If betterscanning.com is dead, what are the alternatives?

[bigjames]

Hey y'all,

So as we all know, it seems betterscanning.com is dead (RIP). However, many of us wish we could've gotten one of those sweet variable height carriers while the gettin' was good. So, what do we do now? Has anyone found or made a suitable alternative (for wet and dry mounting)?

[AidanAvery]

I am also wondering this.

[Peter De Smidt]

Just make one?

[lassethomas]

If 3D printing is an alternative I designed a glass-less holder with adjustable hight for calibrating focus.
For 5x7 with adapters for 4x5 and 9x12.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5722055

[dave_whatever]

It's easy enough to tape your film onto the underside of a sheet on non-reflective glass from my local framery, cut a black card mask to go over it, and jacked the glass up off the scanner bed with suitable shims/washers/coins. For my Epson 4990 I used four one pence coins, thus raising the cost of the entire setup to about £3.04.

[Peter De Smidt]

It's easy enough to tape your film onto the underside of a sheet on non-reflective glass from my local framery, cut a black card mask to go over it, and jacked the glass up off the scanner bed with suitable shims/washers/coins. For my Epson 4990 I used four one pence coins, thus raising the cost of the entire setup to about £3.04.

Exactly!

[Tin Can]

I hate scanning

I copy

with digi

[roscoetuff-Skip Mersereau]

Guys, to me, the BetterScanning website looks like it is current: They've got a 2024 copyright and he's offering a "new and Improved" couple of things. So I'd not abandon hope without trying an emailed order. I did that last year with no response, so completely understand the sentiment. But maybe it's worth a re-try?

OTHERWISE....

Not gonna say "I love scanning" 'cause I don't. But for me, digiscanning was a dust magnet even worse than dry mounted negs on a scanner. That said, the speed was great, but I kind of missed the tools for conversion. If someone made a camera with all of that built in or as a firmware option, that'd be nothing short off amazing. They don't so for me it's back to the old grind, huh? ANd with fluid mounting, I don't have that problem. YMMV.

FWIW, perhaps a close approximation is the Epson Wet Mount (Fluid Mount) https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1086837-REG/epson_b12b818272_fluid_mount.html

I'm not having a problem with this as focus is quite sharp as is. But you can over/under mount with no real issues. Fluid mounted with odorless paint thinner works great. I would suppose that if you felt compelled, you could replace the feet by drilling them out and replacing them with T-nuts and bolts from the hardware store to have "adjustable height". Not sure it'd be worth it, but it's an option.

[bmikiten]

I've been scanning on a Scitex for years. I fluid mount when I want the ultimate scan or for archival purposes. There simply isn't a better way other than drum scans and I can't tell a difference even with very, very large prints from 8x10 and 4x5 negs. If you have a smaller budget, you can get museum glass, clean it well and fluid mount to it using tape, felt, etc. to offset it on the scanner bed to find your proper focus point. That makes far more difference in even an inexpensive scanner. You always have to consider your goals as well. If you are scanning to do small digital prints from negatives, you can clean them up in PS, etc but you can't fix an out of focus scan. I've camera scanned with my Hasselblad X2D and the scans are good but nothing like a properly set up and operated bed scanner in the $1000+ range. (V850 as an example). Again, it depends on your final needs and your need to look into the future. Remember, we all used 16mp digital cameras at one point and thought we had it all...

[Alan Klein]

The Epson V850 flatbed scanner comes with film holders that have adjustable height selections.

[anotherguy]

I'm also actively looking for alternatives. Can someone recommend either a great scanner at an affordable price or any services similar to betterscanning.com?

[Oren Grad]

A reminder: if you want to sell something, please post it in FS as per our guidelines.

[Joshua Dunn]

Modern flatbed scanning is quickly being repalced with digital cameras being used to scan your ngatives. I have the Epson V850 and it does not scan as well as a good digital capture and the from a good mirrorless platform and there are more options for editing. I would look at Negative Supply (https://www.negative.supply/) for 4x5 scanning. Even if you don't have a really good digital camera, you more that likely know someone who does. Invest in a platform and lightsource with negative carrier that will meet your needs.

The problems with flatbed scanning and associated carriers is not going to get better. It was already a small market and given that Epson is getting out of the scanning buisness I feel eveyone will be migrating to digital capture.

-Joshua

[Franswa]

I am holding ground with my flatbed! I think the problem with flatbed scanning is the available holders and getting the negatives as flat as you can, while also ensuring you have the correct height set up for your particular scanner. Once you have those two sorted out the results can be really fantastic and good enough for most users' intended use. The one thing that I hardly see proponents of dslr scanning mention is the lack of ICE for dust and scratch removal. This feature on flatbeds alone can save a person a substantial amount of time and added work that would have to be manually done with dslr scans.