negative

Scanning Long Strips of 35mm Negatives

Overview Generally with the Nikon film scanner and the SA-21 film adaptor you can only scan 2 to 6 negative strips.  The SA-30 is a bulk film holder that can handle strips of up to 40 negatives.  The SA-21 can be "modified" to flake a SA-30.

Solution

This is taken from a blog: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.periphs.scanners/-LdJf3r23h4  by Kennedy McEwan Apr 25, 2005:

Incidentally, for those who do not want to take the risk of opening their SA-21 up and making a permanent solder link modification, there is an alternative temporary fix, albeit a little less reliable.

The two contacts of the link in question connect directly to pins 16 and 17 of the blue rear connector on the SA-21. Looking into the rear of the SA-21 with the adapter the correct way up, pin 13 is on the middle row on the left of the connector, so just count 4 and 5 pins across and you get to the two pins in question. These can be shorted together using some very fine wire (I/John used a strand of copper wire from speaker wire ....length of about 14 mm) - thin enough so that the operation of the connector contact is not interfered with. Then hold the link wire in place with some adhesive tape - Scotch Magic tape works quite well for this.

Before pushing the SA-21 back into the scanner, make sure that you pierce the adhesive tape over each contact in the connector block with a pin. This will prevent the corresponding pins in the scanner being subjected to additional pressure as the adapter is pushed home in the scanner.

NOTE:

I took a black sharpie and highlighted the area around pins 16 and 17.

Epson Film Holders

Overview An article on film holders, film sizes, etc.

Holders

Film Name Common Name Image (mm) Image (inches) Film Width (mm) Support Holder
110 Pocket instamatics 13x17 16 120
116/616 63 2.5 69 120
117/120 Medium format  57x41 to 83  2.25x1.625 to 3.25 OEM
122/124/125  83x108/140 3.25x4.25/5.5 120
123 4x5 100x126 4x5 OEM
126 26.5x26.5 35 120
127 41.3 1 5/8 46 120
135 35mm film strips 25 35 OEM

 

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_format

http://www.negative-solutions.com/index.html

http://filmscanusa.net/main.sc

 

Film Transfers - Negative Films

Overview: Negative films (both 8mm and 16mm) require white balancing otherwise the finished film can be off in colour. I also found that if the white balance is off not only the colour can be impacted but so can the clarity of the image. I had one film that I incorrectly white balanced and the film had a green milky look about it. The milky look cleared up once the film was correctly white balanced.

White Balance - How:

1) Set VelocityHD to process NEGATIVE. 2) Load the film into the scanner and cue it up to a "white" section at the start of the film. Usually the best section is a clear piece of film at the beginning. 3) Push the menu button on the camera. 4) Toggle to the white balance and push the toggle in. 5) Run an 10 or 20 second test. 6) Process the test clip and view it. 7) If okay, proceed to the next step, otherwise repeat steps 2 to 6 on a different clip. 8) Re-cue the film to the start and scan it. 9) At the end, don't forget to RESET to WHITE BALANCE ..... set to white balance using no film in the gate.

Note

Setting the white balance on the capture camera WILL stay set even if the camera is turned off.  What will NOT stay set is the exposure setting.  If the camera is turned off the exposure setting will have to be re-calibrated (set it using the same method as before)

More Reference:

Here's a link to moviestuff's instructions on negative exposure.

Scanning APX/IX240 Film

What is This Stuff APX or IX240 or Advantix film is basically a film developed to make managing of films and negatives easier.  I've seen Kodak and Fuji products.  The film came in cartridges similar to most 35mm film except the negatives stayed in the special cartridges even after processing.  The customer typically gets the cartridge and a proof sheet of all the photos.  This cartridges may be stored in a special case that can handle many cartridges and their proof sheets.  The negatives are not 35mm and in fact are smaller than 35mm in size.  The smaller negative size also impacts the quality....ie. not as good as 35mm.  In order to get prints or digital copies of the film you have either send it to a lab or we handle scanning these using the special Nikon adapter.

Scanning APX or IX240 or Advantix Film Using the Nikon Super Coolscan and the IA-20 adaptor:

  1. Push power button to turn unit on
  2. Unit is connected to Xavier.
  3. Make sure the IA-20 adapter is installed into the Nikon scanner.
  4. Open Nikon Scan 4 software.
  5. When the light on the scanner is solid green, load film cartridge and close door.
  6. Nikon Scan 4's scanner preview window.... a) setting should be set to "APX film" - go to "setting" - saved setting, "APX film" will be at the bottom of list....click on this b) Make sure the next setting is "Neg (Color)" and NOT "Positive".
  7. Click on the thumbnail tab.
  8. Select all thumbnails (click on 1st thumbnail, then shift+click last thumbnail)
  9. Make sure that "Neg (color)" is still selected.
  10. Go to "settings" and click "APX film" profile to apply to current selection
  11. Then hit the green scan button and all the negatives will be scanned and saved.
  12. The batch scan window will appear....check the setting and scan.
  13. After the first negative has scanned, confirm scan looks good (ie. go to folder and open tif or jpg)

Time Statistics

  • 35 minutes to scan 25 negatives (typical cartridge size)
  • 1.4 minutes per negative