Newbie seeks advice on scanning 5 x 7 inch b & w negatives

[Smorton]

Greetings:

New to all this, so please excuse if I seem dull.

I have about 100 or more black and white 5 x 7 inch negatives I want to scan with an Epson V800.

Can I put the negatives directly on the glass without use of a negative holder and have good results?

Any input highly appreciated.

Smorton

[Ken Lee]

It all depends on what we mean by good.

Are you simply trying to identify the contents, IE make proofs ? Are you trying to get the best tonality and resolution out of each image ?

Laying the film directly on the glass, there's a good chance you will get Newton's Rings. Emulsion-side down will help but not guarantee.

You might find this article helpful: Scanning Tips (with Epson and VueScan Software)

[Smorton]

I hope to get good digital tiff files to use for enlargement, etc. Newton Rings occur with black and white as well as color? I am only using black and white.

It does not come with a 5 x 7 negative holder. Do you have any recommendations?

Thank you very much.

Smorton

[Michael Graves]

[QUOTE=Smorton;1329754Newton Rings occur with black and white as well as color?[/QUOTE]

Newton rings occur when the glossy side of the film comes in direct contact with the glossy glass. Rings form. Some films don't have a truly glossy side, and while not impervious to Newton rings, are less prone to creating them. You can get special AN glass to place against the glossy side of the film that will stop this.

[Jim Andrada]

Generally speaking I've had good results with 8 x 10 and 5 x 7 on the glass emulsion side down, but now I fluid mount 5 x 7 and smaller using the fluid mounting station. 8 x 10 still goes on the glass because it doesn't fit the high resolution part of the scanner. If it's the same as the 700/750, which I think it is, you should probably use the "film area guide" or whatever they call it. to keep the film out of the calibration area - not sure what else it does if anything to be honest. I guess you could always get a piece of ANR (Anti Newton Rings) glass a couple of mm thick and put it on top of the negative, but the 8 x 10's have always seemed to work well enough just lying on the glass - same for 5 x 7.

[Jim Jones]

If I had a hundred 5x7 negatives to scan efficiently on my Epson V700, I'd make a negative holder out of mat board with attention to the cutout at the top of the holder and white squares on the bottom side. Such a negative holder would also let you shim the holder up for optimum focus.

[Smorton]

Is there a good place to buy AN glass?

Thanks

Smorton

[Peter De Smidt]

http://www.fpointinc.com/glass.htm

[djdister]

I made a 5x7 negative holder for my V750 out of two mat boards taped together on the long edge - I get very nice scans from this arrangement. You won't necessarily get the entire negative (i.e. printing the black edges), but it works better than placing the negs directly on the glass in my opinion.

[cjdewey]

Using the film area guide, emulsion-side down on the glass works pretty well; I've been doing this lately with my 4x5's and 120 -- in order to scan the entire frame and film rebate -- and laying ANR glass on top. I only scan at 2400 DPI, and haven't noticed much difference in quality compared to using the Epson holder.