chrisnicola

Thank you all for your comments. I have learned a lot from this thread. If I can't find a cheap OEM part at a good price I will definitely try to replace the glass with 2.5 mm picture glass. I would like to try museum glass but its not available where I am. I have inquired at a local glazier and they told me they only have 2 mm or 3 mm glass but not 2.5 mm. Following the advice I have received from the forum I would only replace according to original spec of 2.5 mm to be safe. Just to clarify, the glass I need to replace is the lower glass not the upper glass. Kind regards Chris

Yesterday, I took out the old scanner glass with very great difficulty to rotate it 180 degrees so the scratch will be less likely to interfere with the scans. Instead of the top left, the scratch is now in the bottom right of the scan area so it will only show up with A4 scans. I repositioned the glass with good quality double sided mirror tape (flat tape not foam tape according to original specs). That will help until I can get a replacement. The underside of the glass really needed a good clean! The glass is 2.5 mm thick. It measures 37.8 cm x 24.9 cm with smoothed edges to make it safer to handle. I'm not an expert, but it looks just like standard picture glass to me. I am tempted to source some picture glass and replace it. By default, the top of the glass will be at the correct height once positioned in the plastic frame as long as thin flat double sided tape is used. Kind regards Chris

Thank you all for your replies. Its definitely glass. I checked the E bay link and $100 including shipping to Europe is too expensive for me. I will check out some Epson suppliers to see if I can get a better price for an oem replacement. This is a $500+ scanner so I guess the glass "should" be better quality that average picture glass. Picture glass will probably be OK for average office scans. However I don't know if it will affect negative scans at 3600 ppi. Then again, 2 or 2.5 mm picture glass might work just fine! I am also thinking of the possibility of going to a computer recycling bin and removing the scanner glass from an all in 1 and cutting to size. Kind regards Chris PS I also got some ideas here: How to replace a broken scanner glass? - HP Photosmart c4780

I have an Epson V700 scanner and the glass is scratched. The original oem replacement glass with the plastic frame is very expensive. Does anyone know where I can purchase good quality optical glass in Europe to replace the glass myself? Your thoughts would be appreciated. Kind regards Chris.

This is a long shot. I would suggest soaking one test negative in clear water for an hour and see if they will wash out. I had a problem with blue spots in colour negatives that looked like snowflakes and they washed out in water (blue in the positive that is, I suppose yellow in the negative). Evidently the presence of some salts can produce a blue colour in the positive. The good thing about these spots in the examples you have shown is they can easily be digitally cloned out. Snowflake Stains On Colour Negatives Kind regards Chris

Here is the negative drying system I am using. I just hang them up on a curtain rail using garden tie wire through one of the negative sprockets. I have put deionised water (for ironing) in a container with a bit of wetting agent and put the negatives in for a minute. That's all they need to get rid of the spots. Then I shake them and use a rocket blower to get rid of as much water as I can and then hang up to dry. All the spots are gone and they now scan well. Scanning my negatives gives me many happy memories from my film days. I wish to thank everyone for their comments. It was a good learning experience for me. Kind regards Chris

Dave, I found some information here: Eco Pro LegacyPro Ascorbic Acid Powder Black/ White Film 747716 Part A must be fully dissolved before adding part B so I suppose that's why they use warm water with part A. It says it can be used full strength or diluted 1:1 From what I understand diluted developer is more economical and can result in longer develop times and hence less chance of incorrect timing. It increases sharpness but with more grain. I am not sure why they are using 1 + 1/2 dilution ratios. There is an app called massive dev chart you can use. The times for Xtol are evidently the same as the times for EcoPro according to the site below. Digitaltruth Photo - Film Photography, Darkroom Supplies & Resources B&W Film Developing Times | The Massive Dev Chart Kind regards Chris

I would like to ask please, what is the most practical way to wash and dry lots of small strips of negatives without causing damage and curling? I thought of hanging them up using clothes pegs at the edges. Is there a better way? Kind regards Chris

After a day the test negative is now thoroughly dry and there is no trace of the spots. They all just washed away in water. Kind regards Chris

The difference in the colour of the before and after pictures is caused by the scanner software. The negative didn't change colour after washing. Kind regards chris

Glen, thank you so much for your suggestion! It appears to have worked! I cut off a small piece of negative from the beginning of the strip and put it into tap water. The emulsion clouded as it soaked up the water and I could not see the spots. I allowed it to soak for about an hour and allowed it to dry for an hour. The spots are all gone! I have attached some before and after scans. This does make me wonder if the spots were caused by some salts due to incorrect washing after processing. It did take them years to appear though. Strange. Of course I will have to check again tomorrow once the film is thoroughly dry. Maybe they will be visible again. If this is the cure, then I will have to find out how to wash and dry lots of negatives so as not to cause further damage and negative curl. Kind regards Chris

Thanks for your comments Eddy and Bill. Yes these patterns do look interesting. In this negative of a winter tree in London the spots have a blue glow that adds to the drama of the image. Kind Regards Chris

Thank you for your reply. I have little experience diagnosing these problems. So it must be fungus. I live in the Mediterranean which is hot but not that humid. The negatives are between 20-35 years old and for the last 20 years were stored in a professional negative file. The negative sleeves are all spotless. Most of the films on adjacent pages in the same file have no problems at all. Specific 30 year old films do have this problems evenly throughout the entire length. They also have a pale orange colour rather than a dark orange colour. This leads me to believe that the processing was below par and made the films more susceptible to fungus damage than other films of the same age. Of course, storage must have played a part as well. I will accept that there is not much that can be done about that now. I should have started to scan them a lot earlier. I appreciate all your helpful comments. Kind regards Chris

I had a closer look. There is no sign of surface damage on the emulsion side or the shiny side. Both sides are shiny and clean. These blotches appear to be sandwiched within the negative randomly but fairly evenly throughout the whole roll of film. They also have the same colour throughout making me think they are present in a specific layer of the emulsion. Strange. This does make me wonder if it also might be a chemical issue. Kind regards Chris

Thank you for your reply. That may well be the case. Is there anything I can do to remove it or is the damage permanent? Maybe my only hope is to search for some prints and see if they are in good condition and scan those instead. I have attached a close up of one of the spots. It does appear as if the emulsion is damaged. Kind regards Chris