optimal hight for 4X5 holder on Epson V700

[viablex1]

what is the optimal height for the film holder? 3.5mm?

I raised mine a little higher and man what a difference, I really don't see anything in the manual about it.

thanks

Matto

[Jon Shiu]

There is a section in the manual about trouble shooting for blurry scans. It has instructions on adjusting the height. The best height will vary with each individual scanner, so best to do your own experiments.

Jon

[viablex1]

Thanks I saw that , they do look a little better, makes sense that each scanner would be a little different..I need to buy some shims

[urs0polar]

if you get frustrated with shims or want something better, try betterscanning:

http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/models/vseries.html

I have the variable height mounting station, and it works great.... still a real pain in the rear to get it focused though... I wish there was something more automated -- or that Epson would have put autofocus in.

[Nathan Potter]

Use a wedge mask. What's a wedge mask? Well you can make a simple one.

Obtain a piece of clear acrylic like we use for protecting prints.

Cut to a size, say 3X4 inch rectangular shape.

Use a scalpel or very fine scribe to make a series of light but visible grooves from edge to edge longitudinally across the acrylic. Make as thin as possible. Add a fiducial (or several) in the form of a tiny dot or cross that you can use later in Photoshop to mark the point of best focus.

Now place the 4X5 double film holder on the scanner.

Next place the scribe acrylic in one of the 4X5 openings. But one end is resting on the scanner glass while the other end is about 6 mm above the glass - held up by, say, small matboard shims or any other convenient shim that won't scratch the scanner glass.

Now you have a wedge mask with fine lines running thru the plane of best focus - so scan it in Professional mode.

Look at the scan on the computer screen and move the file to Photoshop. Magnify in Photoshop and scan along the lines until you see the sharpest point. Mark that point(s) using the fiducials you made earlier. Well I just clone them to the new spot

Finally you can back off the magnification and observe where along the scribes your fiducial is located. Now you know that one end of your transparent mask was on the surface of the glass platen while the other end was a measured height above the platen (the thickness of the shim). Measure the distance from the end on the platen to the fiducial and you have your height of best focus.

If you don't like trigonometry just draw to scale your wedge on graph paper and scale off the actual height of best focus.

All pretty fast and simple.

Nate Potter, Austin TX

[viablex1]

damn great idea, and I wish they would have pt auto focus in as well..