Kodak / Creo Iqsmart DIY scanning masks?

Hi folks,

I got me Creo Iqsmart scanner couple of weeks ago, but without any film masks. I'm looking at eBay to buy some black silicon rubber stripes that I believe should be useful enough for the purpose. But perhaps somebody could suggest what material would be the best option? I'm little afraid that the ordinary silicone rubber will have reflective edges which may introduce some funky unwanted effect(?). I'm not sure if the neoprene would be heavy enough to keep the film flat.

Also, and how thick are the original masks?


Thank you for your time folks!

Black lexan would be a good choice, for masking out images . not sure on exact thickness but should be thin enough to cut easily with a knife on a cutting matt.

In Canada - one may try EMPlastics - that is where I would start in sourcing out the material.

i use some magnetic sheet which cuts nicely and you can sandwich the film between 2 sheets. i use a linotype circon which has a focus mechanism built in so don't worry about the thickness of the sheet which is probably 1.5 - 2mm

Hi there guys, thank you kindly for the reply. I love the idea of having magnetic sheets on hand! I don't have any Newton ring problems so far, so I don't feel a need to elevate the film from the glass. I just want to cover in between film stripes are to cover excesive light from the bulbs.

Thanks again, wishing nice weekend!

I would happily send you one of my extras, but I use an Eversmart Pro which is a different size bed.
But Bob's advice is good; look for a plastics supplier and find a sheet of black mylar/lexan, something like that.
The thickness of the actual sheets is 0.30mm (I just measured it), it's about as flexible as a sheet of standard office paper.
It has grid markings, and for the ES Pro, there is also an area on the side of the sheet for calibration, but I doubt it's absolutely necessary to use the Creo-supplied mask in order to get a good scan.
I've done excellent scans without any flare-blocking sheet in place, so a good opaque piece of thin material should work perfectly.
FWIW, I use only one sheet, always kept on the scanner bed; I cut one 8x10-sized hole in it, and that's what I use for all formats (810, 45, MF).

Ari, you're too kind, thank you for your input! I imagine black mylar sheets would be too light for the job? I want to avoid tapping my negs on the glass, and just cover them with something along the edge that would keep them flat, and in the position, while I dust them off before closing the lid.

Vlad, I think as long as your material is opaque, it's a very good starting point, and worth trying.
And the spring-loaded lid takes care of film flatness, so I cut a hole slightly larger than 8x10 (extra 1-2mm on each side) for my scans.

Some of my films are terribly curved, FOMAs for example, or some old Efke or Agfa film that I still use. They need to be flattened. If there is a 1mm gap between the glass sheets because of the mask, I imagine it could cause uneven sharpness.

Best idea is to just try the simplest approach first IMHO. I do sort of what Ari is doing, ie don't worry about the mask too much. You could of course tape the film to the plastic sheet if you use one.

Truth is that I never noticed any problems with negatives, only with slides.

Hi Guilherme, you mean to cover the scanner? The excessive light comes from the transparency light, not from outside. Due to the fact that the light tube is much wider than the frame you're working on, fraction of light penetrates from the sides of the film and illuminates the CCD itself while scanning. Due to that you can see errors on your scanned image, like orange casts on highlights for example. Even tiny sprocket holes on 135 film will ruin your scan if not covered.

I apologize, the description that Ari gave made me think it was like the previous version of this scanner like I had, where you had a lid on the scanner bed (an AN glass as well).
Looking at photos of your scanner on the web now, I realize this part was probably dropped when Scitex was out.