scanning woes

elven

I've been playing with a flatbed scanner (epson perfection 4490 photo, has been sitting a while in box but is essentially brand new) with the transparency adapter to scan my 120 holga negs. But half of them are completely useless because they come out black with mad coloured lines across them - see attachment. I got so hacked off that I scanned the same thing in an old scanner and - shock horror - they showed up on that as well!

I can confirm that the lines certainly aren't there on the negs themselves, and other negs from the same strip don't have the problem. There's a general pink/purple cast on the film (keeps happening when i develop them myself, very strange) but that shouldn't account for the insane colours I'm getting on the scan.

I did a bit of reading and there was talk of dead pixels and dust being magnified and all that sort of stuff, but that wouldn't explain how it showed up on two different scanners, and not on some images in the same strip of film Anyone seen something similar before?

Any ideas?

ShakeyBlakey

elven I also had that problem with an epson and 120 film, both negative and slide, crazy colour casts, I think B+W scanned ok?, I cant explain it coz 35mm scans fine.
I remember a few years back getting a quote to have 120 (6X7) film scanned and they quoted €25 per image or something like that!, they were explaining why it cost so much but I didnt take it in as I was in shock:eek:, but I think really you need to borrow, steal, or rent a pro film scanner.
Out of interest if you do get a quote from a pro scanning shop put ur quote up here, and if your not too shocked try get an explanation why this happens?
I was actually thinking maybe the film is slightly thicker than 35mm or something like that. But I'd like to know why this happens, not that I have too many 120 negs or slides left after the Ex from HELL destroyed them (even of our own children!).
Anyway keep us posted.

5uspect

That really looks like a hardware problem to me. The lines follow the path of the scanner sensor as if its damaged. But if you got the same problem with another scanner maybe its a problem with the software/drivers you're using to do the scanning.

DaireQuinlan

Wierd ! I thought you might have been talking about subtle discoloured lines or something before seeing the attachment ...

Couple of things. There ought to be a transparent window of some description in your film holder up near the top of the scanner. This needs to be kept clear of film. This is what the scanner uses to calibrate the scan head, it needs to clearly see the light in the scanner lid with no obstructions (good to keep it clean aswell !). If you jam film in the way then the head gets calibrated all wrong and you see those crazy streaks. Not normally as bad as yours, but I've seen similar ones on my 120 scans when I screw up and stick the film into the holder too far.

Second thing is it might be a driver/software issue. Try getting the the latest drivers for the scanner, and using Vuescan to scan to see if it goes away.

My money is on the first reason though.

-edit- Incidentally, shakeyblakey, how much you looking for that pentax ?!? -edit-

ShakeyBlakey

Maybe the epson is configured for 35mm film but i had the same problem although not as bad with a few flatbed "slide" scanners, always 35mm perfect, 120 always bad-very bad scans.

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

-edit- Incidentally, shakeyblakey, how much you looking for that pentax ?!? -edit-

Make me an offer €500+ or a swap of something decent.edit I may throw in a sekonic light/flash meter

DaireQuinlan

ShakeyBlakey wrote: »

Make me an offer €500+ or a swap of something decent.edit I may throw in a sekonic light/flash meter

hmm, thats actually halfway tempting. I'm looking for a chunky MF camera at the moment, thinking mamiya RB67 or RZ. Does your Pentax have MLU ? Never -really- considered these, focal plane shutter in such a big format is a bit of a turn-off...

But back on-topic ... Elven, did you fix that problem yet ?!?!?

Benster

Looks like it's some sort of dust-removal or unsharp mask process gone awry...

ShakeyBlakey

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

hmm, thats actually halfway tempting. I'm looking for a chunky MF camera at the moment, thinking mamiya RB67 or RZ. Does your Pentax have MLU ? Never -really- considered these, focal plane shutter in such a big format is a bit of a turn-off...

But back on-topic ... Elven, did you fix that problem yet ?!?!?

yea stay on topic, did u fix it?
off topic: yes MLU
on topic: hope u fix it;)

City-Exile

Don't mind fixing the problem, elven. You should print them & sell them for a small fortune, to posh hotels.

Roen

Yeah just talk it up and call it art. If you get accused of peddling shi*e just come back with the greatest get out clause ever. "You just don't get it, man".

elven

You're a genius DQ It was the calibration window bit - I hadn't cut the film strip so had negs overlaying it. Doh!