Line on B&W scans

[Colin D]

On my B&W scans a faint dark line has started to appear about 1/3 of the way up. It goes perfectly horizontally across the scan and appears in the same spot for each scan. I've changed a few settings but it makes not difference.

The scanner is an Epson V700 which I have had for about 7 years, hasn't been used a lot at all really given I am just a hobby photog. Colour scans do not have the line.

Anyone seen this before, what does it mean?

Attached is a low res example.

[Ken Lee]

Dust on the scanner lens or along the optical path to the lens.

You can open the cover and clear the dust.

[Colin D]

Dust on the scanner lens or along the optical path to the lens.

You can open the cover and clear the dust.

Thanks Ken, is that in the lid or base section that needs cleaning, and do you mean pull it apart to get to the interior?

Colin

[Ken Lee]

If you remove the top, namely the glass, you can get to the interior. Either blow or gently brush the unit which travels as it scans. While you're at it, you can clean the underside of the glass which ove time can get clouded with some out-gassing and or dust.

[Doug Fisher]

Before you dig into disassembling the scanner, did you try the simple step of really cleaning the top two inches of the scanner glass to make sure the calibration area is absolutely spotless? If that doesn't work, try running a few scans with the scanner angled up on its side about a bit less than vertical. Sometimes that can dislodge or at least move an errant internal speck of dust. Here is a link to the exploded diagrams for Epson scanners if you decide to take your scanner apart. Youtube also has some videos:

http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/dismantling.html

Doug

[Jim Andrada]

+1 on clean the calibration area at the top of the scanner glass. It's the first thing to try for any kind of banding issue. If you use the wet mount kit also be sure the glass in the top area is spotless.