EPSON MOD: Anyone try using it without platen glass?

[JW Dewdney]

While researching all the options of different modifications to make vis a vis wet scanning, different holders etc - it also struck me that significant gains might be made in terms of avoiding light scattering and diffraction problems from light passing through the relatively low grade platen glass (not to mention that it's two more surfaces to keep clean! Seems to me that one could put together a holder that would span across the bed (or even better - only make contact with the adjacent surface the scanner sits on) thereby omitting the platen glass altogether. I rarely scan reflective art anyway- but it seems one could also fab up some tabs that would hold platen glass for that purpose in case of need...

well - just wondering...

mine is a 700 by the way

[Doug Fisher]

This question comes up here every so often. Do a search and you will find the previous threads. I tried it with an Epson 3200 and didn't find the difference worth the effort and the risk. A scanner open to the elements is at risk for all kinds of problems. I encourage you to take your scanner apart and try it for yourself. The key thing, and it is very tough to do, is to maintain enough control in your experiment to have a valid/apples-to-apples comparison where your rig is designed so that it can suspend the film in the exact same plane for each scan. If it doesn't do that, any difference you see (better or worse) can't be attributed to glass/no glass.

Here are the results from my test:

http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/glasslesstest.html

Doug

[JW Dewdney]

sorry for the delay Doug! I didn't have my notifications turned on. fabulous.... just the sort of thing I was hoping for. I won't bother with it then. I'm getting to be of the mind that (for me) VIBRATION is a far bigger problem than is focal distance etc.. I will try some tests out...