Scanning 6x17 on Polaroid 120, Nikon 8000

[robb_williamson2]

Hey There.

 

I have taken many of my 6x17 images to the lab for drum scans. These

are very nice but expensive and time consuming.

 

I know that the Nikon 8000 and Polaroid 120 only go up to 6 x 9. Has

anyone used these to scan 6 x 17 and stitch two scans together? If

so, what program do you use to stitch them? Any other tricks of the

trade.

 

I really don't want to use a flatbed scanner with fluid. I am

considering an Imacon Flextight Photo as the best option to pay off

in the long run. But in the meantime, the polaroid or nikon might be

great.

 

Thanks.

[www.graemehird.com]

Robb,

 

I am afraid I can't answer your original question because I am not familiar with the film carriers for the scanners you mention (sorry). If you can feed a strip of film into them which is 17cm long, Vuescan may be able to scan the whole image in one go. Email Ed Hamerick from Vuescan and ask him if that is possible.

 

If you don't need the full quality of a drum scan (though I suspect you do), the Epson 2450 (or the new 3200) might give you some very usable images from a single sweep (with a home made film carrier). I use my 2450 on 5x4 film and easily get great lambda prints to 30" wide.

 

I hope this helps,

 

Graeme

[david_littleboy__tokyo__ja]

The Nikon 8000ED carriers (both the normal 120 and the glass 120 carriers) will hold 6x17 without problem. NikonScan may get confused, but VueScan will allow you to set the (up to 6x9) scan area any way you want and lock the exposure. Scanning should be no problem. I'd think that stitching them together shouldn't be difficult in any decent photo editor.

 

Of course, I've never done this...

[joseph_verdesca]

I have on several occasions scanned 6x17 negatives using my Polaroid 120 - I simply set it for 6x9 (and max out the length of the area to be scanned from within the Polaroid Insight software), and combine the two resulting halves in Photoshop. There is probably some automatic way to do this, but it only takes me a couple of minutes manually. The resulting 4000 dpi 6x17 file can, however, be huge (especially in color!), resulting in severe hardware congestion. Depending upon the end product desired, I often scan at a lower resolution to avoid being aware of how pitifully underpowered my PC is for the task of manipulating a 4000 dpi 6x17 scan.

[robb_williamson2]

Thanks for the great information. I will look into some software. The Polaroid 120 seems pretty affordable.

 

Thanks again.

[rainer_viertlb_ck]

hi robb...

i used now a long year a polaroid ss120 in addition to a 45ultra....to reach now the point to sell them and to buy an imacon 646.

i scanned a lot of 6x17 from my technorama and 6x19cm 360degrees roundshot,- really conten i was nearly never. i did the same as described above: i scanned in two halfes of 6x9cm, the images out of the scanner have some overlap ( or three 6x7 images for the roundshot ) and let them stitch together with the panorama maker programm from the panoramafactory. www.panoramafactory.com. a great programm and it is shareware. but even my computer is a p4 2,4ghz with 1,5 gb ram i can not stitch 4000dpi together,- anyway i didnt needed it too.

the problem of this technique is more that the image in this kind of scanners as the SS120 or the nikon isnt lying flat enough to be really sharp on every point,- sometimes the film is enough flat to be sharp,- but mostly not. this depends on how the film leaves the lab or if the scanned image is from the end or from the middle of the film. you should know that 1/10mm is enough to be visible out of focus,- at least in comparation with drum scanns or the imacon the results dont satisfy. no solution.....except the horrible glass holders,- i bought one for 100� to find a solution for this problem,- and i never used it cause the dust problem increases horrible.....

so if you want to buy one of this two scanners mail me.....the image quality of the ss120 is really good,- of the 45ultra ok, but not exciting in the shades. for negatives for the reason of some shattering in the white parts of the image the 45ultra is unusuable.

greatings from germany

[robb_williamson2]

Rainer,

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I would love to go the same route and buy an imacon but it is almost double the cost of the polaroid 120. I decided to upgrade my polaroid 4000 to the 120 at this time and have one due in tomorrow from Polaroid. I will take a look at your recommended stitching program and post some results in a week or two. Someone else also suggested Panavue. I am most interested in quickly updating my website with new images and then after that doing some digital printing from home. We'll see how the larger images look.

 

Thanks again.

 

Robb

www.williamsonimages.com