curling film

[stormseye]

HellO:

I recently started scanning my 35mm negatives with my flatbed scanner (it's an Epson Perfection 3170 Photo). I've had good results from my medium format negatives, but I'm finding these little buggers to be rather challenging.

My biggest problem is the "longitudinal curl". Some (not all) of my strips have curled from top to bottom. This obviously introduces various kinds of shape and light distortion. I've gone ahead with most of them, but have had to delete many promising scans.

At times I've tried to rectify the problem with clear cellophane tape, but it sometimes confuses the scanner, or "pops up" in between the preliminary and final scans.

All of my negatives are stored in the same fashion, including the perfectly flat ones, so I don't think that's the problem.

Just curious to know if this has happened to anyone else and, if so, what you've done to both prevent and correct the problem.

You can see examples of my scans here: Photos from the Ante-Pixelian Age

Thanks,

[europanorama]

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Edougfisher ... older.html
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/intera ... der/MF.htm
i would buy epson f-3200 which is better than 4870(epson told at photokina)
i will test plsutek st-64(13x18cm)
and microtek i 700(biggest scan-window 20x25cm i guess)
if you have enough money and not too long filmstripes(panoramas longer than 25cm) i would buy microtek i900(has filmplate) both scanners with silverfast ai6(not se). if you do not have a professional editor, add silverfast hdr.

[stormseye]

Thanks for the links.

I do have a MF negative holder that's working fine for me. It clamps the negatives down flat (although my MF negs don't really need it).

I also have a 35mm negative holder, but it only holds the negatives down on one side of the strip, so if the negs have that arch, the other side stands up and away from the holder. This holder doesn't have that convenient door that would clamp the strip down. When I am using clear tape, it is to temporarily "hold down" the errant side.

Incidentally, this only seems to be affecting my color 35mm negatives (though not all of those). My b&w 35 mm negs are nice and flat. I wonder if the different layers of emulsion dry at slightly different rates. Oh well. It's not like the world won't survive without universal access to images from my film days.

[noclawz]

I am having tremendous problems w/ my microtek i900 scanner. The 35mm neg holder does not close properly. Even when I can shut the frame it bends in the middle of the strip and does not secure the sides of the film so the neg is arched 2 ways. AAARG!I have contacted Mikrotek .... they don't even have a working link re: warranty. Be warned! I just found out via other blogs that they are notoriously bad w/ customer service so don't rely on the paid forum posts ... especially those w/ links to the product!

[seanmckinney]

One thing I an thinking of trying is those negative holders from an old "slide duplicator".
Failing that and if it would work with your scanner what about cutting out a cardboard template to locate the negatives and then using thin "picture frame" glass to flatten the negative whilst it is scanned