Film holder covers sprocket holes on negative strips

[dale_lundy]

<p>I am scanning negative strips on a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000.</p>

<p>I have found that some of the older negative strips have white plastic (or otherwise) holders glued or taped over one side of the sprocket holes. I'm sure that seemed to some processor like a good idea at the time, to have something to hold in order to not touch the negative, but it makes it impossible to scan the negative strips without removing it.</p>

<p>I tried removing two of them. One of them came off fairly easily, but left a sticky residue on the negative, which I'm afraid may jam the scanner. The other would not come off easily, and I didn't persist for fear of damaging the negative.</p>

<p>Has anyone else run into this? If so, how did you deal with it?<br>

<br />Dale</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Does the naked film go into the scanner without a holder? I'm not familiar with this model.<br>

Otherwise, it might just be best to get the optional strip film holder FH-3.</p>

<p> </p>

[dale_lundy]

<blockquote>

<p>Does the naked film go into the scanner without a holder? I'm not familiar with this model.<br />Otherwise, it might just be best to get the optional strip film holder FH-3.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes. I am using an SA-21 strip film adaptor, so I insert the negative strip directly into the adaptor and it feeds in automatically. In the case of the white plastic negative holder, it comes off easily but leaves a residue that I am afraid will jam the film adaptor. In the case of the negative holder made of other materials, it does not come off easily. I thought of cutting it along the edge of the negative, but the sprocket holes would still be covered, so I doubt it would feed. I haven't tried that yet, though.<br>

<br />Dale</p>

[pbalko]

<p>Back in the 90's, I was depositing my film in the drop box at a local supermarket. Whatever lab they used did a decent processing job: clean scratchless negs properly developed. One time, I got several rolls back with a clear, gummed plastic strip, about a half inch wide, with the lower half of the strip stuck over the sprocket holes, and a strip of white paper stuck to the upper half, I suppose, as you suggest, for handling purposes. What a stupid idea.</p>

<p>My immediate need, at the time, was to get the negatives into sleeve pages. With great effort and patience, I managed to remove these strips with minimal damage to the negs, but I did not remove the adhesive. They're currently stuck in my sleeve pages and, if I ever get around to scanning them, I suppose I'll have to cut them out.</p>

<p>If it were to happen today, I'd probably just use a straight edge and a sharp blade, and cut the strip off at the edge of the negative. I am unfamiliar with Coolscans. If you need the sporcket holes open to use your scanner, I'm afraid I can;t help you beyond repeating JDM's advice to get a strip film holder.</p>

<p>EDIT: Typing while you responded, Dale. I regret the redundancy. At least you have my empathy.</p>

[bgelfand]

<p>Get some PEC-12 solution and PEC Pads and clean the negatives.</p>

<p>If you feel like experimenting, you could also try 99% isopropyl alcohol as a cleaning solution. I have used it and it worked for me, but test it on a negative you do not mind losing first.</p>

[dale_lundy]

<p>Phil, that is exactly the problem--though some are paper and some are plastic.</p>

<p>I found a few negative strips where the paper or plastic did not cover the sprocket holes, so I decided to start by cutting it off flush with the edge of the negative, and trying to scan it. It jammed. OK, that idea won't work. (And, according to the manual, the sprocket holes have to be in good shape for it to scan).</p>

<p>Brooks, I will probably look for a negative I don't care so much about and try the alcohol next. That would be simplest. I was not familiar with PEC-12 but I looked it up, and if the alcohol doesn't work, I'll try ordering some of that.</p>

<p>Another option I'm considering: I do have an Epson 3170 Photo scanner also which does negatives. It probably doesn't do as well as the Nikon dedicated film scanner, but I may scan the negatives on it before I use the alcohol/PEC-12 so at least I get some picture in the case I do damage the negatives.<br>

<br />Dale</p>

[jcuknz]

<p>I wouldn't try to clean my negative in this situation but rather organise a holder so I could photograph it with my regular camera. I copied a few hundred negs this way last year, mostly using the holder out of my scanner [becuase I did't like the programme which came with the scanner]. The thing I had to avoid was reflections of the camera coming off the back of the negative. I recently made myself a box to copy some old quarter plate glass negatives and kept in mind where I went wrong with the 35mm copies :-) I would not be suprised if your scanner is 5Mp so your camera will probably do a better job with its bigger Mp.</p><div></div>

[jcuknz]

<p>Or as I did a slide copy some years back :-)</p><div></div>

[dale_lundy]

<p>Brooks,</p>

<p>I have some 91% Isopropyl alcohol. Is there any reason not to try that?</p>

<p>JC,</p>

<p>I checked and the Nikon film scanner and the Epson flatbed both have higher hardware resolutions than the camera (which is 12 mpxl). However I've determined that for scanning family history images 2400 dpi is better than the 4000 dpi the Nikon will do because it takes less time and space, and still allows adequate enlargement. Once I can actually see the pictures on screen and edit them, then I'll decide which ones of them I want to go back and scan at 4,000. So I should have adequate resolution either way.</p>

<p>That said, I still like your idea. I actually thought about something like that once, but I tried it with a slide and could never close-focus well enough with the lens I had. I am thinking I need something like a 100mm macro lens? What lens do you use?</p>

<p>Thanks for posting the pictures. They helped. I may find this useful in another way. I have discovered some older pre-35mm negatives which the Nikon won't do (maybe it would with the FH-35 film holder if I could get one). The setup you put together might work well for those. Did you use any kind of backlighting either for the negative strips or the slides?</p>

<p>Dale</p>

<p>Dale</p>

[jcuknz]

<p>As you see from the photo my studio/workroom* has plenty of light from windows virtually being the walls on three sides so I normally work with available light and simply arrange an even background. I would use a bridge camera for such a job as with the moderate close-up lens and reach of a long zoom it is easy to get tight framings. With extras the DSLR can go further in but for ease of use the bridge is great. The slide would have been copied with my Nikon 5700 in those days which had an unusual focusing ability for its day though I prefer to hold back with the use of a CU lens.<br>

*other people would have it as a sittingroom for the views :-)</p>

[dale_lundy]

<p>JC,</p>

<p>I was unfamiliar with the term bridge camera, but in looking it up, realized I have one -- an Olympus SP500UZ which I bought to use for travel when I also needed to carry a camcorder, but which I quit using in favor of the DSLR because of shutter lag. I never thought of using it for this purpose, but I'll try it.</p>

<p>What is the body of water in the background?</p>

<p> </p>

[bgelfand]

<p>I know water is not good for color negatives. The other 9% of your 91% isopropyl alcohol is water and perhaps glycerine. I have not tried it. I did use 99% isopropyl on some slides that had a fungus. It worked just fine.</p>

<p>When I clean negatives, I use PEC-12 and PEC pads. I know that PEC-12 does not hurt the negatives. The only worry I would have is would PEC-12 completely disolve the adhesive or just smear it over your negatives. That is why I suggested you try it or alcohol on a negative you do not care about or even the blank leader.</p>