Wet scanning on a V750 question

[alharding]

I spent the better part of this summer working on finding the best method of wetscanning 8x10. It wasn't easy.The Aztek video and method is pretty much it, but I do a few other things that I've found made a big difference. 2 things I found more helpful. Tape 3 of the four sides of the scanner with scanning tape. this will prevent scanning fluid from ending up in the machine ( I've had to deal with this and it wasn't particularly fun). Leave the edge at the top untaped. After coating the negative and covering it with transparency wipe out all air bubbles and tape all four sides of the transparency down-it further reduces diffraction. Scan. When you finish, hang the negative and allow the fluid to evaporate. The fluid can leave a residue, rinsing in distilled water gets rid of it.

[Marko]

Snow Leopard includes a WMV playing ability apparently. My Version of OSX does not.

What you need is Perian and VLC.

No downsides I can think of.

[Gem Singer]

Al,

The OP mentioned that he would be scanning 120 roll film and perhaps later, 4x5 film from a Speed Graphic.

In that case, he can wet mount his MF negatives on the glass accessory tray that comes with the V750.

Since that tray is too small for 8x10, the film needs to be wet mounted directly on the larger size scanner glass. Thus the need for taping to prevent fluid from getting inside of the machine.

Sometimes, 8x10 negatives can be trimmed down to fit on the accessory tray.

[alharding]

I tried scanning 4x5 negs with both the tray and without. Although the tray is undoubtedly less messy, the scans were sharper without it. I don't think its completely necessary for everyone, by any means. I ended up buying the v700 and opting out of using the tray. If I didn't shoot 8x10 I might not have gone this route exactly.

[Linhof]

I have a V700 but always experience out of focus issue.

Having seen the video at aztek, I worry wet mount fluid. Is there any side effect on the film?

[cps]

Ok - now back to the OP's question...

I concur with Tyler that the advantages of wet-mounting on a v7xx are probably secondary to dialing in the right focus height. A few fractions of a millimeter of height change can make a very noticeable difference on scan sharpness - so much so that I suspect no amount of wet-mounting goodness would help you if your negs are not at the right altitude. The stock film holders the Epson comes with are usable for non-critical work, but aren't nearly precise enough to get good focus (unless you are lucky, which some are).

I have both the Better Scanning Scan Station (for 4x5) and the medium format station with anti-Newton ring glass. I scan both types of film regularly. The advantages of these systems are two-fold - the glass holds unruly negatives truly flat, and the screw-type adjusters allow very precise height adjustment. For medium format film, flatness can be a big issue - the AN glass insert makes it really simple to deal with that.

One pointer I haven't seen people mention around here is to pick the negative you use as your test bed for focusing carefully. Some of the modern, more grainless color films can be truly sharp (if you focused your shot well), but I personally find they can actually be harder to use as a focusing target (perhaps because of my shot-focusing abilites). I found that I could much more easily see the sharpness differences on a fine-grained (but nevertheless somewhat grainy) B&W negative. The absence of color also seemed to help avoid distraction. My first attempts used a small patch of Velvia 50 as a target, and I simply could not pick out the differences very well. Switching to Arista Edu Ultra 100 - a cheap B&W film - made it very easy to pick out where the detail in the shot and the grain was "popping".

One other little trick - if you get the better scanning holders - is to zero out all the adjusters, then put a little tick mark in the 12 o'clock position on each one of the screws (they are nylon) with a permanent marker. A quarter-turn adjustment can have an effect, so this makes it way easier to figure out if you are being consistent in how you adjust each one.

Chris