Coolscan 9000 Glass Film Holder Repair

[Fritz6]

Hey folks, long shot in the dark here. I have an FH869GR rotating glass film carrier for my coolscan 9000 that has many (visible on scans as well) microscratches from someone's overeager cleaning attempt of one of the glass pieces. The ANR glass is unaffected (your guess is as good as mine why they only attempted to clean one), but the standard glass like I said is covered in swirls, and other cleaning marks. Does anyone here have any experience repairing one of these via replacement glass? I am reluctant to try it myself as this film holder is rarer than hen's teeth these days and the cost of replacement if things go sideways would be pretty steep.

Repair options I've tried already:

- Contacting Nikon
They told me what I already expected which is that this unit is completely non-serviceable by them due to its age and the total absence of spare parts.

- Frank A. Phillips
Frank knows everything when it comes to the internals of these units so I had hoped he might have some advice, but he told me his expertise does not extend to the film trays and that it's something he wouldn't be willing to attempt.

 

[albireo]

Hey folks, long shot in the dark here. I have an FH869GR rotating glass film carrier for my coolscan 9000 that has many (visible on scans as well) microscratches from someone's overeager cleaning attempt of one of the glass pieces. The ANR glass is unaffected (your guess is as good as mine why they only attempted to clean one), but the standard glass like I said is covered in swirls, and other cleaning marks. Does anyone here have any experience repairing one of these via replacement glass? I am reluctant to try it myself as this film holder is rarer than hen's teeth these days and the cost of replacement if things go sideways would be pretty steep.

Repair options I've tried already:

- Contacting Nikon
They told me what I already expected which is that this unit is completely non-serviceable by them due to its age and the total absence of spare parts.

- Frank A. Phillips
Frank knows everything when it comes to the internals of these units so I had hoped he might have some advice, but he told me his expertise does not extend to the film trays and that it's something he wouldn't be willing to attempt.

I would dump that holder and get one of Stephen Scharf's 3D printed holders. Orders of magnitude better than the original ones. Contact Stephen Scharf on the Coolscan Facebook Group (the same one where Frank A. Phillips sells his refurbished units).

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I would dump that holder and get one of Stephen Scharf's 3D printed holders. Orders of magnitude better than the original ones. Contact Stephen Scharf on the Coolscan Facebook Group (the same one where Frank A. Phillips sells his refurbished units).

Seconded. My example of Stephan Scharf's holder is exemplary and has made a huge difference to scanning performance and efficiency with my Coolscan 9000.

 

[Paul Ozzello]

Seconded. My example of Stephan Scharf's holder is exemplary and has made a huge difference to scanning performance and efficiency with my Coolscan 9000.

Tripled. Stephan made me a fluid mount holder for 617 negs and the scans are tack sharp across the entire frame. the holders are 3D printed and should not be shipped during periods of high heat as they may warp in shipping.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Stephan made me a fluid mount holder for 617 negs and the scans are tack sharp across the entire frame.

- are you stitching two scans together in Photoshop?

 

[Paul Ozzello]

- are you stitching two scans together in Photoshop?

I use Viewscan to make 3 scans without removing the holder from the scanner - to make sure the focus remains the same for all 3 sections. Viewscan allows you to lock the exposure so that the 3 scans are scanned with the same settings - which makes stitching them in photoshop a breeze - and completely seamless.

Paul

 

[brbo]

Is the name "Vuescan" the most unfortunate of all the software names ever?

Apart from "X", of course.