I have the Epson V750, which comes with Silverfast AI in addition to the EpsonScan software, and the glass tray for wet scanning. I also purchased the VueScan software. And the wet scanning kit from Aztek. I have been wrestling with this stuff for a few months now, trying this that and the other, experimenting with assorted film holders, etc.
*NOTE: If you are one of those people that manages to get 36 keepers on a roll of film, stop reading now. You probably shouldn't be using a flatbed scanner anyways. But if you're like me and most other people and you have a couple of shots on each roll that you love and the rest is just dreck, keep reading. Here are my conclusions. YRMV, depending on how much patience you have.
Here's what the Epson is really good at: batch scanning at 1200 dpi quickly so that you can evaluate your images and pick out the couple of gems. This is best accomplished by using Epson's software in full auto mode, and with Digital ICE turned OFF so keep things moving along quickly. If you establish good dust control habits, a couple of clicks with the clone stamp in your favorite photo editor for stray dust is all you'll need to produce scans that are perfectly acceptable for e-mailing and posting on the web.
Silverfast. What can I say about Silverfast. If you're the type of person who enjoys activities such as pushing water uphill with a fork, Silverfast was absolutely made for you. However, if you have a life outside of film scanning, Silverfast just seems like a really bad joke. It's klunky, slow, and the UI is terrible. And unfortunately, it does not have any magical powers that will turn your Epson flatbed into a Nikon Coolscan. If you want to try it, go ahead. But just remember these four little words: I TOLD YOU SO.
VueScan is a little less user-unfriendly than Silverfast, and I admit I have managed some pretty nice B&W scans after considerable effort. But then again, I have managed some pretty decent scans using the Epson software with very little effort. VueScan is DEFINITELY faster than Silverfast when scanning at the same resolution.
So, after batch scanning and picking out my couple of gems, what do I do?
I take my picks and put them in a negative carrier from an old Beseler enlarger, and set it on top of a lightbox. Then I photograph my negative with my Canon 5DMkII and 100mm macro lens, and import the file into Lightroom. For slide films, I make any adjustments needed in Lightroom. For B&W negatives, I desaturate and take care of any stray dust spots in Lightroom, then send it to Photoshop for inversion, levels and curves adjustments. The quality level of the final result is just so far ahead of what the Epson can do, it's not even funny. I haven't really been doing this with color negatives, mainly because for whatever reason, I never seem to take any really worthwhile pictures with C41 film. But I have a Photoshop plug-in called ColorPerfect that will take care of the inversion & correction for the orange mask, and has a bunch of assorted film profiles. It seems to work just fine, but I haven't really put much time into evaluating it.
The Epson flatbeds are good scanners if you have reasonable expectations. They are versatile and a good value for the money. But they do have their limits.