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Thread ID: 48258 2004-08-18 04:39:00 Scanning film with a flatbed. nomad (3693) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
262781 2004-08-19 02:37:00 > Try putting a mirror on top of the
> transparancy/negative. It should reflect light back
> through. Worth a try. ;)

A mirror would be tricky due to its thickness. A sheet of white paper might give better reflectivity as well. Vince
Vince (406)
262782 2004-08-19 02:42:00 Yes, a front-surface mirror would be best. A piece of aluminium foil (with no creases) would be pretty good. Graham L (2)
262783 2004-08-19 02:50:00 I tried the mirror trick but the image came out even darker than without the mirror - impossible to make out any detail at all. I scanned at 150dpi which made a single frame in the negative 6MB - 300dpi made it over 100MB which my programme couldn't manage Greg S (201)
262784 2004-08-19 04:07:00 If you place your negs/slides on the platen of the scanner then put an ordinaru sheet of computer paper on top then shine a light source onto the paper you will get a reasonable scan.
Now I found that a piece of opaque plastic better than the sheet of paper and it holds the negs down. The trick is to experement with the light source. Either put a dimmer switch to the light or raise and lower it until you get a good scan. I HAVE FOUND THAT THE LIGHT SOURCE IS CRITICAL. Too much light or too little and the results are not good. I thought at the start that the brighter the light the better the result but this is not so. I use an ordinary 40 watt bulb in an anglepoise lamp about 18 inches from the platen and this works fine for me. I can proof 36 negs cut into strips 5 negs per strip and this works . Have fun.
heaton (3697)
262785 2004-08-19 04:13:00 A white reflector is the ideal, and non-shiny is also desirable. Greg S, can you set your scanner software to scan only the desired area ? - it appears you may be scanning the entire bed (A4 ?). The first stage of most scanning software is usually to set this by dragging a frame around the required image.
R2
R2x1 (4628)
262786 2004-08-19 04:24:00 >Greg S, can you set your scanner software
> to scan only the desired area ?

Yep - I scanned an area of exactly the size of the neg - approx 3cm square.

I'll do some more playing around and post back later. If I can get this to work it'll be cool coz I have a bunch of negs sans photographs that I'd like to have in digital
Greg S (201)
262787 2004-08-19 04:30:00 I note you are scanning negatives, not slides so you will need some software to produce correct colours. This feature may be available in Gimp or other major imaging software, but I have no idea how common or scarce it is.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
262788 2004-08-19 04:45:00 Well after a bit of experimenting I just don't think my scanner's up to it. This (www.zu.co.nz) is the best I could come up with. Greg S (201)
262789 2004-08-19 04:51:00 > If you place your negs/slides on the platen of the
> scanner then put an ordinaru sheet of computer paper
> on top then shine a light source onto the paper you
> will get a reasonable scan.

Can you just clarify... you're talking about placing the slide/neg onto the platen, cover off, and lay a piece of paper over the slide/neg, and shine an external light source down over the paper?
Greg S (201)
262790 2004-08-19 05:03:00 >
> Can you just clarify... you're talking about placing
> the slide/neg onto the platen, cover off, and lay a
> piece of paper over the slide/neg, and shine an
> external light source down over the paper?

Yes place your negs/slides unmounted on the platen with the lid up. Over the negs place a sheet of white paper or a sheet of opaque plastic.
Shine the light onto the sheet of paper or plastic and set your scanner going.
Some experimentation with the light source mecessary to get good results.
heaton (3697)
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