Making 'full frame' scans on a flatbed...help

[Dan C]

My wife gave me an Epson V500 flatbed scanner this month. Seems to be one of the top in this class.

I was hoping to scan some medium format film I'm making with a Holga camera. I want to get full frame scans that include the film edge, which I assumed could be easily done by just placing the film right on the scanner. It turns out that this puts the image just out of the scanner's 'sweet spot', so they'll be a bit soft.

I looked a bit online and it turns out some people are putting their film on glass to raise it into the plane of focus. Has anyone tried doing this? If so, what kind of glass should I get and how thick. Any thoughts on where to get the best results?

Thanks much,
dan c

[proufo]

Umm... The focal plane of flatbed scanners should be the surface of the glass.

Maybe if you put the film emulsion down (if you are not doing it already) you'd get better results.

[Dan C]

Umm... The focal plane of flatbed scanners should be the surface of the glass.

Maybe if you put the film emulsion down (if you are not doing it already) you'd get better results.

The film carrier that comes with the scanner raises it, but it also covers the edge of the film. If I take it out of the carrier and put it directly on the scanner for the full frame look, it's going to be out of focus. So that's why I asked.

dan c

[Mike from NYC]

Almost all scanner carriers are undersized so the film remains flat. When I was doing pre-press production we hogged out all the carriers to get the maximum frame. When the client requested the film edge we mounted it in glass for an extra charge.