Questions about flatbed scanning LF negs *BIG PICS*

[Idasho]

I purchased a second hand Microtek Scanmaker 5900 a while back, and am finally finding the time to fool around with it. It seems to be working great, but I fear that my images are out of focus.

The scanner came with what the seller called a carrier, but it doesnt hold the negative (4x5 in this case), it just crops the scanner bed.

Does the film need to be held off of the glass to get a good scan?

Ive been fooling around with some of my old 4x5 negatives that I shot in college, and they just dont seem to have the focus that I know they have.

Example...

Full image, reduced in size DRAMATICALLY. Original is a 11,000x something image, scanned at 3000DPI

Completely un-edited though. Scanned using Scanwizard 5, in the basic screen, and in "grey"

Cropped sections, reduced in size approx 50%

Now, I have this image printed 11x14 in my portfolio, and the print seems to hold much more detail than the scans.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

have you tried 35mm?

The scans don't look to terribly awesome, the tonality isn't very true.

 

[blash]

have you tried 35mm?

The scans don't look to terribly awesome, the tonality isn't very true.

He's got a good large format pic and you say "go 35mm"? ...

All I know is that the proper carriers for 35mm for, say, the Epson V500 scanner do indeed lift the film off the scanner bed glass. I'm not sure out it works though. See if you can get a flat piece of glass and prop it up by Lego blocks or something, and put the neg on top of that and see if your results improve.

 

[Dwig]

I can't say how your Microtek functions, but the EPSON v700/v750 scanners actually have two lenses (I don't know about the v500), one focused for materials contacting the glass and another for films in the carriers. You switch between them by telling the scanning software whether you are using a carrier or not. Does your Microtek software have a similar set of choices and are you choosing correctly?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

He's got a good large format pic and you say "go 35mm"? ...

All I know is that the proper carriers for 35mm for, say, the Epson V500 scanner do indeed lift the film off the scanner bed glass. I'm not sure out it works though. See if you can get a flat piece of glass and prop it up by Lego blocks or something, and put the neg on top of that and see if your results improve.

That's why.

 

[compur]

Have you tried asking Microtek's tech support?

There's an email form here:
Personal Email Support: Microtek Lab

 

[blash]

That's why.

Am I missing something here? I don't get it...

 

[Idasho]

Thanks for all of the responses.

I have yet to contact the manufacturer, thanks for the email though.

I picked up some card-stock today to make some sort of negative carrier, just thick enough to get it off of the glass. Ill see if that helps.

 

[Flash Harry]

You'll have to make them the exact thickness of the neg carrier, it'll be easier to just buy another carrier from the maker or their retailers. H

 

[djacobox372]

Yep.. those are out of focus--you should be able to see the film grain. I have a v700, which has a carrier, and I found that it's imperative to set the focus via adjusting the carrier height--the quality control and tolerances of consumer grade scanners is less then ideal, hence the importance of the end-user being able to adjust the focus.

 

[Idasho]

Well, Ive been doing some experimenting. And this is what Ive come up with, so far...

I quickly dismissed the cardstock as a possible material to build a carrier out of, and stepped up to a plastic NO PARKING sign :lmao:

Im getting it dialed in. MUCH improved over the first few scans. I think it can bet better though!:thumbup: