[filmscanners] Re: Sprintscan 120 Film Holder Problems

["Arthur Entlich" <artistic-1@shaw.ca>]

I am surprised to hear that Polaroid did not go through with the design
changes on the carrier.  I know it was in the works when they ran into
their financial problems.

The SS120 has greater depth of field/focus than the Nikon medium format
product.  This problem is therefore less common on the SS120. Of course,
the last frames of a medium format roll are more likely to hold their curl.

  Until a new design is created, you could do what many Nikon LS-8000
owners have to do with much of their film, and flatten these end images
with a book overnight, but I agree that, or double-sided tape is no real
answer.  Since I don't use this scanner myself, I don't know if there is
a simple fix by adding some thin shims of plastic, which can sometimes
work by reducing the space the film has and therefore the holder better
compresses any curl.  I've often had to redesign products to work
better, by adding some plastic or thin cardboard spacers.  It seems to
be the nature of product design these days, unfortunately.

I can make a suggestion regarding the fogging problem, which Polaroid
has also acknowledged, as this was a matter discussed at some length
when the scanner first came out.  This fogging apparently is actually
caused by the carrier reflecting light due to being too shiny.  You need
to reduce the glare on the surface, and there are a number of ways to do
this.  One is to buy some 3M "wet or dry" sandpaper.  This stuff is
charcoal gray or black in color, and comes in grits of about 100 all the
way to 1800.  The larger the number, the finer the grit. Since you only
want to dull the surface, without actually scratching it, a grit of
about 1000 to 1200 is probably about right. They sell for about $2 a
half sheet and that will be more than enough. Gently rub the surface in
straight strokes with a small piece of the "paper", to dull the shine
without taking any real amount of plastic off.  After you are done,
rinse the carrier in water to remove any residual dust, and then towel
and air dry it thoroughly.  This should fix the fogging problem.  If it
still is there, you may need to use a slightly larger grit size like 800
or 1000.  The idea is to break the shine, not to polish it again with
repeated sanding (as the paper gets used, the grit gets ground down to
smaller sizes, so you need to replace the piece you work with often with
a new piece or it will cause the plastic to get polished again.  Also
don't sand too quickly as it can heat the plastic from friction which
could soften or melt it, which you also don't want to do.

There was a glass carrier made at one point, but maybe they sold out of
it.  Glass carriers are not without some problems, however.  As you
mentioned, four extra surfaces for dirt and dust, and possible newton
rings as well.


Art

Bard Martin wrote:

> 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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