What am I doing wrong?

[Ben R]

Tried that Ken,

I tried again with a new neg, I put it into the holder and immediately realised that I was wasting my time, it was very wavy. I then tried to tape it to the glass again, this time I used the tape differently to make sure it was stretched as much as posssible for maximum flatness. It looked fine though quite soft due no doubt to being at the less than optimum height. I'll try the old neg like that tomorrow, see if it helps.

I have to be honest that I've not been very impressed with the 4990, even the sharpest areas do neither justice to the format or the lenses. At 2400DPI I'm really not seeing that much more resolved detail than my Imacon scanned 645 negs at a fraction of the size. I have no doubt whatsoever that there is far far more information and resolved detail available that the scanner is just not beginning to cope with.

[Jim Ewins]

Make some images with regular sheet film exposed in a good holder. I've not had these problems with my 4990.

[Ben R]

I have to be honest that the 'quick fix' solution of polaroid has begun to lose its attraction, not just the scanning but the realisation of how little control I have over the DR of the image. Expose for the shadows on even a pretty flat scene and wave goodbye to the highlights for ever..

[Ben R]

just tried again taping the old neg very firmly flat to the glass, same problem. I think the film must have 'popped' in the holder at the time of exposure, the new neg seemed to be fine.