Help Epson 1650 scanner

[Greg Dejanovic]

I don't know how many people go to HybridPhoto.com but I'll try to post same question over here.
I have Epson scanner "Perfection 1650" I have been using for several years. I do not scan film often but I have used for 35 mm and 6X6. I also bought a separate cover for scanning 4X5 negatives. I tried to use it few days ago to scan 4X5 negs.Window said it could not find film even though the lid plug was in properly the lid light would come on it would go trough whole proces of scanning. Than I unplugged the scanner ,plugged it back in again and was able to scan two negatives , the little preview window is 4X5 but the image inside looked square?. Now repeatedly it cannot see film regardless what I do.
Any of you have experience with this scanner or know what I am doing wrong and have suggestions?

Thanks in advance Greg

[Marko]

Greg,

Let's begin with which OS are you using it under. I have a feeling it may be the driver issue.

I have the same scanner and it works just fine using Epson's own scanning utility. As for the image looking square, you should be able to see a dotted or dashed outline of the scanning area which you can adjust by pulling at the edges of it.

[Greg Dejanovic]

Hi Marko ,I am using Winows XP, and the set up page recognizes 4X5 scan. I am using Epson own utility.

Greg

[Marko]

OK, next, when you say "it cannot see film", what exactly do you mean by that? It can't see the film adapter or it can't see anything on the preview scan?

I assume you checked the hardware connection and that everything fits firmly...

[Greg Dejanovic]

OK, next, when you say "it cannot see film", what exactly do you mean by that? It can't see the film adapter or it can't see anything on the preview scan?

I assume you checked the hardware connection and that everything fits firmly...

Hi Marko
It does not recognize the film is sitting on the scanner glass. It pre-scanns and tell's me to make sure film is in position and try again.It said " cannot find film check film is on the scanner and try again". I made sure all connections are correct and working.I also downloaded latest Epson driver to no avail.

Greg

[Marko]

Greg, I'll try to replicate the problem later today or early tomorrow. I've never seen something like that, though. I am on the Mac, FWIW.

[Greg Dejanovic]

Thanks Marko I do appreciate it.


Greg

[Marko]

Well, try as I may, I could not reproduce the error. Mine simply shows the blank screen if I try to preview with no film.

The only thing that comes to mind besides the driver would be the faulty cable or even the transparency unit, but that's just a wild guess.

[Greg Dejanovic]

Thanks Marko
How do I explain the two negatives that were scanned? I set up TPU for "Monochrome neg film" Type as B/W photo 16 bit and destination Epson Stylus printer. The program does recognize it is 4X5 unit. The switch on the lid I tried with it on or off both times the scanner comes on and the light comes on in either position. The LED is green when scanner is working. Unless it is a software conflict.

Greg

[Marko]

Greg, that's why I think it *might* be the cable - the unit is working, but intermittently.

If it were the software, it would likely either work or not. Same thing with the unit itself. But cables often have a way of developing partial breaks in only one of the wires inside that display symptoms of varying strength, depending on the angle at which the cable might be bent or even temperature.

The best way to eliminate - or confirm! - a software conflict would be to test the entire scanner/adapter on a different computer. If you get the same symptoms, then the next test would be to try the same transparency unit on a different scanner and/or a different unit on the same scanner.

[Scott Squires]

When I started using my Epson 10000XL the scan would also not come up during preview. What happened was the preview scan default setting was set at "Thumbnail" and would not preview. I can't remember exactly how I found the scan preview default but it was not difficult.

Hope that helps

[Nigel Smith]

my 1640 can do something similar, but it is just so far out on the exposure that it looks like it hasn't worked (I get a 'all black' prescan). I highlight an area in the scan preview and hit 'auto levels' or whatever the button is called and it shows the prescan.

[Greg Dejanovic]

Thanks Scott, Marko do you mean cable coming out of the lid? Because I had also problem with the transparency reader for 6X6 ( which is different lid) again reading B/W negatives. No problem with slides or transparencies.While I was writing this I said let's try again and it worked two times. I noticed that when scanning was finished small window appears "preparing thumbnails" and then scan is complete and successful. When scan was not successful under this small window briefly the Epson smart panel would appear and next thing it said could not find film. I think that would indicate that something is wrong with software? No.? Should I take the software out and reload it again?

Thanks for your help Greg

[Marko]

Greg,

I really don't feel like making unqualified guesses, as that's the only thing I can really do at this point and from afar, and that is definitely not going to help you! :)

That said, I don't know about 6x6 lid, I have only the 4x5 which I bought off the eBay for a pittance and which came with several holders, 6x6 and 4x5 among them. The Epson scan utility recognized it right out of the box and it was a simple matter of picking "Film" from a drop-down menu and then choose between "Positive", "Color negative" and "B&W negative" from another drop-down. The rest was the same as for any other scan.

If I attempt to scan an empty lid - i.e. no film at all - I simply get black box but no error messages. But then again, I am using it on a Mac and not under Windows, so the software could be different or you could be simply using a different mode. If so, you can try shifting to more manual mode, since what you describe sounds like some sort of default "solution".

At the very least, you should try and set the same scanner on a different computer with fresh software installation and so get an indication where to look next, the software or the hardware. If it works fine, then it will definitely tell you it's the software, either the scanning utility and/or the driver. But if you get the same sort of problems there, it could still be both, though.

[Greg Dejanovic]

Thanks Marko for your advice and support. I will figure it out obviously needing some time to resolve this. I think next time I will buy Mac. My son loves his.
Weird thing happened yesterday while I was trying to answer this post, I had idea to just insert transparency under the lid. And voilà it scanned color transparency in B/W, so I said OK replaced transparency with B/W negative and it scanned. Instead single window with single image two windows appeared #1 and #2 with half image on one and other half on #2. I said the program got confused so I got out of the program initiated it again scanned the same image it showed me again two separate images.After that It did not want to scan any more kept on repeating "could not find film". Really :confused:

Greg

[Nigel Smith]

Greg, I'm in a worse position to help as my 1640 is older and the software is probably different, but are you using it in 'Full Auto Mode' mode? I tried mine in "Full Auto Mode" with nothing in it and it comes up with the 'Cannot find document' message. Try Manual mode. In manual mode you just get a view of the scanner lid. Doesn't explain why it 'goes to sleep' on you though.

[Greg Dejanovic]

Hi Nigel
It behaves like this only with B/W negatives. I always use manual setup because source and type are different each time. I have the scanner for about 5 years. But I feel it should work or maybe they are made to last only 5 years? I used the 4X5 lid only three times so far. I found it useful to see what the image is like before I go to the dark room inverts negative into positive.
If you see only lid in the scan it probably set on "flatbed" and it thinks it is a photograph .

Greg

[Greg Dejanovic]

Today I received answer on my email send to Epson technical support. They said the following:
" If you receive a message that the scanner could not find film,click the CONFIGURATION button and uncheck AUTOMATIC PREVIEW FOR FILM, then OK, and try the PREVIEW button(page with corner folded down) again
In this mode you will have to manually marquee or crop the slides you wish to scan. Use left mouse button to lasso one slide inside a box made of dotted lines, the click scan."
So it is working now thanks to all who were trying to help, I hope that I did help someone else.

Greg :)

[Marko]

It's always something simple. The first thing I do whenever I install an application is to disable most if not all "automatic" options, so I had that option unchecked ages ago when I installed my scanner and totally forgot it was even there!

Anyway, it's great you found the solution. :)

[Greg Dejanovic]

Thanks Marko

Greg