# scanning film with a flatbed



## 'Daniel' (Jul 5, 2006)

The film holder in my flatbed has a lihht brhnd that gives additional illumination when scanning.  i was wondering if you could scan film without the holdr by placing aluminium foil behind?  maybe that would reflect enough light. 

Has anyone tried it?  If not I will.


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## darin3200 (Jul 5, 2006)

I tried aluminium foil but it didn't work that well. I found holding a tupperware lid an inch over the scanner worked the best as a light diffuser


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## chakalakasp (Jul 5, 2006)

Daniel said:
			
		

> The film holder in my flatbed has a lihht brhnd that gives additional illumination when scanning.  i was wondering if you could scan film without the holdr by placing aluminium foil behind?  maybe that would reflect enough light.
> 
> Has anyone tried it?  If not I will.



You can certainly try it, but it's not going to work as well as the actual light that comes with the scanner.  Why would you try to use a third-rate solution when your scanner is actually engineered to handle it in a first rate way?


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## 'Daniel' (Jul 6, 2006)

Well I thought it might be helpful to people who don't have that in their flatbed scanner.


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## mysteryscribe (Jul 31, 2006)

I dont have a light so I built a back light from a floresent house hold light bulb and a trouble light from home depot took a little experimenting but it works peachy keen.  I only shoot large format black and white though no idea how color would work.


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## Luke_H (Aug 1, 2006)

What do you guys use as a light diffuser though?  I tried this before purchasing the Epson scanner I use now.   It'd be nice to have a working design for use with things larger than medium format.

I just need viable white light diffuser because of the problem of the scanner seeing the light bulb through the negative.  

I didn't know of a uniform source of white glass or plastic though..


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## darin3200 (Aug 1, 2006)

Luke_H said:
			
		

> What do you guys use as a light diffuser though?  I tried this before purchasing the Epson scanner I use now.   It'd be nice to have a working design for use with things larger than medium format.
> 
> I just need viable white light diffuser because of the problem of the scanner seeing the light bulb through the negative.
> 
> I didn't know of a uniform source of white glass or plastic though..



The best thing I've found is a tupperware container top. It works nicely.


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## Digital Matt (Aug 1, 2006)

Buy a small lightbox, and sandwhich the negative between the inverted lightbox and the scanner glass.


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## LittleMan (Aug 1, 2006)

If you do it wrong it looks like this...







cool effect... but still not that good.


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## mysteryscribe (Aug 1, 2006)

I have done a ton of them with a home made back light at the moment im just using white paper from my printer as a defuser place the negative right on the glass cover with with up to three sheets of paper more or less depending on the density of the negative.

You also need to roll up a poster board into a cone to get the light away from the scanner a bit its pretty bright...  the number white paper sheets is your intensity control.

go to the general gallery and take a look at test angel... It is just one of many negative scans using this backlight.

Also look at the retro camera shots from the alternative thread.


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