replacing Epson V750 glass & grains on the film

[yuexiachou29]

Hi folks

I was given a beat-up Epson V750 scanner. As I started scanning 4x5s, the scratches on the glass drove me crazy.
Has anybody have experience in replacing the glass? Or any other method to avoid this problem?

Also, I shot Portra 160, why the negatives are so grainny? I will attached some examples.

Thank you very much in advance. This has been a stressful process.

155062155063

[Ari]

You can try wet-mounting with Kami fluid, directly on the glass; it will take care of some grain issues and scratches, too.
Also check your settings, film speed, development, etc to make sure the grain is actually coming from the scanner, not your film.

[djdister]

The excessive grain in the first shot looks like a classic case of an underexposed negative, so could have been bad exposure, or bad development as Ari noted.

[Ken Lee]

Is that grain or digital noise ?

[djdister]

Is that grain or digital noise ?

A good point. Maybe it's both?

[Ken Lee]

If we compare the scanned and digitally processed image with a close examination under a loupe, we can tell which it is: noise, grain or both.

We have no idea how large are the areas you are showing us.

Who developed the film ? Did they do a good job ? Even temperature needs to be maintained during the process, or we can increase the appearance of grain.

[jp]

The image may look better if you don't use the sharpening in the epson software. It may be amplifying grain. You may be able to wax or otherwise fill in the glass scratches.

[yuexiachou29]

The excessive grain in the first shot looks like a classic case of an underexposed negative, so could have been bad exposure, or bad development as Ari noted.

I think you are right. Negative looks underexposed. I had no idea on the connection between underexposure & grain

Lesson learned!!
thank you

[yuexiachou29]

ya, i used medium sharpen and dust removal tools.
will try another scan without these settings

The image may look better if you don't use the sharpening in the epson software. It may be amplifying grain. You may be able to wax or otherwise fill in the glass scratches.

[yuexiachou29]

The image may look better if you don't use the sharpening in the epson softwarew. It may be amplifying grain. You may be able to wax or otherwise fill in the glass scratches.


wax? scratches are everywhere. Am I being unpractical to think of replacing the glass? have you heard of people doing it?
How would you wax it?
any tutorial I can find online to give it a try?

[yuexiachou29]

You can try wet-mounting with Kami fluid, directly on the glass; it will take care of some grain issues and scratches, too.
Also check your settings, film speed, development, etc to make sure the grain is actually coming from the scanner, not your film.


Hi Ari,

Ive always wanted to try wet mounting, what would you say the pros & cons on wet-mounting vs. using film holder?

[williaty]

cons: wet mounting directly against the glass forces you to use the "Wide Transparency" mode which can only be done through the lower resolution sensor/optics. To use the better optics, you have to select normal transparency mode, for which the focal plane lies considerably above the glass.

[Ari]

Hi yuexiachou29,
The pros and cons are discussed in detail elsewhere on the forum; I suggested it to you in order to hide scratches and reduce grain, which is why some people prefer wet-mounting.
But you should consider it only after the other variables have been eliminated: film grain, scanner settings, exposure and development, etc.
I prefer to dry-mount on the Epson (8x10 and 4x5); I never noticed a huge difference when wet-scanning, then again, I didn't have scratched scanner glass.
If the scratches are small, you can easily get rid of them in PS; it's inconvenient, but not terrible.
Or you can simply replace the scanner glass for about $45: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Epson-Perfection-v700-v750-Lower-Glass-Assembly-NEW-/131604558955?hash=item1ea43e346b:g:Q6AAAOSwbqpT82y9
Good luck!

[DrTang]

I have a 750 that has scratches... then I found a 500 at a garage sale for a good price and swapped the glass..bottom glass anyway

the screws are under the little rubber pads

[yuexiachou29]

Hi everyone

thank you very much for the attention. I reset all the adjustments on epson scanning software, it looked a lot better.
I think the noise might be from the "medium sharpening"

underexpose & noise relation is new to me, I am still learning.

[John Olsen]

wax? scratches are everywhere.
How would you wax it?

There are waxes for auto windshields that will fill in minor scratches. Look for "Meguiar's" brand. This might make the scratches much less obvious, at least it works that way on windshields.

[Peter Gomena]

You may be able to buy a new piece of glass directly from Epson.