[filmscanners] Sprintscan 120 Film Holder Problems

["Bard Martin" <bardmartin@earthlink.net>]

I have been referred to this site by an engineer at Polaroid, who in essence
told me that Polaroid cannot do anything about the deficient design of their
film holders.  He suggested that someone out there who has worked with the
machine longer than I have might have suggestions.

Incredibly, the film holder for 120 negatives and transparencies is so
poorly engineered that it only occasionally holds the material flat.  A user
is in particular trouble if he wants to scan an image at the end of a film
strip or if the film exhibits much curl at all.  Another person at Polaroid
previously told me that a solution would be to use double-sided tape when
working with 120 film, but this, of course, is outrageous.

Both the 120 and 35mm film strip holders exhibit the further problem of
fogging both edges of the film.  That is, during the scanning process light
bounces off the edge of the holder and creates a dark stripe down each side
of the image.  The user thereby loses not only the part of his image that is
under the edge of the film holder but also even more of the image due to the
fogging.

When shooting, the photographer who intends to scan his images in the
SprintScan must therefore leave a lot of room on either side of his
viewfinder (unless he wants to spend a lot of otherwise unnecessary time in
PhotoShop).  The problem is worse, of course, the more translucent the film
is at its edges.  I've found that spraying the edges of the film holder with
matte black paint does nothing to solve the problem.

Of course I am awaiting the availability of the glass carrier Polaroid has
been promising us.  Nevertheless I have mixed feelings:  Who wants the
additional grief getting rid of dust in a scan that results from using a
glass carrier, when most of the time it should not be necessary?

The Polaroid engineer told me that it would cost the firm $20,000 or so to
redesign and and retool a new holder.  I sympathize.  It might cost me a
proportional amount to see if a machinist can make me an after-market
solution to the problem.

Any imput would be appreciated.  --  Bard Martin




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