betterscanning.com glass plates

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hteasley

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I've been disappointed with a lot of my scans in recent months, and I had the thought that the arch in my negatives was to blame, so I got some glass scanning plates from betterscanning.com, and wow, they really make a difference.

Took a center crop from the same negative, scanned with the standard negative holders of my v700 (right side), versus scanned with the glass plates holding them flat (left side).

I only wish I had done this sooner.
 
The 120 holder has adjustable height screws. I tried; on the glass, with the screws all the way out and all the way in. I couldn't really see any difference.

The difference I did see was with the 35mm ANG glass used in the Epson 35mm holder. They really flattened the film. I think the Epson lens and light must give all large depth of field.
 
charjohncarter said:
The 120 holder has adjustable height screws. I tried; on the glass, with the screws all the way out and all the way in. I couldn't really see any difference.
Click to expand...

Of course, because either way, you were out of focus.
A *single* turn of those screws (around the right focus, not when totally out of focus) already makes a visible difference.
With an appropriate high resolution chart, even half turn is visible.

The process of tuning the height of Bettescanning holders is long and annoying: you must take a very sharp original (I use an appropriate FSR-1T chart; a USAF chart would do as well), procede 1 turn at a time scanning at 3200ppi, open in Photoshop, unsharp mask, see if it's better.
When peak sharpness is reached, try 1/2 turns around that point to further enhance it.

It makes a big difference, of course if you have decently sharp originals.

The V700 when used with finely tuned Betterscanning holders can offer good 8x enlargement, see my examples:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2070168&postcount=6

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129085 (from half page onwards)

and my review here (in italian, but images are easy to understand)
http://www.effeunoequattro.net/htdocs/freecontent/FC_ProvaV700/index.php

Fernando
 
Very impressive results. I assume the OP sample is 35mm???

I am really torn though. I originally bought the v750 as I was doing a lot of MF at the time. I have now reversed and shoot 35mm *almost* exclusively -still some MF.

My problem is: Do I buy the betterscanning 120 holder and ANR glass + the ANR glass for the 35mm stock holder -or- do I buy a 35mm standalone scanner like a small Plustek?

...pulling my hair out!
 
burancap said:
My problem is: Do I buy the betterscanning 120 holder and ANR glass + the ANR glass for the 35mm stock holder -or- do I buy a 35mm standalone scanner like a small Plustek?

...pulling my hair out!
Click to expand...

I've contemplated the same, but ultimately decided against the Plustek because having to scan each frame individually would drive me nuts. I like to scan every frame on the roll, rather than just those frames that are "good," which would be quite time consuming with the Plustek. I don't print large and am not so critical (I'm a hack, lol) so the Epson has worked okay for me.

To the OP, good job on getting better results. Scanning can be so frustrating, I've taken to the Kirk Tuck approach of just not sweating it so much. I've even gone back to using the Epson software rather than Silverfast, which always frustrated me. For me, better to get some results, then to get so frustrated that I stop using film!

Venchka posted this link before, this really helped me improve my results.
http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/tech/scanning.php
 
Thanks for showing what is possible with fine tuning, XFer. And thanks for the opening comparison photo, hteasley.
 
dfatty said:
I've contemplated the same, but ultimately decided against the Plustek because having to scan each frame individually would drive me nuts. I like to scan every frame on the roll, rather than just those frames that are "good,"
Click to expand...

Thanks -and that brings me to "Option Z." :D

Use both! What I mean is keep the v750 and do an entire roll scan for a proof -then cherrypick the best for the Plustek.

Based on the OP, I think I will simply order the holders/ANR for now and hope for similar success.
 
I have the ANR glass, and I use it with the film directly on the scanner glass of my 9000F. Makes a huge difference in overall sharpness, simply because the entire frame is in focus.

For MF, the 9000F + ANF glass is good enough for 13" wide prints (as large as my R3000 will allow). For 35mm, I use the 9000F + ANR glass to proof images, and then make printable scans with my Plustek (which is just too much work to can entire rolls of film, so I only scan the best ones with it).
 
Sounds like it's time to pick up some better scanning equipment to use on my old Epson... and perhaps save some pennies for a V700 too. The differences posted here and techniques are very compelling reasons to keep working.
 
XFer said:
Of course, because either way, you were out of focus.
A *single* turn of those screws (around the right focus, not when totally out of focus) already makes a visible difference.
With an appropriate high resolution chart, even half turn is visible.

The process of tuning the height of Bettescanning holders is long and annoying: you must take a very sharp original (I use an appropriate FSR-1T chart; a USAF chart would do as well), procede 1 turn at a time scanning at 3200ppi, open in Photoshop, unsharp mask, see if it's better.
When peak sharpness is reached, try 1/2 turns around that point to further enhance it.

It makes a big difference, of course if you have decently sharp originals.

The V700 when used with finely tuned Betterscanning holders can offer good 8x enlargement, see my examples:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2070168&postcount=6

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129085 (from half page onwards)

and my review here (in italian, but images are easy to understand)
http://www.effeunoequattro.net/htdocs/freecontent/FC_ProvaV700/index.php

Fernando
Click to expand...

Does BetterScan make a 135 holder? They didn't when I bought my 120 and 135 ANG (and 120 holder). I'll concede that maybe your tests are correct, but I don't see it (for a normal print). I've done 135 on the deck (with ANG, emulsion side UP) and used ANG with the Epson holder. I have nothing like the OP showed as a difference (but he was showing curved negative, and I agree with him on this).

For some years I used a Pentax slide copier to copy my negatives with a digital camera. And I found when I switched to a scanner the (Pentax) copier I had been using was just as good (maybe better) and I had control (not so much with color).

I don't think that scanner technology will progress much in the future, but lets hope it does.
 
I purchased several ANR glass from better scan recently for the epson 700.

they have 2 types, one for 5 frame strips and one for 6 frame strips.

the normal ones are 5 frame strips, you lose one frame because of the

hinges of the epson 35mm holder cannot accommodate the glass.

What is available is also the 6 frame ANR glass, but that means you

have to cut off the hinges from the holder.

raytoei
 
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