lines in 1800f scan

[Dave Aharonian]

This may have been discussed before but, I sometimes get these lines in my scans on my Microtek 1800f. I've enlarged a portion of a scan to show them. Is this just crap on the area of the holder where the scanner does its calibration? If so, its a pain in the a__ because I've cleaned it off and I still get these lines. These are 5x7 negs which I wet mount directly on the scanner glass. It usually works quite well. Hopefully the new M1 won't do this.....

Thanks!

dave

[Ted Harris]

It looks like dirt in the calibration area to me. Remember that you must keep it spotless. If you are wet mounting you really do ned to clean it after every use to be sure you have no mounting fluid residue in the calibration area.

[Kirk Gittings]

I would say that too, but IME that leads to longer streaks.

I no longer own this scanner. Is it possible with this scanner to get fluid under the glass in the calibration area and collect dust under the glass?

[Ted Harris]

It would be real tough to get fluid on the bottom of the glass but if some fluid seeped into the frame around the edge of the calibration unit then you could get some microscopic hairs/fibers clinging to the edge and that could cause the problem.

As an aside, wet mounting will give you marginal or no gain over simply taping the film to the glass unless you are dealing with scratches.

[Kirk Gittings]

By the way, I returned two of these scanners for somewhat similar problems while under warranty.

[Dave Aharonian]

For what its worth, I wet mount because when I tape the neg to the glass I tend to get newton rings, and it doesn't seem to matter which side of the neg I put face down. If there's a better way, I'm all ears! AND, this is my 2nd scanner too. I returned the 1st one under warranty for similar lines. This version has been much better, but not perfect.

[Kirk Gittings]

This is a great scanner for wet mounting directly on the glass, because the plain of focus is on the glass, face down if I remember correctly.

Epson had a procedure which solved some streaking problems with the 4990. It involved turning scanner off, unplugging the power, unplugging the lid, plugging power back in, plugging lid back in, turning scanner on, then on/off again. This worked on the 4990. Worth a try on the Microtek?

[Ken Lee]

I stopped using my Microtek 2500f. Lines. Forgettaboutit.

The Epson 4990 is smaller, lighter, quieter, faster, and gives only a bit less resolution. But it was available, affordable, and even... portable. On OS X, the Epson software gives better results than what I can get with Vue Scan.

I have been going through some 35mm Kodachrome slides from the 1960s, taken with a Yashica rangefinder. With a little tweaking, they look pretty nice - like something you might see from one of today's high-end digital SLRs.

Here is the author in 1966.

[James E Galvin]

That's not dirt in the calibration area, that gives lines the full length of the scan. What you have is an electronic problem. Try unplugging and reconnecting the cables. Is there something near the scanner/computer that produces electronic noise? Fluorescent light, motor, electrostatic air cleaner.... You might also try unplugging and reconnecting the cables inside the scanner.

[Kerik Kouklis]

A friend of mine just returned one of these for a refund after experiencing the same problem. He owned it for about 9 months before it went south. He replaced it with the Epson equivalent (10000?)