Streak on Scan

[rob_gruber]

I recently got an Epson 4180 for scanning black and white medium format negs. My first

scan came out pretty well but it has a streak in the sky area that isn't on the negative. I'm

wondering if there is something wrong with the light source of the scanner or if this is a

common problem or what.

 

I noticed it a little in the scan and at certain angles in the resulting print. Is the scanner

defective?

[mattvardy]

Hi Rob,<br>

Though your attachment is pretty small, and the affected area is hard to see, I think I have encountered a similar problem in the past.<p>

 

I used to do all of my image-scanning from school, on a HP photo scanner. Now I have a Canon LiDE at home, and I'll probably never use the old HP again.<p>

 

Reason being that I noticed this sort of streaking on nearly every scanned image. I have no idea how it happens, but I have a few ideas:<p>

 

1. The streaks on my scans in the past all had the same, consistent pattern and I wondered if the machine was somehow capturing the reflection of it's inner components. Look closely, and you might find that the streaks resemble the inner parts of the scanner inside the glass. I would think the manufacturer would design their product to avoid this, but who knows, perhaps the glass used is overly-reflective and the machine might not be designed to compensate for reflection.<br>

2. I usually get glossy prints from the lab, and I also wondered if the gloss of the paper was too reflective and the scanner captured its own reflection in the image.<br>

3. Having said that, I think if you're scanning prints, it is most likely a problem with the lab you use (unless you print yourself at home). I took a look back through my albums and found that nearly all of my 4X6 prints had this streaking, so I switched labs, and haven't had anymore problems since...<p>

 

Hope this helps... regards,

[jtk]

I've seen similar streaks in negatives that upon inquiry had been processed in amateur roller-type processing rigs...the kind with plastic reels. They can't be nearly as even as hand-agitation methods or dip/dunk processing or roller transport processing. I think scanners are

in general more demanding of evenness in skys than are enlargers, more critical. In other words, they see things we can't see directly.

 

Another possibility (probably not yours) has to do with the film bowing and touching the glass. I've found that there's no problem with touching glass if the film is held flat, directly against it, with another piece of good quality glass...doesn't even require a mask if you use Silverfast.