Scanning Glass Plate Negatives

[John Flavell]

Our local library has come across a collection of glass plate negatives and the question has been asked: Can these be scanned on a flatbed scanner? Has anyone tried, have any experience, or even heard of such attempts?

[Donald Brewster]

Yes, it can be done. Many service bureaus routinely do it. Here is an example from Syracuse University which also describes their process: http://libwww.syr.edu/digital/images/e/ErieRailroad/

[CP Goerz]

Or buy an Agfa T1200 with its 8x10 scan tray and do it yourself, they sell for nothing on Ebay.

CP Goerz.

[John Cook]

I have printed many century-old glass plates on conventional paper. I found all of them to be extremely contrasty, relative to modern film negatives. Had to use grade 1 paper with Selectol Soft. Even then, it was touch-and-go on a few, requiring much burning and dodging.

Perhaps you should be prepared for this extra contrast, whatever printing method you choose.

[Jim Galli]

You need something with a light in the lid like an Epson 2450 Photo. I would cut some 2 ply matboard to mask out all of the bed but the neg size so each one would be located the same. It also holds the surface away from the glass so you don't get newton rings. Once you've found a "curve" that seems to work with the contrast it would go pretty quickly assuming they're all similar in contrast. Trying to reflect off of negs on a regular flatbed doesn't work very well. The light needs to go through in transparency mode.

[John Flavell]

A question for Jim. When the neg is above the glass like that, will the focus adjust?

[Will Strain]

most flatbed scanners have a fairly deep scanning focus (my 3200 measures about 3mm of hard focus, then continues to be fairly good for another 4mm)

[Scott Bacon]

As others have said, today's flatbed scanners are capable of doing a reasonable job. I have hundreds of family photos on glass plates from the turn of the century that have been handed down from my great, great grandfather. I've scanned a number of them with my older Epson 1640SU Photo scanner. Please feel free to drop me an email if you'd like to see examples.

[John Flavell]

To ALL: Thanks for the informative responses. Maybe I can get my newspaper to kick in for the scanner. Maybe, a new 4990 that could sit on my desk when it's not being used to scan plates.

Thanks again.

[David Richhart]

Reread what Andrew Glover suggested. Try an Agfa T1200. Available for under $100 on Ebay, and with a little practice they can do a great job.

Here is a link to some scans I did of 5x7 glass plates that were created C. 1910-1913 in Cincinnati, Ohio.



http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=388609

[paulr]

Epson scanners are designed with the focal plain 1mm above the glass. The depth of field is deep enough that originals placed on the glass are quite sharp. Raising a glass neg will let you hit the actual point of focus, and at the same time help you avoid newtons rings and scratches on the document glass.

There seems to be a lot of sample-to-sample variation when it comes to the exact plane of focus. It can range from 0mm to almost 3mm above the glass.

You can make a mask, as Jim suggested, but instead of using 2-ply matboard you can use thinner stock, and make several. Experiment with the number of layers to use until you find the sharpest point of focus. Remember to leave a cutout for the calibration area.

Any epson scanner later than the 3200 will produce extremely sharp scans from a flat large format neg. The 4990 will scan 8x10.

[John Flavell]

Dave, those look great. I like the portrait from behind, and I really like the riverboat since my work area is near the Ohio River, up river from Cincy.

On the other hand, I'm a long-term thinker at this kind of project. Do a community service thing for the library, then look to other uses. I may just have a use for that 4990 myself since I have over a hundred 4x5 negs to scan. I'm just trying to be "efficient". I'm looking through all the reviews of this new beast and I'll decide soon.

The good news is that all the galleries suggested by everyone shows how good this could be.

Thanks again to all.