Epson v800 Strange sprocket hole reflection/shadows on images

[O HanraHanrahan]

Hi. I'm wondering if anyone can help me figure out why I'm getting these sprocket hole reflection/shadows in my images when scanning (See photo below)

I have been trying to scan my 35mm black and white negative sheets to make digital contact sheets. However I am getting what looks like shadows or reflection from the sprocket holes appear on the top and bottom of the images (See photos beelow)

They are only really noticable on images where there is light areas on the top or bottom of the photos.

These reflection/shadows are not present on the the frames when looking under a loupe on a light table or scanning the image using the film holders (See photos)

Scanning setup:
Epson v800
VueScan 9 (See Screenshot of settings) and Epson Scan 2
35mm Black and White film in clear negative sheets placed between two peices of glass (to keep them flat) placed on the glass of the scanner emulsion side facing up.
I've also scanned just on the scanner glass itsef and still get the sprocket hole reflection/shadows

Does anyone know if this can be fixed or is it a hardware issue with the scanner?

Thanks.

 

[_T_]

This is pretty much always going to happen to some extent when scanning unmasked film on a flatbed scanner. The stray light from around the image and around the film reflects off of the bed and the film and creates this effect.

To fix this you would want to use something to mask off as much of the non image areas as possible.

 

[koraks]

This is pretty much always going to happen to some extent when scanning unmasked film on a flatbed scanner.

I know on the 4990 it works just fine.

This is a B&W example I just cooked up:

This is with bare film on glass:

35mm Black and White film in clear negative sheets placed between two peices of glass (to keep them flat) placed on the glass of the scanner emulsion side facing up.
I've also scanned just on the scanner glass itsef and still get the sprocket hole reflection/shadows

Try it with just the film. No extra glass, no sleeves, no nothing.
If you need something to keep the film flat, try putting something on the ends to keep it taught but don't cover the entire strip of film with something transparent. The additional glass and sleeves will create reflections, adding to the problem.
With curly film, I sometimes use strips of glass on the ends or simply use painter's tape. I prefer the latter because handling glass on top of the glass platen of the scanner is a great way to scratch the platen, which evidently is irreversible. Painter's tape is benign and any glue residues (if you leave it on for days....) can be removed with alcohol/white spirit.

 

[brbo]

Some scanners will be better than others regarding reflections. But dust or haze on any element in the optical path (glass bed, lens, mirror, sensor cover) will always make the matter worse.

 

[O HanraHanrahan]

hi

Try it with just the film. No extra glass, no sleeves, no nothing.
If you need something to keep the film flat, try putting something on the ends to keep it taught but don't cover the entire strip of film with something transparent. The additional glass and sleeves will create reflections, adding to the problem.
With curly film, I sometimes use strips of glass on the ends or simply use painter's tape. I prefer the latter because handling glass on top of the glass platen of the scanner is a great way to scratch the platen, which evidently is irreversible. Painter's tape is benign and any glue residues (if you leave it on for days....) can be removed with alcohol/white spirit.

Hi, thanks for that.

So what I have been doing is scanning my negative sheets by placing them sideways between two sheets of glass and scanning one half and then the other half and stitching them together in Lighroom (See photo).

This has worked well because I get very flat and sharp contact sheets. This is very fast too because I don’t have to take the negatives out of the sleeves. I have hundreds of negative sheets I want to make digital contact sheets of. The only issue is the sprocket hole reflection/shadows.


I scanned two strips of negatives just on the scanner glass itself, no extra glass or sleeves. I am still getting the sprocket hole reflection/shadows (See Photo)

(I have been placing the negatives Vertically on the scanner bed)

I did another test and scanned the strips horizontally, and did not get the sprocket hole reflection/shadows ( See Photo)

 

[koraks]

That's an interesting experiment and the result is also fascinating. It suggests that the optical design of the V800 is sufficiently different from the 4990 to make it more prone to these reflections.

did not get the sprocket hole reflection/shadows

No, but the problem is still there.

You now get bleeding of the inter-frame spaces into the image area. It's the same effect, just a little weaker because of the film density. I'm sure that the problem is even worse in the frames on the ends of the film strip.