I bought the 35mm ANR glass from them for my Epson V500, and it's great. I tried first to cheap out by checking with the local picture-frame shop, and they had no idea what ANR glass was, so I just ordered the BetterScanning glass. Maybe you will have better luck with your local picture-frame shop. I suppose, looking back on it, I should have asked about "frosted" glass. Maybe that would have worked. Hopefully someone else will be able to report a success story using an alternative source such as a picture-frame shop.

-Joe-

[fs999]

I ordered one two years ago and I had no problems with them, the shipping was very fast.

You must check what you have really ordered. The price with ANR is nearly $130 ($89.95+$29.95+$7.95+$3)...

And if the price changes after you have placed the order, you can cancel it without problems...

[germar]

I went out to Betterscanning.com again and found the site to be exactly as it was last month, no changes ... you are offered the option of buying the old configuration for 89.95 USD.

Yet here is the email I got back from them mid-December 2012, obviously a standard prepared response. The upshot ... you can't buy what's shown on the Website, it really costs 140 dollars to get a holder. To be fair, he says he's lowered the price of the holder/ANR by ten dollars, but unless you *wanted* ANR in the first place, all the surprises here are negative.

I'm working with the Epson supplied holder until such point I'm scanning so much MF that it makes sense for me to pony up another 150 for this accessory.

Thanks for your order! Please note that we changed our production
configuration for that dual channel holder very recently but the website has
not yet been updated to reflect the change. The dual channel 120 format
holder for the V7xx/970 series is now only sold with two 120 ANR glass
inserts and no (zero) T-locks. Previously, the 120 ANR glass inserts were an
option. T-lock production has become too expensive and problematic to
produce plus most people really prefer the two ANR Insert workflow,
therefore, the glass inserts are now standard. The comparable price has
been lowered by about $10 to $139.95 plus shipping and options such as
PayPal and insurance.

I want to be upfront and let you know that due to the current production
queue (some holders require multiple days to create/complete), order
fulfillment is often taking approximately 3 *business* days for this holder
model. Any new orders are being added to the production queue and will be
the first ones filled. Since people have been known to place orders but
then not complete payment, I rely on a "first paid, first order filled"
policy. I just want to be honest about the timeline and make sure everyone
understands the policy to get placed into the queue.

Given the options you have indicated in your email, and keeping mind the new
holder configuration, your total is $152.75 with shipping, PayPal and no
insurance as you requested. If planning to pay via PayPal (the only way I
can process credit card payments), my PayPal ID is:
scanning@betterscanning.com

[Ponosby Britt]

Actually, the site says "Low cost for a great design – only $89.95! (holder and 8 T-Locks)". Above it says "Holder Shown With Optional ANR Insert"

So he changed it to include 2 optional ANR inserts, adding something of value. I bought individual ANR inserts, years ago at 29.95 for my lowly, refurbished Epson V500, which means he hasn't raised prices in a long time.

I have no idea why it being "nearly a third of the price of the scanner" has anything to do with anything. Epson doesn't even offer a replacement for the plastic 120 holder that ships with the scanner. If you damage yours, you have to buy a new scanner. If I had not bought VueScan Pro for 80 bucks, half the price of my refurbed V500, it would be useless for scanning prints, negatives and slides. With Vuesan Pro which enables profiling with an IT8 color target and the Betterscanning holder and glass, I have a usable solution for my restoration work.

I'm glad someone went to the trouble of setting up a business to offer useful things no one else does. You might consider cutting him some slack for not having updated the website. I find myself unable to keep my print option price list current with all the changes my vendors make. I suppose I could pay more attention to that than my customers but after awhile, I wouldn't have any customers.

[stevebrot]

I tend to agree with Britt.

The film scanning community is lucky to have a a quality option for negative holders. Considering that it is a niche market, the price is high, but not unreasonably so. A good point of comparison might be quality aftermarket focus screens.


Steve

[germar]

Fair enough, as I really don't have any issue with Betterscanning.com other than the issue with the out of date web site. I do appreciate the fact he's bringing something to the community that would otherwise be unavailable, and in the end I'll probably pony up the money to get one of his holders at his higher rate. Sigh, another hobby to which I continually poor money into ...!

However, I do continue to argue that updating the website isn't all THAT hard, he's probably got a kid next door that could do it for him. Hell, I'LL do it for him if he gave me a couple of percent off my film holder! Thanks for your opinions.

germar