wet scanning (general) problem and questions on a Kodak Iq Smart 3

[fuchs_berlin]

Hello everybody,

I'm quite new to this forum as an active user and happy to be here now! Thanks!

I am working for an artist in Berlin, Germany doing the pre press and the post-production.
He has a lot of 4x5in, 5x7in and mostly 8x10in and i have to scan them. The current setup for hq in-house scans is a Kodak IQSmart 3, the negative dry mounted to the glass. This is working fine so far.

Now I thought I could get even better results if I wet scan them, but I am quite new to this field. My setup for this is the following

Kami SXL 2001 on the glass, negative on it, SXL 2001 again, then mylar, pushing all the air out with a cloth and then taping the mylar to the glass.

Picture of the mounted negative:


Everything is looking fine, flat and airless then.

But on my results there is air then. Sometimes more, sometimes less, always looking like it's going from one direction to the other.
Here is one of the really bad results (air is looking like it's going towards the upper part):



Does anybody have an idea on how to avoid these air bubbles? With how much pressure do you guys press the scanning fluid out?

And a general question to the wet scanning community, especially to the ones using Kami/Aztek SXL2001. How do you treat your negatives after wet scanning, just let them air dry? Do you sometimes have residues on the negatives after air drying then?


Thanks a lot in common!

[Tin Can]

Some use a brayer, which is a hard rubber roller usually used for ink

Air dry is normal practice

However i must admit I try real hard to not scan or Inkjet print

I prefer using a DIGI camera capture and only for Internet screens

[bmikiten]

I surmise by the post that you are going to wet mount on the IQSmart 3 that you are doing high-end professional work so that the Digital camera capture is going the (very) wrong direction. I wet mount regularly and the brayer will solve much of the problem. You should also use anti-static cloth and make sure the surface is clean and never re-use the cover sheet. Roll from the center out in all directions and that should resolve your air issue. Also check the amount of Kami fluid you are using. More is better than less as it guarantees that it will all move out the air.

[fuchs_berlin]

First thanks for your answers and I will try to use a roller (with more pressure)

And bmikiten your right, everything below dry mounting on the iqsmart3 is not an option. For everything bigger then the iqsmart can do we are using a drum scan service here in town.
I am just tryin to get the maximum out of the iqsmart using the wet technic.

[Alan9940]

I, too, use a rubber roller to remove air bells, and then wipe up excess fluid on or around the mylar top sheet with scanner wipes. After scanning, I do let the negative airdry, but I do sometimes have residual "crap" on the negative. If that's the case, I use PEC-12 to remove it before filing away the film. Never re-use the mylar, as already mentioned. And, since I use plenty of mounting fluid (as already suggested) I tape around the edges of the glass to avoid any fluid running under the glass or down into the scanner.

[fuchs_berlin]

Thanks alan, i didn't had pec-12 in my mind, I never used it before but i will have a look for it! Just rarely used the tetenal film cleaner.


Now experimenting more, I tried some 8x10 wet scans and having weird colourful lines going through the pictures. Does anybody know whats these are?
They looking bit like a scanner malfunction to me





Thanks in advance!

[SergeyT]

Could be a result of dirt on calibration area of the glass. Could be scratches on mylar.

[SergeyT]

Here are some tips on wet mounting https://www.largeformatphotography.i...=1#post1564250

* Ideally the roller should be long enough to cover the entire width of mylar sheet. So it is roller over just once.
* The roll surface must not be sticky or will cause load of bubbles.
* Too much of pressure while pushing the air bubbles off will inevitably leave mylar scratched.
* With practice mylar sheets can be re-used without any degradation in image quality or extra dust on scans. Tapes can be reused too.
* I would choose Kami drum cleaner as a film cleaner over any other film cleaner , except Varn film cleaner.

[PatrickMarq]

Also, there is a thin line between to mutch fluid or to little.
For me the line are coming from scratches on the mylar, I also use the clothes form Aztec to wipe of bubbles.
In all my years I have never used tape on a flatbed scanner, except for a drumscanner.

[nelson_chan]

Hi everyone,

After you've mounted the negative and taped down the mylar, do you then lay the Creo film mask over everything? I'll be venturing into doing the same thing in my studio and would love to hear about this part. If you do have to lay the mask down on top of the wet mount, how do you keep things registered.

Thanks in advance.
Nelson