Scanning 5x7 color negs help?

[Robert Brummitt]

Hello.
A fellow photographer has asked me to scan about 20 of his 5x7 color negs for him. I have use of a Epson 4990 scanner.
I believe I need to make a neg carrier. What material do I need and how do I make it? Any help would be great, Thanks.

 

[Ted Harris]

You can make a negative carrier out of mat board but you don't need to. You can just put the negtive directly on the scanner glass. You should either tpe it down using blue painter's tape or wet mount it using a light wet mounting spray such as Prazio's Anti Newton Ring spray.

There is a lot of discussion about fine adjustments in film height from the glassd to get the best focus out of an Epson 4990 but IMO it isn't going to matter very much with a 5x7. I have frequently taped 5x7 trannies to the glass of a Microtek 1800f, same general principle but a different scanning path.

BTW, what is the ultimae purpose of these scans? That has something to do with how you will scan.

 

[Dan Williams]

I just got my 4990 last week and so far have have just been kicking the tires - playing with it, learning to use the scan software that came with it as well as my usual Vuescan. So far I am very happy with what I am getting.

I shoot 5x7 B&W and the few negs that I tried appear to be fine when just putting the neg on the glass. I haven't printed enlarged digital negs from the scans yet. I expect that I'll find any problems when I get to that stage

Dan