V700 wet mounting: Scanscience or Betterscanning?

[gbaida]

I would like to get best and more consistent results from my Epson V700. It

seems it means wet mounting with 3rd party kit/parts. My home work led me to

offers from scanscience.com and betterscanning.com. They both seem to avoid

extra glass between the film and sensor.

 

Initially I thought to buy Scancsience MF 'turn key' kit. But may be

Betterscanning variable height mounting station and Scanscience LUMINA fluid is

better option, even though I would have to add other wet mounting parts from

elsewhere?

I would scan 645/6x6 and some damaged 135 frames.

I greatly appreciate your help.

[stu dall]

I own both kits, and my preference is definitely with Doug Fisher's Betterscanning Workstation. It's pretty robust, and comes supplied with several sheets of material to mask the different sizes of film that you would scan. You cut the different film size holes in the material yourself. I scan 5"x4", 6x7cm and 6x9cm. What I really like about the kit, is that the Anti Newton Ring glass is large enough to scan 8"x10", which gives lots of working space for wet mounting the film.

What you would need over and above Doug's kit is sheets of mylar, 3m tape, and glass cleaning solution together with lint free cloth for cleaning the ANR glass. I also use a 4" rubber roller once I have positioned the film on the glass for scanning, to iron out the air bubbles to the edge of the film. Hope that helped a little. Stu.

[gbaida]

Stuart, thanks! It helped a lot!

 

I have question about Anti Newton Ring glass you mentioned. It is not required for wet scanning, isn't it? So what would be easier with respect to dry scanning, the workstation with Anti Newton glass or Doug's adjustable holder for a specific format with the Anti Newton glass insert? Isn't it going to be a pain to dry mount 135mm strip to the AN glass of the wet station?

[underexpos]

Have you tried wet plat scans right to the glass of the scanner? I have an Epson 750 and no

longer use the holder. It takes a little more cleaning, but work much better, much sharper in

my tests. I get the fluid made by Aztek at www.freestylephoto.biz. I buy 8.5x11 4 mil. acetate

that can get wet from my local art store, it's much cheeper than the stuff sold online. Just be

sure not to cover the first 1/2 inch at the top when neg scanning. As for Newton glass, it is

designed to be used dry. Getting it wet defeats the purpose. Hope this helps.

[stu dall]

Yes, the ANR glass is designed to be used for dry scanning. If you're only going to dry scan, I would go with Doug's specific holder with the ANR glass, but the benefits of fluid mounting are worth the extra effort imo.

 

Ryan, I really am surprised that you're getting sharper scans from mounting your film directly onto the scanner glass.

[gbaida]

Thanks, guys.

Speaking about wet mounting with the Doug's station, do you think it is worth to get 2 glass plates instead of just one? I mean mounting another strip on 2nd glass while the first one has been scanned. I think about just wet mounting, so the glass should be not AN. Also, is it possible to put two strips on one glass plate for the wet sandwich?

 

Rayan, my V700's focus is well above the glass for sure, but I try to engage higher resolution lens by selecting something like "scan with film holder".