MF film in Epson V500 holder

[jmg1911]

<p>How in the everlovinblueyedworld does anyone get a negative in that Epson holder without doing it violence? Can I just ditch it and use a cover glass? Is there an accesory or aftermarket alternative? Is it just me?</p>

[derek_kennedy]

<p>James James James...yeah that thing sucks big time.</p>

<p>I no longer use it (actually started not to yesterday). My problem wasgetting the stupid neg lined up properly when I did a preview scan. So what did I do? I placed the negative on the glass - no iron maiden negative holder.<br /> Yes there is a aftermarket holder but my way is free.</p>

<p>When you open the lid, there is a i cm whitish strip that you can see through the glass, I line up the long edge of the negative strip (usually 2 or 3 negs per strip depending on what camera I use) to that strip.</p>

<p>In your Epson scanner software, I do not use the thumbnail feature. You might have to finagle a bit to get the negative strip 100% straight or close to straight unless you feel like doing the straightening in the computer which is really easy to do in PS.</p>

<p>Yeah...that holder sucks. Its not just you...unless you and I are useless and we know that isnt true...</p>

[sfcole]

<p>I don't have a problem with it, but I put my negs in upside down. Maybe that makes it easier. I'd think that putting the negs on glass would lead to newton rings.</p>

[derek_kennedy]

<p>Good point on the newton rings - so far I haven't had any issues but I've only scanned 4 negs this way so far.</p>

[robert lee]

<blockquote>

<p>How in the everlovinblueyedworld does anyone get a negative in that Epson holder without doing it violence?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>What's the problem? I use the V500 for 6x7. It works well (as well as can be expected of a $130 flatbed.)</p>

<p>The optics of this scanner is designed with so much DOF that film height really doesn't matter. Try it yourself. Shim the holder with some yellow sticky pads. On my unit, the zone of equal and maximum sharpness is constant across almost 2mm. Practically, this means that whatever curl the film holder allows won't matter.</p>

<p>The downside of what amounts to pinhole optics is that the real scanner resolution is fairly low. The mechanics may be able to step at 6400dpi, but the real system resolution is closer to 2000dpi. This means excellent 4x6 prints from 135, and excellent 8x10 prints from 6x7 film.</p>

[diane_madura]

<p>James, Doug Fisher has designed "better" carriers for film for the V700V750. You'd have to do a search and check out whether his carriers also work for the V500.</p>

[kelly_flanigan1]

<p>Here I have used flatbeds for along time; almost 2 decades now. We once had pro flatbeds that cost 3000 dollars that were just 800 and 1200 dpi units. In Epsons I have owned 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 3200 and the 4800 dpi units. With the V500 I use use the stock holder; maybe I am missing what the issue is here? Ours gets decent scans with the stock holder; just like our other units. Maybe its like loading film on a reel; this is also easy here and difficult of some folks too. Oe maybe one has some wayward plastic flashing; ie a burr that doesnt allow the negative to fit well? I have seen this before; a pen knife or nail file is what the fix is.</p>

[duncan_mckenzie1]

<p>As many have commented, it is a flimsy holder. Make sure all the clips are pressed down. I found I had to (carefully!) stretch the plastic on the sides to make it fit the side clips.</p>

<p>You can scan without a holder, which will scan the entire transparency area, but this may cause Newton's rings, unless you find a way to lift the film off the glass surface. (Having said that, I just tried it with a film that came out with numerous rings when held in the holder, and it scanned perfectly while lying on the glass.) Adding a cover glass to flatten the film is likely to interfere with the DigitalICE processing.</p>

<p>I am using my V500 to scan 35 mm negatives. These are old, and have been stored in a shoebox. Most have dust and scratches, and many are curved along their length. This curvature makes the negatives more difficult to place in the holder, and after they're in, I usually have to move them around to get the position right. (I just use a finger and thumb for this.) The springiness of the film can easily undo the holder clips, and I often have to press them shut several times. The holder will usually reduce the curl somewhat, but not entirely. (I worried that curl might cause focus problems, but the scanner seems to adjust for this.)</p>

<p>The biggest holder problem I've run into is Newton's rings on curled film. The film holder is thin on the underside, and if film has a bad curl to it, it can easily contact the scanner glass, which causes the rings.</p>

<p>One fix is to put the film in upside down, so the curl faces upwards, but this does seem to soften the focus very slightly.</p>

<p>I've also tried putting custom copper-steel spacer disks (OK, pennies) under the plastic holder. This worked well, eliminating the rings and seemed to keep good focus. If you do this, be careful not to place the pennies under the film holder's various calibration holes.</p>

<p>Another easy solution, which I'm now using, is to cut the sticky sections off ordinary PostIt notes, cut them into two thin strips, and stick them along the underside of the film holder, along the plastic edges that run by the film. I used six of sticky strips, each 12-sheets thick, placing two on each length of plastic. I was pleased with the results. It lifts the film far enough away from the scanner glass to eliminate the Newton's rings, the focus is fine, and the strips don't interfere with the calibration holes.</p>

<p>This scanner does an amazing job - incredible value. My previous scanner was a film scanner (Minolta DiMage Scan Dual III). The Epson was half the price I paid for that, and has DigitalICE, which the Minolta lacked. The Epson scans seem just as good, and DigitalICE is a huge time saver. What would once have been a 10-30 minute repair job on each negative is now just a few minutes extra scanning time.</p>

<p>The film holder does take some getting used to, but it does the job. Most of the third-party alternatives seem to be for larger film formats. As far as I can see, the only third-party product for 35 mm film scans is a piece of glass which will fit over the standard holder and flatten the film without causing Newton's rings. But again, adding a layer of glass will interfere with the DigitalICE. That doesn't seem a good tradeoff.</p>