BetterScanning holder owners: opinions?

[Ari]

Hi,
I'm about to buy a holder from Doug at Betterscanning.
My Epson 4990 works well, and the stock holders are ok.
I scan 4x5 and 120 film.

What I like about the Epson holders:
1. I can load two sheets at a time, easily.
2. I don't have to tape film to a pane of glass

What I don't like about the Epson holders:
1. Loss of film edges
2. Difficult to load curly 120 film
3. No height adjustment

There are two things advantageous to the BS holders (wet-mounting):
1. Full-frame scanning
2. Optimal height adjustment

A big minus with BS holders, for me, is taping the film.
It takes more time, and seems very fiddly, not to mention I hate the idea of fingerprints, or dropping the neg on the floor (it'll happen).

I don't want to tape negs, if I can avoid it, so I'm considering buying the wet-mount station only.

Will this be good enough for scanning 4x5 and 120?
Do the advantages of wet-mounting outweigh the hassles?
Should I get the wet- and dry-mounting station, learn how to tape negatives, and accept a slower rate of scanning (i.e. more time to set up each negative for scanning)?

I've read all the pertinent posts, but still, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[Tony Evans]

My personal experience over the last year..
1. Epson Holder to BSH great improvement, espec. as my V700 optimum height is 3.75mm.
2. BSH to Wet Scanning. Even greater improvement in scan quality.

[Ken Lee]

Here's my test of the BetterScanning holders. Thumbs up IMHO.

[Ari]

Thanks, Tony.
Ken, thanks for the link to the test; was that dry- or wet-mounted?

To any others: are there any qualms about day-to-day use, like more time spent setting up, taping negs, etc etc?

Thanks again.

[edtog]

I've used one for the past year and while they are very very good you can save a lot of money by buying some anti glare glass and using coins or cardboard as the shims.

[Ari]

Thanks, Ed, I've done that before, but I'm leaning more toward wet-mounting.

[sanking]

Will this be good enough for scanning 4x5 and 120?
Do the advantages of wet-mounting outweigh the hassles?
Should I get the wet- and dry-mounting station, learn how to tape negatives, and accept a slower rate of scanning (i.e. more time to set up each negative for scanning)?

Good enough is in the eye of the beholder, not the word on stone. I have compared 5X7" B&W and color negatives with fluid mounted V700, professional flatbed fluid mounted scans, and drum scans. Given similar scanning and post scanning processing there is very little difference in final image quality in my work flow in print size up to 20X35". In my opinion final image quality, up to about 4X-5X, is more dependent on the way you scan and work the image file than on which scanner is used.

With medium format the difference in image quality at a print size of 11X14" between a drum scan and a scan with an Epson V700 is very obvious. 4X5 is a format that I don't use very much.

Fluid mounting with the BetterScanning holder is very easy. Takes just a bit of practice but once learned you will get better scans fluid mounting than dry mounting, if you do it right. Fluid mounting is also very easy with any professional flatbed scanner like the Eversmart or Cezanne.

There is no reason to ever put tape on a negative with fluid mounting. You simply fluid mount the negative to the glass, then fluid mount a sheet of thin mylar over the negative, and tape down the mylar. It takes me about a minute to do this. I think best practice is to scan with the negative emulsion facing down with the BetterScanning holder instead of through the glass, but in practice it would be hard to see any difference.

Please note that my comments are limited to B&W and color negative film.

Sandy





Thanks again.[/QUOTE]

[Ari]

Thank you very much, Sandy; I shoot B&W and colour neg as well, so that is doubly helpful.

[Ken Lee]

Ken, thanks for the link to the test; was that dry- or wet-mounted?

My test was dry-mounted.

The test shown was performed on a Medium Format negative out of convenience, but I wouldn't use the Epson 4990 or V700 for Medium Format except for small degrees of enlargement.

If you're a do-it-yourself type with time to spend, you can make your own as others have described. On the other hand, with a simple purchase you get the "turn-key" solution with instructions, masking materials, etc.

[Ari]

My test was dry-mounted.

The test shown was performed on a Medium Format negative out of convenience, but I wouldn't use the Epson 4990 or V700 for Medium Format except for small degrees of enlargement.

If you're a do-it-yourself type with time to spend, you can make your own as others have described. On the other hand, with a simple purchase you get the "turn-key" solution with instructions, masking materials, etc.

Thanks, Ken.
I'd rather have the turnkey solution.