This is amvery common problem on the Epson 700 and 750 scanners. They are reflections bouncing around due to the multiple layers of glass. One way to allevite them is to tape the negs emulsion side down to the lower platen with thin hinging tape. I lay my negs down and tape one edge down, then i place a strip of tape on the opposite edge film rebate, and stretch it out and down onto the platen. Then change your scanner silverfast software to scan the Full film area with the little frame overlay they supply, and go from there. Its a way to get the best results i have managed with this scanner short of a better scanning film holder, even then reflections can still cause issues.
Yep. What Andrew says works beautifully, and eliminates these problems for the most part. It's very annoying to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of equipment that does this. I have noticed the following, in addition to what Andrew mentions:
1. 'Shiny' emulsions, like TMax 100 and TMax 400 are far worse than something like Ilford FP4+. It's as though the emulsion side has the same glossy sheen as the film base side on these films, which makes sense they'd perform worse, since they would be another reflective surface.
2. This happens with 35mm film as well. It is not isolated to 120 film. I just don't think the Epson V700/750 scanners are very well constructed machines for this reason.
3. I've had it happen with C41 color film as well. Portra 400 among others.
Obviously, taping negatives to the scanner platen is a pain in the back side compared to using the film holders, especially if you have many negatives to scan. But it does work.
