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Strange "Grid" Pattern on Flextight X5 Scan


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<p>Hi all, more film newbie questions. I'm scanning some of my negatives on an X5 Flextight and was wondering if you all had seen these weird patterns on the scans before. A sample is included. It's not the first time or the only lab that I've seen these patterns from. Was curious if you all had any information as to what it could be...it looks like a large pixelated pattern.</p>
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<p>Sorry, I guess it was rather faint. I forget that it's my image and I've spent a lot of time looking at it :)<br>

Thanks for the replies, and thanks Colin for adjusting that. The weird thing is that it only shows on some images that I've scanned and not others. <br>

My workflow is pretty simple. Scan on an X5 to an uncompressed 40mb TIFF file, Adjust color balance in photoshop, and dodge and burn to taste using curves and masks. </p>

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<p>This should not happen on a scan from a Flextight X5 fully maintained serviced machine. It certainly never happened on mine. Did you show it to the lab? You pay top dollar for these scans and should get top results.<br>

I recommend you contact Hasselblad's technical support to get confirmation of anything whatsoever that may have caused this.<br>

The other thing you may try, on one of the negatives that you had this experience with, ask the lab to scan it again on the same machine, at the machine's full capacity 3200PPI (pixels per inch). From a 6x6 frame you should get a file of 7000x7000 pixels +/-140mb. See if you still get the square grid. My guess is yes, but it's worth a try.</p>

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The full resolution of a Flextight X5 is not 3200 dpi; it is dependant from the film format, on a 35mm in portrait orientation it is 8000 dpi.

Even the supposed max scan capability for 6 x 6 film it is not just 3200 but it is more if you create a custom film holder (only virtual, in

fact you can still use the standard holder but sisenable auto recogniction of the film holder). On my flextight i have custom (as already

said, just virtual) holder with an aperture of 56 x 56 mm and it allows me to scan at 3600 dpi. I could get even more if I create a 55 x 55

mm but I prefer to scan the black border too so I limit myself to 56 x 56 mm.

Try to ask the lab to give you the .fff format file so you have the full control on your file exactly as you scan yourself (see on the

hasselblad website the advantage of a .fff file), then download the FlexColor software from the Hasselblad web site.

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<p>Thanks all for the replies. Dani, I've seen this pattern from two different Flextight scanners on two different continents. <br>

Diego: I'll have to research the .fff file and see if they will give it to me in that format. I'm assuming that's the X5 equivalent of a ".DNG"?<br>

I'm going in to the lab tomorrow for a couple other scans, I'll let you know what they say.</p>

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The 3f (fff) is the native file format of the Imacon/Hasselblad scanner. It is somewhat like a RAW tif file.

I maintain all 3f files as archives and work in .tif files.

Diego's suggestion is a good one. Also from my experience, it is best to have the Flextight produce the 3f files as Linear

Scans (no manipulation in software before the scan!).

Good luck let us know what the lab said.

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