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251 points QiuChuck | 6 comments | | HN request time: 0.915s | source | bottom
1. jwr ◴[] No.45893462[source]
I scanned a lot of 35mm film, of various kinds, using a high-end flatbed scanner (EPSON V700 Photo). The biggest problem is not the optical quality, but mechanics: flatbeds can only scan strips. And if your film is very old and has been stored in a roll, you might not want to cut it, and even if you do, getting the strips to stay flat is nearly impossible.

I tried various fancy holders, but in the end decided that I'll likely have to make my own holder from aluminum or steel sheet metal. And even then you run into the problem of lengthwise curvature. For those that are unaware of the problem with this, these scanners have a very limited depth of field, in the range of 1mm or less. So if your film is bent, some of it will always be out of focus.

I can't see much on this fancy webpage, because they made it so fancy that some of the images do not load and those that do load are oh so mysteriously dark. But if their scanner can scan both heavily curved rolls and strips, I will be buying it.

As to optical quality, if you can get your film to stay flat, this is a solved problem, that Epson mentioned above can produce fantastic results (more pixels that you want, generally).

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2. khazhoux ◴[] No.45893499[source]
Seems like an obvious question, but why not sandwich it between panes of glass?
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3. piffey ◴[] No.45893602[source]
Doesn't always work. I've got old Agfa negatives I developed from my grandpa in Korea in the 50s. Developed them after finding them in his attic maybe 10 years ago now. They sat between two panes of glass for 5 years with volumes of books on top, not a single change toward flat. I finally gave up and just put them in the archival sleeves and in the binder with the curve.
4. uint8_t ◴[] No.45893806[source]
Newton's Rings. Anti-newton glass is frosted, loses resolution.

Professional drum scanners would immerse the film in mineral oil. Epson used to ship a kit for their flatbeds. Popular with 8x10 photographers.

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5. xdennis ◴[] No.45894066{3}[source]
Example Newton's rings:

https://shootitwithfilm.com/what-are-newtons-rings-and-how-t...

6. atomicthumbs ◴[] No.45895501[source]
Optical quality is kind of a problem with a flatbed; even with it perfectly flat, it looks a lot better coming out of a Coolscan.