Interest in medium format strip holders for Epson scanners

[joshua daniels]

Folks - I'm a medium format user as well as distributor of

specialized photographic products (see www.zoerk.com). Here is my

question re film strip holders for Epson's 2450 and 3200 Perfection

scanners:

 

We are considering developing some aftermarket strip holders for

Epson's Perfection scanners. Currently, these excellent scanners come

with several film holders, but none that allow you to scan more than

one frame of medium format film at a time. The scanner appears to be

capable of doing so, but the manufacturer, apparently, has decided

not to provide what for many of us would be an ideal way to scan,

archive, and proof print our medium format images.

 

I'm am trying to determine interest / demand for a third party strip

holder. This holder would be very similar to those currently offered

by Epson, though they may be machined from aluminum rather than

molded plastic. They would be at least as precise as the Epson

holders.

 

Because these would be manufactured in small quantity, the price

would be somewhat higher than the replacement holders from Epson - my

guess is in the $75-125 range.

 

If you have an interest in such a product, or suggestions / comments

for me in considering whether / how to develop this product, please

feel free to let me know.

 

Thanks!

[ptucci]

Arrrrgh! You stole my idea! ;^)

Suggestion: either use Newton glass or use a hinged top to squeeze the film flat. The little fingers do nothing to flatten the film. For 645 format, you may want to "windowpane" each frame, top and bottom. I realize some cameras have spacing problems, but most don't. It shouldn't be difficult to get two consecutive frames 99% visible within the windowpanes. Three or more frames would be more difficult because of cumulative spacing errors.

 

I've thought about simply cutting the 6x9cm opening to be about 6x10cm to account for a 1 cm frame spacing, but the wider that opening is, the harder it will be to get a flat neg. In other words, the short ends of the opening--the 6cm direction--supports the neg if it wants to sag down.

[nicholas_wybolt]

Interesting idea -- But I'm wondering given file sizes and resource consumption if the typical digital darkroom desktop or notebook will be able to handle multiple scans. I've seen some systems choke scanning two 35mm transparencies with Epson TWAIN.

 

Then again, if it's a "critical scan," most folks probably scan one negative / transparency at a time.

 

-Nick

[brooks short]

I think this would be a product that could find a market. However, I wouldn't purchase a film strip holder made of aluminum or any metal for fear of scratching the glass of the scanner. Plastic would be a better choice. I've actually made a couple of holders for the 2450 using mat board and they work well.

[mark f]

FWIT - I just purchased a 3200 and am considering machining one out of plastic (probably ABS---easy to machine for an amateur like me!)

[leighperry]

I'm definitely in the market, but my interest is not in multiple-frame scanning.

<p>

The two places the Epson holders fall down (for me) are:

<ol>

<li>There is no holder for 6x12. (Others would be interested in 6x17 also.)

<li>The 6x9 holder crops the frame by 1-2mm all round. I always want to scan the entire frame plus a bit of unexposed filmstock so I have maximum rotation and cropping options later.

</ol>

<p>I would pay that price for a dual 6x9 / 6x12 holder. (I don't like the idea of aluminium on glass though.)

[__jon__]

Joshua,

 

Something like this:

 

http://www.diacover.de/en/scan/scanplate.htm

 

This link is from the Epson3200 group at Yahoo. I was going to get one from them. I think you should do it. I'd really appreciate a 6x12 holder. Have you seen the Imacon film holders? Thin steel with a magnetic sheet--they are nice. Maybe you could do something similar?

[kelly_flanigan1]

Here we just used cardboard; and an xacto knife. I have made about 5 different custom holders....One is sightly bigger than "regular modern 4x5" ; for my old 4x5 filmpack negatives; which all have to be trimmed to fit the epson holder..PITA....Another is for 105mm microfilm; another is for 120 rolls scanned as one long strip.......Another was for 616 negatives; and another was for an even larger roll film; almost 4x5 size from the 1920's...............

[Ed_Ingold]

The film has to be held as close as possible to the glass surface without touching (to avoid Newton's rings.) A means to flatten the negative without using a glass plate would be ideal.

 

I used a simple sine-bar test to check the optimum focal plane. I placed a precise, rigid 150mm scale (Starrett #C635) on the glass, with one end resting on the glass and a 5mm round spacer at the 140 mm mark. The divisions are machined, and very sharp. Furthermore, the scale has an hard-chrome surface with a texture which can be used to judge sharpness. I then used a reflective scan at 2400 lpi.

 

There may be variations, but the sharpest focal plane in my Epson 2450 is the surface of the glass plate. The focus is reasonably acceptible up to 1-1.5 mm, and is severely degraded at 2.5 mm.

 

It is a great time-saver to scan several frames at once. There is ample room to scan three 6x6cm frames. Silverfast AI does this effectively. Neither the Epson software nor Silverfast LE is useful in this regard.

[dennis_buss]

My Epson 2450 came equipped with a 6x6 holder that accommodates a strip of 4 negatives. I'm not sure what you mean when you say the holders do not "allow you to scan more than one frame ... at time."

 

Nevertheless, I would be interested in frames that could be used for 645 negative strips.

 

Dennis

[Glenn McCreery]

I think that you will have a market for this holder, including myself. There is nothing wrong with using aluminum against glass as long as the aluminum surfaces are smooth and the corners rounded. There is a bending problem with using thin aluminum sheet if not handled carefully. For your application, molded plastic would be preferrable from a structural, tolerance, and cost standpoint (although a magnetic holder using a steel frame might be worth considering). I think that $75-100 is way too high a price point. You will have a wider market if you can keep the price below perhaps $30.

[3d-aeropanoramic project]

i have in mind buying that scanplate from diacover. my problem is the following. i have roundshot-filmstripes which could be longer than twice the scanwindow(25cm/10 inch-full window 20/25cm/8x10).

if the film is not longer than 49cm or a bit less than 50cm i could scan both ends with a little overlap.

but when the stripe is 50cm and longer it cannot be pulled through since at one end of the scanner is sitting that detection-window which must be uncovered. solution: mounting the holder sideways.

until now: having no holder in my umax astra 4000 u(powerlook III) i cut out a channel of 70mm(my largest film is 70mm/60mm imagesize) on both sides of the glass into the body...

tbhis would also be the only solution with than diacover scanplate(5x21cm filmwindow) which has outer dimension 18x25cm.

why? glass-window is 22x36cm. 22cm is too small to put the holder sideways. i am eagerly waiting for epson 4990. before deciding i must find out and discuss the perfect focus distance with mr fuchs of diacover.

an other solution is on the way. julios 5x7 inch- wet-scankit- no space-problems in almost any scanner.