Gast
I heard from a friend today about a rather unusual method for scanning negatives using a flatbed scanner (with a transparency unit) – you moisten the negative with a little antiseptic and place it on the scanner glass; then add a few more drops of antiseptic, and cover it with a clear sheet (transparency film); The whole thing is then smoothed out until the entire ‘sandwich’ adheres neatly to the scanner glass without any air bubbles. The transparency unit is then placed on top, and hey presto, you’re ready to scan.
My acquaintance had learnt this method from a professional graphic designer, who claimed to achieve far better results using this method than when using the standard frames of the transparency unit; there would be no flatness issues, the antiseptic would practically wash away the dust, and also fill in any scratches in the negative; after use, the antiseptic would evaporate completely. Furthermore, the antiseptic would also clean the scanner glass at the same time (and the negative anyway – goodbye to dry spots...)
It sounds almost too good to be true, but my acquaintance said that the graphic designer (whom he’d met through a professional photography commission – it involved medium-format scans for a calendar project) now tends to use this method rather than firing up the drum scanner when high resolution or large image size isn’t required.
What I’m wondering now is – is there anything in the antiseptic that could damage the negative (in the long run)? Any other potential risks? Does anyone else know of this method? Chemists and scanning pros, please step forward – I’ve got 20 rolls of MF Neopan to scan soon...
Roman
What I’m wondering, though...
Gast
Sorry, I forgot to delete the last line when I was editing...
cfb_de
Hi Roman,
I’d actually read that in the other forum and replied there. (I did the opposite with the silver nitrate, so no forum admin can complain :-)
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
I've just read it – thanks again for the quick reply!
Gast
Hi you two,
And the rest of us are just supposed to die of stupidity, or what???
Regards
Martin
Gast
Martin, sorry, but I thought it was common knowledge that the 'other' forum referred to Phototec's Hobbylaborforum (www.phototec.de); after all, in the German-speaking world, there are really only these two options for black-and-white darkroom forums — we just didn’t really want to name the competition so openly here at Mirko’s (even though 90% of the ‘regulars’ hang out in both forums anyway).
Gast
Hi Roman,
Thanks, I didn’t know that. My ‘other forum’ is www.grossformatfotografie.de (and photo.net, of course (both should be ‘Mirko-compatible’ :( )
Best regards
Martin
Gast
photo.net 'tolerable'… I can only laugh at that... :( The snake pit of internet forums...
