Is it possible to make your own piece of Anti Newton glass? I've heard it's as simple as making ground glass, but I wasn't sure if there's a specific process to it. If it's not possible, where's the best place to purchase it?
Secondly on a Epson 4990 do I need to use a piece of 1mm clear glass underneath the negatives and then AN glass sandwiched on top? I'm a little fuzzy on the process.
-a
Anti-Newton glass can be purchased at: www.fpointinc.com
Click on Anti-Newton Ring Glass, scroll down, and read the recommendations and instructions for use.
For 120 and 4x5 negatives, the 4990's film holders can be used with no Anti-Newton glass.
For 5x7 and 8x10 negatives, use one piece of 2mm AN glass to hold the negative flat on the scanner glass. Emulsion side down.
Etched side of the AN glass against the smooth shiny base side of the film.
Your time is more valuable making photos. Buy an anti-Newton Ring glass.
For some application, anti-glare picture framing glass (also called "glazing") can be used. It's inexpensive, and it's probably available locally. This glass has a light texture on one side. There is also one textured on both sides, which you don't want to get. The texture on the anti-glare glass is a little coarser than on AN glass, and that texture may show up in a scan. The only way to tell is to test it.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
I don't think you can make it as easily as a ground glass. ANR glass has to be really fine grained or else it would show up in the scan right?
Anti Newton glass goes between the scanner light and the negative not between the scanner sensor and the negative.
It's like the diffusion glass in an enlarger. Does not show up in the scan.
Some current films, for example, have very shiny emulsion sides as well as base sides. As a result, Newton's Rings can occur between the emulsion and a piece of glass. To avoid this, some people, such as (I believe) Howard Bond, use AN glass above and bellow the negative in their enlargers. Moreover on my Screen Cezanne scanner, the clam-shell holders have a very fine AN texture on both the top and bottom pieces of acrylic. Convinced that this would negatively impact sharpness, I built a carrier using clear optical glass. I wet-mounted the film to the optical glass and compared scans with ones made with the clam-shell holders. Even at 6000 dpi I couldn't see any difference in file detail. But Gem is right: The standard practice is to have the AN glass between the film base and the light source.Originally Posted by Gem Singer
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Interesting. I wet mount my negs to float glass, and place on a shim to correct for focal height. It works but is a huge pain. I'd be interested in a solution like this if there's an easy way to Magyver it on a 4870 scanner.
Back when I used a Canon 9950F, a consumer flat-bed scanner, wet-mounting did give me better scans. As a result, it looks like it's highly scanner depended as to whether wet-mounting is helpful or not. With the Cezanne the light source, for instance, is much bigger than on a consumer flatbed.
The AN texture on my clam-shell holders is extremely fine. It's finer than the texture on Focal Point AN glass. I don't know of a source other than Screen, and it's likely that buying one of the clam-shell holders will cost about what a high end consumer scanner does. You could try getting some AN glass and making a DIY sandwhich holder. The only way to tell if it impacts sharpness would be to test it. Scanning through another piece of glass would move the optimum scanning height a bit.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
My Minolta Scan Multi's film holder does use ANR glass on both sides of the holder as well. It's a very sharp scanner for it's age- it's usually a teeny bit sharper than the Epson 4990.
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