120MM Film Scanning Techniques with Flatbed Scanner?

Hello there,

 

I have a bunch of 120mm film negatives from my Holga that I want to

scan in to my computer for digital manipulation. I have a HP Scanjet

4670 vertical flat bed scanner.

 

I have been trying to scan in the negatives using the flat bed

scanner, but have not had any results. I was wondering if anyone had

suggestions from past experience in scanning negs using a flatbed

without a transparency adaptor.

 

I would prefer to not go out and use a service bureau or buy another

scanner to scan these in as the bulk of neg scans that I do are in the

35mm realm (and I have a high-end neg scanner for that).

 

Any suggestions, techniques, etc would be most appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Art

Maybe I'm missing something but I can't see how you would scan a negative or transparency without a transparency adaptor - if you place the neg on an opaque surface, you can't see it, and I would think a scanner couldn't either. Are transparency adaptors available separately for that model scanner?

 

I've been using a flatbed scanner with transparency adaptor for scanning 120mm negs (from a holga), and the results are very unsatisfactory compared to my 35mm film scanner - there's far more detail in the neg than I get get in the scan. All right for a few fun holga rolls but not viable in the long term for me. I'll either give up medium format or buy a medium format film scanner.

120 film is not 120mm!

"<em>How can you not have any results? Just place the neg on the scanner's glass bed, close the lid, and scan. In PS turn the negative image into a positive. Done.</em>"<p>

 

Ermm, well, yeah. But, seriously, have you ever done this. Dust will be everywhere and you get very soft images due to the fact you are getting reflected images from many layers.

<p>

Do yourself a favour and get yourself a scanner with a transparency adaptor

Film scanning on flatbeds is done with transmitted light from the lid. Paper scanning is from reflected light from the base of the scanner.

 

You need a scanner designed for neg scanning. As a test hold a negative against a white wall and shine a light on it from in front. Thats what the scanner sees if the light is from below - nothing!. Hold the neg up to a light and thats what it sees when designed to scan negs.

 

Regards

>>I was wondering if anyone had suggestions from past experience in scanning negs using a flatbed without a transparency adaptor. <<

<p>

Back when flatbed scanners were relatively new and expensive, some people made a prism to use for scanning film. You might Google for ideas on that. Don't expect much though!

<p> Doug<p>

<a href="http://www.betterscanning.com">BetterScanning.com</a>

Ivan, I see you're right - I was hesitant to call it 120mm but assumed that the most common frame size with the film being 60x60mm adding up to 120mm was no coincidence (I'm not a great believer in coincidences), but I guess maybe it is.

If you totally broke and have no other choice, i tried something from darren gold's "Film scanning on flatbeds is done with transmitted light from the lid. Paper scanning is from reflected light from the base of the scanner.

 

You need a scanner designed for neg scanning. As a test hold a negative against a white wall and shine a light on it from in front. Thats what the scanner sees if the light is from below - nothing!. Hold the neg up to a light and thats what it sees when designed to scan negs. " idea. Long quote i know. anyway, what i did, just for fun.. was to pin my 120mm negatives around my laptop, open up photoshop and open a totally white document. then took a picture of my negatives (frame by frame) against the white background on the laptop. upload, invert and voila. u get a crappy ass pic from a 120mm film. Gonna try other ways (lightbox,etc.) to see if i can get a better effect. enjoy.

Amazing how you asked how to scan 120 film and got practically no answers, regardless if you are shooting 6x6 6x.4.5 6x7 or 6x9 120 or 220 film will respond the same as 135 35 mm, 120 film is 60mm. You will need to reflect the scanner back on its self, similar to the back light used for negative scanning. In my testing laying a flat piece of paper, stock, reflective material won't work. You will need to create an encapsulation device, using silver stock, or 80 percent gray, and create a sort of cover to reflect the image back on the scanner. https://cdn.makezine.com/make/craft/2011/07/slidescanner_template.pdf , this template is for 135, but it works on 120 just fine despite what you will here. I like spending as little as possible, and creating an image without throwing thousands of dollars at it. This template works well with, high gloss printer paper, silver stock, but I have even used pastels to color it in. In the end listen to no one, do what you want, and create what you want, in the end photography is all about you, and what you like is more important than, chemicals, drying processing, digital manipulation, scan size, scan resolution, or using your smart phone. The photo of the year at the Detroit Zoo last years winner was taken with a go pro, not a 20,000 dollar lens, or a Leica camera. Great images cant be bought, they take time, understanding, and knowledge of the craft.

Another ancient thread revived for no reason!

 

Please read the posting date guys.

 

Anyway, sounds like the OP was trying to use a cheap reflective scanner to scan film. Can't be done. You need a transparency adapter lid and a way to switch off the front illumination. Otherwise reflection from the film will ruin any backlighting.