Compulsory crop by the holder of Imacon 646

[joseph_wang3]

This information could be useful for those who likes scanning with Imacon.

 

If you look at the size of the Flextight holder,35X24 is written on it. If you measure it, it is actually

35X23.5.

 

If you measure the size of the negatives, they vary. For my Contax RX, it measures 36X24. For my Leica

MP, it measures 36.5X24.

 

If I scan the negatives from my MP in my Imacon, there is a compulsory crop of at least 1.5mm X 0.5mm.

 

For a wide angle lens about 90 degree, 1.5mm reduction in negatives means 3-4 degrees reduction in the

angle of view.

 

What I did was to make the size of the holder bigger. I cut the black magnetic sheet with a simple cutter.

The flexible metal sheet is made of steel like material, in the end I used a 30000 rpm hand drill with

diamond burr to enlarge it.

 

In the end, the prints from my Zeiss M 25 2.8 looks like coming from ZM 21. Before the cutting, it used to

look like coming from ZM 28. Simple job worth doing.

 

Do others find the same problem ?

[mona_chrome]

I don't shoot 35, so that is moot for me, but I do shoot 2-1/4. What I find is that if I shoot a

square with a Mamiya 330 or a Holga, the neg does not fit totally, if I use my Hasselblad

503cw, it fits with a border. The same with 645 negs, the mamiya 645afd negs don't quite fit

100%, but the ones from my H2 fit with a border. There is not a great deal of cut off, but it

just makes it very time consuming to get it fit properly in the holder.

 

I guess they choose some camera to determine the opening size and it isn't Leica or Mamiya!

[tobiasfeltus]

Yes, i had this problem and had made a post about it previously, which is here:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00EVz5

 

my conclusion was that i wanted to make a new holder, by acid etching a piece of steel, and i have some magnetic sheet. I also use a Leica, and had the same problem, even with a 50mm, and again, the same issue with a Mamiya 645...

 

Imacon will charge �80gbp for a new holder, and i did try to complain directly to them. it is silly.

 

t

[joseph_wang3]

To me, making a new holder is difficult. It involves lots of work like finding the right

materials, making lots of cutting on very hard steel-like material and cutting for the code.

Cutting for the code at the top of the holder is technically very difficult. The right material

is difficult to find, the plastic is soft but magnetic.

 

Modification of the original holder is much easier. It involved only enlarging the original

outlet by cutting soft plastic and steel like material. I used diamond burr hand drill. I

suppose

if you have a diamond cutter you might be able to do it as well. In the end it does work

that

the scanner is able to scan the full size 36.5X24.5 negatives.

[tobiasfeltus]

Ah, i forgot to mention that the materials are relatively easy to access. the magnetic sheet is even rather cheap:

 

http://www.mutr.co.uk/prodDetail.aspx?prodID=634

 

and steel can be acid etched (the same way that imacon make thiers), even by using the photoresist that Maplin sell in a spray can (with a little bit of experimentation).

 

the "bar code" at the top of the carrier is not necessary, as there is a setting in the Imacon software to override it, at which point you just need to specify the format of negative/tranny.

 

yes, i gave it a lot of thought, but never got around to doing it.

 

t

[joseph_wang3]

Thank you for the info. I might buy those magnetic plastic sheets.

[tobiasfeltus]

well, do keep me updated on your developments...

 

t