epson v700, bands, strips and stripes, help please

zinzin · Aug 17, 2010

Hello,
posting this help request. Recently some issues have been occurring on my v700 scanner. It mainly occurred with colour negatives and particular evident on overexposed ones (or on dense areas), there is like a reddish halo around the frame. In addition, on those negatives placed on a certain side (left) of the scanner a reddish strip appear going all the way down or on part of the negative strip. this latter issue is more evident on overexposed negatives but it is also visible on normally exposed colour negs. I have attached below some examples.

I have tried scanning placing the negatives perpendicularly on the scanner but this only partially (or little) solve the problem (see below photos).

I have been doing some searches (on this forum, flickr and others) but not lot of joy. Wondering if any of you here any clue and able to cast some light on this?
hope the above makes sense,
Thanks so much for any help.
cheers
salvo

Marco B · Aug 17, 2010

zinzin said:
Hello,
posting this help request. Recently some issues have been occurring on my v700 scanner. It mainly occurred with colour negatives and particular evident on overexposed ones (or on dense areas), there is like a reddish halo around the frame. In addition, on those negatives placed on a certain side (left) of the scanner a reddish strip appear going all the way down or on part of the negative strip. this latter issue is more evident on overexposed negatives but it is also visible on normally exposed colour negs. I have attached below some examples.

....

I have been doing some searches (on this forum, flickr and others) but not lot of joy. Wondering if any of you here any clue and able to cast some light on this?
hope the above makes sense,
Thanks so much for any help.
cheers
salvo

I am not an expert on color negative film processing, but to me, this more looks like some very badly processed / color developed film, or a light leak in your camera, or the film accidentally having been exposed to light, than a scanner issue.

Have a good look at the film against some diffuse light source, and see if you see the same patterns on your negatives. If so, it is definitely a processing or light leak issue.

Where was it processed/developed? Just something around the corner, or one of the last good labs near you still capable of doing a proper job? It is getting harder and harder to get color material properly processed commercially, if I may believe the stories on APUG (I hardly shoot any, so can't comment)

Marco

Marco B · Aug 17, 2010

Other tip: post the images on APUG. You are more likely to get an answer to this one there I think...

zinzin · Aug 17, 2010

Marco, thanks for your feedback.
I can confirm that the negatives are "clean" of light leaks etc. Just overexposed, there are no light leak marks etc. They come from different cameras and the marks "move around" or disappear depending on where i place them on the scanner or the orientation

Marco B · Aug 17, 2010

zinzin said:
Marco, thanks for your feedback.
I can confirm that the negatives are "clean" of light leaks etc. Just overexposed, there are no light leak marks etc. They come from different cameras and the marks "move around" or disappear depending on where i place them on the scanner or the orientation

Well, than we can exclude processing issues.

Never seen anything as extreme as this, although I currently have minor issues with my flatbed too, probably needing replacement...

Lets see what others will say in the next days, it might be a problem with the light source or so. Have you done a scan with the lid open to see if the light behaves normal?

The V700 is also a cold cathode light scanner, so no modern "LED" type light source lasting for ever.

pschwart · Aug 17, 2010

Marco B said:
Well, than we can exclude processing issues.

Never seen anything as extreme as this, although I currently have minor issues with my flatbed too, probably needing replacement...

Lets see what others will say in the next days, it might be a problem with the light source or so. Have you done a scan with the lid open to see if the light behaves normal?

The V700 is also a cold cathode light scanner, so no modern "LED" type light source lasting for ever.

I have seen stuff like this when scanning negatives in plastic pages for proof sheets.

Rudeofus · Aug 17, 2010

The only explanation that would come up my mind (short of declaring the scanner broken) is that for some reason the scanner doesn't interpret the markings on your film holder correctly. I noticed once that the V700 uses some holes in the film holder (about 1/2 mm diameter, near the top of the frame) to find out which film holder is used, and scan results are absolutely crazy if those holes are not in the correct place or obscured by something.

glhs116 · Aug 18, 2010

Could be dust or other contamination on mirror or even the scanner glass. The issue is light leaking around the "sides" of the negative (where the film is relatively clear). You are seeing this more on dense negs where the scanner is using a greater sensitivity to "see through" the denser material.

Looks like you need to do some cleaning.

Doug Fisher · Aug 18, 2010

I think glhs116 is in the right track with light flare for images like #3 and higher. If you are not using a film holder (since you are scanning full frame), this can be part of the problem. The first two look like a miscalibration as if something were partially covering the film calibration gap/notch at the top of the holder (the little holes are something different). You have to keep this glass area under the calibration gap absolutely spotless and nothing can cover any part of it. If you were scanning off of the glass and not using the film area guide, this could also be causing the calibration problem since there was no guide to guide the scanner for calibration.

Doug

zinzin · Aug 18, 2010

Doug Fisher said:
I think glhs116 is in the right track with light flare for images like #3 and higher. If you are not using a film holder (since you are scanning full frame), this can be part of the problem. The first two look like a miscalibration as if something were partially covering the film calibration gap/notch at the top of the holder (the little holes are something different). You have to keep this glass area under the calibration gap absolutely spotless and nothing can cover any part of it. If you were scanning off of the glass and not using the film area guide, this could also be causing the calibration problem since there was no guide to guide the scanner for calibration.

Doug

Thanks all for your posts and suggestions.
I have been scanning full frame on the glass and never had this problem. It has been serving me well for 3 years now. Now it is also occurring with the film area guide. As a test I have tried to scan with the holder and no stripes turn up - so maybe something wrong I do or something else?
I thought it was due to the negatives being particularly dense but also saw it on normal negative (3rd scan, fuji film). So wondering whether anything I can do to be able to scan full frame again. At the moment I can still do it only by moving the negs around as it seems only affecting a certain side of the scanner glass
The glass and the areas mentioned by the others above appear clean with nothing obviously wrong. Is anything in particular do I need to look at or "drastic" action to take?

Marco B · Aug 18, 2010

zinzin said:
Thanks all for your posts and suggestions.
I have been scanning full frame on the glass and never had this problem. It has been serving me well for 3 years now. Now it is also occurring with the film area guide. As a test I have tried to scan with the holder and no stripes turn up - so maybe something wrong I do or something else?

Well, obviously, if scanning with the holder does not give stripes or any other artefacts AND the holder film area covers the same area of the glass plate where you DO get issues without using the holder, than there can not be a real issue with the scanner itself. As it clearly shows you it can scan that area properly while using the holders.

One question though: did you upgrade to a new scanner driver / software? If so, you might wish to try reverting to the old driver.

glhs116 · Aug 18, 2010

If the problem seems to be more one part of the flatbed than the other (especially if that area follows the path of the scan head) then I would say you have dust or something else on the mirror or sensor or both.

Rudeofus · Aug 18, 2010

One more thought: The V700 has two lenses which it uses depending on chosen resolution and scanning area, so using a film holder or not might change the whole scanning operation.

pellicle · Aug 18, 2010

Hi

I also second this. Check the area where the calibration happens (its an open rectangle on the holder

glhs116 said:
Could be dust or other contamination on mirror or even the scanner glass. The issue is light leaking around the "sides" of the negative (where the film is relatively clear). You are seeing this more on dense negs where the scanner is using a greater sensitivity to "see through" the denser material.

Looks like you need to do some cleaning.

epson v700, bands, strips and stripes, help please

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