Scanning 5x7 negs, Epson 10000XL

[Michael Lloyd]

I made some test negs with Ilford FP4+ today. I was testing lenses more than the film. I have a Sinar Norma in 5x7 and since I had never used that format I wanted to see what 75mm, 90mm, 150mm, and 350mm looked like (I'm still learning large format photography). I couldn't get 75mm to focus so I only tested 3 lenses. 4 sheets since I'm a complete dumbass and pulled the rear dark slide when I was shooting negative #2 I guess it's good that I at least caught it and only ruined one sheet. Sort of... Other than that everything went well.

I have bag bellows for my F2 (4x5) but not for the Norma. However, I don't think I'll miss the 75mm lens too bad . The 90mm lens is WIDE on the 5x7

Anyway... now that the negs are out of the soup and drying I realize that I don't have a holder for 5x7 negs. All I have are the Epson 4x5 holders that came with the scanner. Any ideas for how to scan a 5x7 neg on an Epson scanner? If anyone wants to ship a drum scanner in like new condition to me for free I'll PM my address to you

[Oren Grad]

Directly on the glass. Page 50 of the instruction manual:

https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/ex10kg/ex10kgu1.pdf

[Michael Lloyd]

Very good. Thank you. I don't think I had the instruction manual. If I did it's long since gone... Thanks for the link!

[djdister]

I recommend making a 5x7 neg holder out of two pieces of mat board - it works very nicely for me on an Epson V750. No chance of Newton rings that way...

[Oren Grad]

As far as Newton's rings, FP4 Plus should be fine with the emulsion side down on the glass. Yes, the manual says emulsion-side up. Anyway, try directly on the glass, emulsion-side down, first. If that works OK you're all set.

[Michael Lloyd]

Ok. I've been scanning emulsion up. As soon as the scan is complete on the second one I'll start over with the emulsion down. I scanned as 48 bit color even though it's a B&W neg. The instructions say to scan prints as gray scale but not negatives. If I use Silverfast / ColorPerfect I scan as a color positive if I remember right. I'm really liking the 5x7 format. I hope this doesn't get me interesting in 8x10!

Epson Scan makes me restart every time a scan completes. I may switch over to Silverfast if I can get it to work

[mdarnton]

For me, 5x7 was just the quickest step on the way to 8x10. :-) When I bought the 8x10 camera it was because it was cheap; one sheet of film, and I haven't touched my 5x7 hardly at all, since! Be warned.

[Oren Grad]

There isn't one guaranteed-best way - too much variation in hardware, environmental conditions and technique. So before you commit to up-vs-down, go back to the first negative, scan that one emulsion-side down, then compare with your "up" scan. Let your results be your guide.

[Michael Lloyd]

For me, 5x7 was just the quickest step on the way to 8x10. :-) When I bought the 8x10 camera it was because it was cheap; one sheet of film, and I haven't touched my 5x7 hardly at all, since! Be warned.

Oh lord... here we go. I was afraid of that

There isn't one guaranteed-best way - too much variation in hardware, environmental conditions and technique. So before you commit to up-vs-down, go back to the first negative, scan that one emulsion-side down, then compare with your "up" scan. Let your results be your guide.

One thing I wasn't counting on was the negatives curling up when I turned them over. I don't think the top will close enough to press them flat (which is where the holder would come in handy). Actually, there's no way the top will flatten them. If it did the holders wouldn't work.

The scans look ok in Lightroom. I don't plan to do anything with the negs other than look at them and try to commit the perspective / focal length to memory.

[Oren Grad]

The scans look ok in Lightroom. I don't plan to do anything with the negs other than look at them and try to commit the perspective / focal length to memory.

OK, sounds like you're all set - no point making more of a production out of it than what's needed for your purpose.

5x7 is great. So are 6.5x8.5, 7x11, 8x10, 7x17, 11x14... Enjoy!