Just thinking about scanning large format

[David Mitchell]

Hi all,

I was just thinking about how I am going to scan large format negatives (when I do get around to hopefully firing up the Pacemaker speed graphic this year). The Epson V600 doesn't allow for anything above a 120 film to be scanned as the actual light cover is only down the middle and you use masks to hold the negatives. This is fine as I won't be doing many large format images as I feel that medium format is the format I might be the most interested in.

Anyhow, I was thinking about how I could digitise any large format negatives I get (will probably be developing my own by then). I was looking around at how to 'scan' in negatives using a camera and a light box, then I found a suggestion which then became a really simple solution - use the scanner with a lightbox on top.

Basically normal scanners don't have a light source at either side of the negative so light can't pass through, hence you have a light in the lid for photo scanners. I have a V600 as well as another really basic scanner, I could look at basically just mounting a lightbox above the scanner and scan it normally. This would then mean that the scanner picks up the negative correctly as light would be passing through it. I would of course need to invert it in light room (unless I use the V600 and software which can adjust the backlight correction).

Has anyone else on here scanned in large format? I think large format scanners were from the V700 model upwards (which cost around 4 times the cost of the V600).

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Go for the V700, sounds like its everything you need. Dig deep in those pockets, splash the cash and give it a bash!

 

[Pete Askew]

I use a Epson V750 for LF in the UK (up to A4) and Microtek Scanmaker 1000XL in Germany (up to A3). Using the light box would probably work but you might have problems with reflections from the lower light as that would be on when you scan. It'll be interesting to see how it works out.

 

[Dan Cattermole]

David, I reckon you should invest in a continuum transfunctioner.

 

[David Mitchell]

I currently have a V600, couldn't stretch to the V700 or V750 as I couldn't justify spending the extra to scan large format due to the limited number of exposures I would ever do.

I might try it out once I take a few shots, I guess I could try and take a digital photo of it using a macro lens as you can do with smaller negatives but just with a larger holder. I might also look into perhaps using a negative scanning service due to the very few negatives I would have as a large format, although checking out a service quote it looks like around £60 for around 20 of them on a relatively large size.

I will perhaps try out some medium format film with a light box and see what its like - won't be for a bit though as I will be moving house soon lol but would be interesting.

I guess the other option (although not ideal but do-able) could be to scan the large format as a medium format in 2 scans and then digitally stitch them together - there should be enough overlap to match things up correctly.

I will have a think about what I could do, I might get myself an enlarger and properly print the image onto paper, but I would also want a digital copy of it (although lower def than film).

 

[Larry Bolch]

If I remember correctly, the V600 is rated at 30,000 actuations while the V700/750 is 100,000. This makes buying a used or refurbished model much more attractive. It also is vastly more efficient for batch scanning with the larger transparency scanning area.

 

[David Mitchell]

Yeah, the V600 (and indeed the V500) I guess are for 'prosumers' whereas the V700 or V750 are for professionals who need to scan lots of things at high quality. I couldn't justify the additional cost for the V700 or V750 so I just have the V600 which seems to do great on 35mm, MF and slides to be able to digitise them (although not as high resolution the film allows but enough for web display).

I don't have thousands of images to process and am actually enjoying the convenience of a DSLR for the smaller format at the moment. It might be the case that I move towards DSLR shooting for 'TF' (I have now called tiny format ie crop sensor), and then shoot on film if I want additional resolution for MF and LF, shooting on the SF 35mm film for a more manual approach.

I will perhaps look at stitching a large format image together by scanning them with the V600, I don't have a large format negative to hand, but I will be creating some larger digital negatives for some cyanotype contact printing soon (the UV lamp has arrived now ).