Scanning curled negatives - a solution

[sreed2006]

I have had some negatives laying flat under my biggest book for a week, and they still want to curl up. That makes it really difficult to get two strips at one time into the Epson flatbed scanner's negative holder.

So I went to the hardware store and got some square steel tubing, cut two pieces to length, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and solved the problem.

I call this new invention "FETHO", for "Flatten 'em the heck out." 😀

The tubes wrapped in plastic:


fetho_0 by sreed2006, on Flickr

The curled negatives:


fetho_1 by sreed2006, on Flickr

Flattened one at a time:


fetho_3 by sreed2006, on Flickr

Put the top over the negatives, easily:


fetho_4 by sreed2006, on Flickr

And they're ready to go:


fetho_5 by sreed2006, on Flickr

Now, scanning curled negatives is not a major pain.

(I know this is obvious so I won't be applying for a patent.)

 

[tj01]

The Canon 8800f have individual sleeves on hinge, much easier to load.

 

[ray*j*gun]

I love the way my V500 scans but the neg holders are a real PIA....thanks for the tip!!!

 

[sreed2006]

@ray*j*gun: I also have an Epson V500 scanner, and also think the neg holder is bad, bad, bad. But, this was a cheap solution.

 

[sreed2006]

UPDATE - I posted this on the "I Shoot Film" group on Flickr, and another user was kind enough to point out the guides built into the Epson negative scanner, on the right side of the holder. Slide the right end of the negatives into the slots under the guides, and it only takes two hands to load the negatives into the holder.

 

[notraces]

Why not buy a piece of AN glass from focal point, or Doug at betterscanning.com? Works great for me - I have two pieces of 120 size glass, and two 35mm size. Keeps the negs very flat.

 

[sreed2006]

These particular negatives had a very strong tendency to curl. I don't have ANR glass, but is it heavy enough to keep really pesky negatives flat?