Problem scanning b/w negatives using betterscanning film holder.

[Leonard Evens]

I have an Epson V700 scanner. I got a betterscanning film holder.

The film is supposed to be taped (or held on by fulid) to the bottom of the glass. I used dry mounting.
I was able to scan a Portra VC 160 4 x 5 negative, but I just used it for adjusting the height. I didn't check to
see if the quality of the scan was affected in any way.

But when I tried to scan an Ilford HP5 b/w negative the same way, I got a result looking very much like
what happens when I leave the reflective baffle in place when scanning film. There was no image.
I tried this both with Vuescan and with the Epson software that came with the scanner. I also tried
scanning the film as a color negative. I still got the same results.

However, when I turned over the glass so the b/w film was on top, I was able to scan the negative.
Unfortunately, doing that kills some of the benefits of using the betterscanning holder.

Is there some software switch I need to set or something else I missed.

[Ken Lee]

Have you placed the film holder in backwards ? The orientation of the holder tells the scanner what you are doing. If it's wrong, the scanner will give you a blank scan.

[Tony Evans]

Place the Holder so that the two end "fingers" are furthest away from you.

[Ari]

The square corners have to be furthest away from you,toward the back of the scanner, according to the BS website.
Using the masks helps, and make sure your scanner software is set to "Film with Film Holder".

[Leonard Evens]

Have you placed the film holder in backwards ? The orientation of the holder tells the scanner what you are doing. If it's wrong, the scanner will give you a blank scan.

I did place the film holder in with the right orientation, but I pushed it too far forward. As a result, the gap between the "fingers" was covered up. That was the cause of my problem. When I did it correctly, I had no trouble scanning my b/w negative. (Apparently, previously, when I scanned a color negative, I did it correctly.)

I had back surgery in January fusing three vertebrae in my lower back. Recovery has been very slow, and I still find it difficult to move around. This may have contributed to my making the mistake.

[Valdecus]

The betterscanning holder is normally provided with a couple of extra plastic screws that can be mounted on the sides to prevent the film holder to be pushed to far over the edges of your V700 scanner. I experienced the same issue at first, but using the extra screws solved the problem.

Cheers,
Andreas