Epson V700 - getting feet cut off

[kevs-2323668]

I just scanned some 4x5 film and the person's feet is clear, the feet are all there, not cut off, but the scanner seems to cut the bottom of the feet off because the film sits on a ridge about 1/8 of an inch where those feet bottom are. Is that clear? Any ideas on this? thanks!

[Doug Fisher]

It sounds like you are experiencing the common problem where auto-cropping does not work. You will find many references to this problem on the internet. Many people never realize that they are missing part of their image(s) until they get an obvious error like the one you experienced. If they did a careful comparison of most scans though, they would probably be surprised to find how many of their images on film are overly cropped or mis-cropped by the software's auto-cropping. Auto-cropping is nothing more than a "guess" based on an algorithm and it is often fooled.

Most people I know just set a batch scan of manual crops. Correctly set your normal parameters in the “Original,” “Destination,” and “Adjustment” sections of the EpsonScan window. Set the Preview function to “Normal,” not “Thumbnail”!!! (click on the small arrow to the right of the Preview button to change this). Click on Preview. When the preview window opens and displays the preview, click the marquee erase button (top left icon in marquee box of the preview window) until all previous crop boxes are erased. Draw a crop box around the full area of your film sheet. Scan.

Doug

[kevs-2323668]

DOUG, thanks, I did the crop just as you write, but like I said, I''m seeing the feet cut off even before that. It seems that I lose the top of the feet because the 1/16" plastic holder/ ridge that the film has to lie down on — crops that 1/16" part of the film edge....

[Otto Seaman]

If you shot too close to edge of your film then learn not to.

For now, cut a 1/16th off the top of the film and simply slide it further up the Epson holder, let the foot edge dangle free of the holder. Or use one of Doug Fisher's excellent alternative and better film holders for the Epson - or a simple piece of anti-Newton glass - instead of the Epson holder. Or get a drum scan. Those are the options ranked in terms of ascending quality.

[Regular Rod]

Don't let the scanner do anything itself, especially trimming. Use the normal view instead of the thumbnail view. Draw your own marquee. If the film holder masks the negative use the film with film area guide option and lay the negative on the glass at the top right corner of the film area guide.

A good policy is to do everything manually with the V700, no dust correction, no unsharp mask, change the histogram yourself setting the output sliders to zero and 255 then moving the input sliders to get a flat contrast throughout so you get all your negative's information in the file and then you can adjust everything in Photoshop etc.

RR

[Fred L]

or scan it on the glass with the film area guide. emulsion down. you may need a piece of AN glass to keep the sheet flat but this is how I scan my 4x5 on the v700.

[pasiasty]

VueScan has nice feature: you can define a 'border', that is how much, in per-cents, more should be scanned. Recently I switched to doing this, with some pre-set frames, saving raw data, and leaving all post-processing, including cropping, for the next step.

And yes, original Epson software, when allowed to auto-crop, crops a half of the image or so.

[kevs-2323668]

Rod/ Pasisty, don't think you understand what's going on but thanks.

Otto/Fred, I think you guys understand what's happening here

Yes, I have an assistant doing the camera work and will point this out in the future, so there is some space at the bottom in the future.
And if I have a show one day, I'll get drum scans.

But if I want to redo these on the Epson, then:

1) Cut the film
2) Where do you get the Doug Fisher item?
3) same question anti newton glass

[Otto Seaman]

http://www.betterscanning.com sells the nicer quality adjustable height film holders for the Epson as well as good quality Anti-Newton glass.

Highly recommended but not absolutely necessary ;-p I use one of his medium format holders for my occasional/infrequent use of 120 film - holds the film much flatter than the Epson holder.

I also use a piece of Anti-Newton glass held above the platen with four pennies on each corner - the film is taped emulsion side towards the rough Anti-Newton side of the glass so it is layered Scanner Platen > film base > film emulsion > Anti-Newton face down > scanner lid shut. My glass is 9x11 inches and works well for 8x10 or smaller film. I tested it for optimal height with the pennies and layers of Gaffer tape (ten sticks of tape = about one penny). YMMV

[Fred L]

kevs,

I use the AN glass from my Devere 4x5 or 8x10 carriers I would think a good framing shop should have something that would work similarly. Then use the marquee tool to select the framing and bob's your uncle. If I scan several frames of 120, I will use this method as well vs the stock Epson holders. The Lomo DigitaLIZA holders work as well. I just found as you have, that the stock holders don't show the entire frame, unless one were to file down the holders, which leads to other problems lol.

Good luck