wet mounting nikon 8000 & 9000

Has anyone used ScanScience wet mounting kits for the Nikon scanners? From what I can tell is they are using your existing film tray with their glass, fluid, and cover material and converting your existing film trays for wet-mounting. So their price of 229.00/kit is much cheaper than the other wetmounting kits that go for 500.00. This may make a used and much cheaper 8000 an appealing option. What do others think?

No one has any experience with the ScanScience wet mounting kits?

I'd love to try them, but at the price...
I'm getting very good results with just AN glass on the standard MF holder.

Nuno,
Can you tell me how you use the standard holder with your own piece of glass? Is there anything specific that one should do to make this work? What size/thickness is the glass piece?
I just can't keep my film flat enough at the edges in the glassless holder. I'd be willing to spring for the glass holder FH-869G, I believe, but it is backordered everywhere I've looked.
Thanks,
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com

It's really very simple and takes almost longer to explain than to do:

1- I removed the clip bars from the standard glassless holder. They are just a snap-in and quite easy to remove without damage.

2-The moveable side of the holder was positioned so that the ANglass pieces fit snuggly between it and the stationary one. The catch was then snugged in so the moveable side won't get out of its place.

3- I got two ANglass pieces from Dead Link Removed. They have them the right size for a MF 9000 standard holder, refer to the holder model number. Thickness is 1mm each.

4- Into the modified standard holder goes one glass piece, AN side down, as the bottom. Film strip goes on top of that, emulsion side down against the non-AN side. The second glass piece goes on top of the film, AN side down, against the shiny side of the film. The lot is held together against the holder with two pieces of adhesive duct tape at the ends - don't ask me which brand, it was just lying around in a roll - and that is pretty much it.

I do press very lightly with a piece of paper towel on top of the lot before taping it down, to make sure there is good contact and the film is reasonably flat.

Unless the film is a basket case, I usually get focus within 5 units across each entire 6X7 frame.

If anything is not clear, let me know and I'll take a photo of the thing and post it up somewhere for you to have a look.

But it's really as simple as I described it. With films with glossy emulsion sides like Astia, I need to turn the bottom piece AN-side up otherwise I get rings there too. That sometimes can interfere with the AF, so in those cases there is a little bit more work getting the focus right.

Of course it goes without saying: everything must be scrupulously clean and dustless. I use a little "pear" to blow clean air during each step and avoid touching the glass with fingers: I use a paper towel to handle them and the film.

Now, modifying the standard 35mm holder of the 9000 to take AN glass, THAT was a hard nut to crack. It's done now, same results. But I had to remember some of my earlier modeling years and some of my brass bar soldering skills...

Thanks very much Nuno. Being the impatient guy I am, I went ahead and ordered the fluid mounting kit from ScanScience before I saw your reply. In the future, if the fluid thing doesn't work out to my satisfaction I may try your method. It sounds easy and effective.
Regards,
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com

sdivot said:

Thanks very much Nuno. Being the impatient guy I am, I went ahead and ordered the fluid mounting kit from ScanScience before I saw your reply. In the future, if the fluid thing doesn't work out to my satisfaction I may try your method. It sounds easy and effective.
Regards,
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com

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Steve, Please let us know your thoughts on the ScanScience kit once you get a chance to put it through your initial test run, Thanks, Robert

Nuno and Robert,
I got my Scanscience kit. It's a very nice product, but so far I can't seem to keep the edges of my negs from lifting up. Granted, some of my negs have substantial curl, but I tried others that are relatively flat, and the same thing happens to a lesser degree. I'm not sure I've ever seen an absolutely perfectly flat negative.
The plastic piece that goes on top of the sandwich (there is a glass piece at the bottom, then the fluid, then the neg, more fluid, and finally the plastic piece) is not heavy enough to hold the negs down flat, even with the tension created by the fluid.
I'm not ready to dismiss the product, but I'm thinking of simply going to the method Nuno uses.
I'll update after more experimenting.
Any info/advice would be appreciated.
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com

Hi

sdivot said:

... but so far I can't seem to keep the edges of my negs from lifting up.

Click to expand...

well I am certainly no way any kind of wet mounting expert, but if emulsion is down should it not be the middle which is lifting?

sdivot said:

I've ever seen an absolutely perfectly flat negative.

Click to expand...

all of my 120 is almost mirror flat. I keep it in archival negative protectors in a folder which lies flat (with 1 or 2 other folders ontop of it). I keep it in the same humidity controlled cabinet as my lenses (which I made up myself, but you can buy for not a lot). I suspect that the humidity is the key to the issue as after its been out in the room for over an hour it starts to show signs of curling.

perhaps that may help to control your curl?

Steve, Do they recommend taping the edges? I noticed on page 8 of their catalog they sell a fluid resistant tape. Did tape come in the kit? Robert

Robert,
Yes, tape is included in the kit. So far I have not found it to be effective in keeping the film from lifting. It does work to keep the "sandwich" from sliding in the carrier, since the old hold downs are removed.

I've decided to do a hybrid technique using the fluid mounting combined with Nuno's method of putting a piece of glass on top to replace the light plastic piece that comes in the kit. It may affect the image quality slightly, since any glass will cause some refraction (even the bottom glass does). But newton rings will not be an issue with fluid mounting. Therefore I will use clear glass and not AN glass.
This heavier setup should keep the film flatter during the scan. I hope.....

Pellicle,
It sounds as if you are much more diligent in your negative storage habits than I am. I may indeed follow your advice for the future, but unfortunately I have many negatives that are in great condition otherwise with just a bit of curl.
If the negatives always have to be mirror flat, I'm afraid more than a few folks will have the same issues I'm having. Thanks for the input. Every bit helps.

Finally, I'll say that aside from the lifting issues screwing up the edges of my scans, which of course is unacceptable, the scans are looking excellent with fluid scanning. I think it makes a big difference compared to my previous scans of the same negs. They jump at you with more contrast. The shadows seem deeper and richer, while the highlights are bright but not blown out. I did not have to adjust the analog gain at all.

More to come,
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com

The extra glass may work well. But I would think if you taped it down and got a good layer of fluid between the layers and squeegee them down with enough pressure that they would hold pretty well. What if you replaced the clear film on the top with clear glass and fluid? Or is that what you mean by your hybrid method? I don't know if you meant just putting clear glass on top without the fluid between that and the film. Robert

RobertP said:

The extra glass may work well. But I would think if you taped it down and got a good layer of fluid between the layers and squeegee them down with enough pressure that they would hold pretty well. What if you replaced the clear film on the top with clear glass and fluid? Robert

Click to expand...

Robert,
lol. Reread my post. That is exactly what I said I was going to do.
Regards,
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com

Sorry, On my first cup of coffee. Is the film actually pulling the tape up as it lifts? Robert

Please keep us posted on your progress, Steve.
And thanks for going through the trouble of doing so, it is much appreciated.

Ok, so I got the glass recommended by Nuno. I got regular glass, not AN. Julio with Scanscience told me with wet scanning, newton rings will not be an issue.
Having a piece of glass on top works much better to keep the film from lifting up during scanning. It simply adds more weight to the sandwich.
I'm still working on the wet mounting process itself. It just takes practice in order to keep air bubbles and such out of the equation.
I do tape the glass together after wet mounting. I tape it on the ends so it will not interfere with the image area. Currently, I'm using masking tape. The wet mounting solution makes the tape residue kind of gooey, but glass cleaner gets rid of it.
So far, I'm liking my results. I'll report more as I learn more.
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com