Another update to the 120 carrier prototype for Epson scanners. This one incorporates the focusing posts like the 4x5. This one has a bit more tradeoffs though. The lower film gate has to be a bit thicker than on the 4x5 to make the carrier sturdy enough which means the minimum focusing distance is higher.

To combat that, I think I will have a version for long strips and panoramics which will be this design, and one that closes off the ends meant for strips around 6x18 or 3 6x6 frames. Basically for strip lengths like you would find for horizontal PrintFIle sleeves. The latter design allows me to make the lower gate thinner (like the 4x5) while keeping the carrier sturdy and will allow for a greater focus range.

In my case, the current design happens to get me focus as-is. My particular Epson is happier at a closer focus when using the OEM carriers, which means I dont think the above will be a huge deal for most folks.

#EpsonScanner #FilmScanning #120Carrier #Prototype`

Back to prototyping the Epson flatbed film holders! I've been working on the height adjustment system and finally created a solution I think I'll be happy with. I've been using one of my 120 prototypes for my flatbed scans of my 6x6 Iceland film and I've been quite happy with those results, even without the height adjustment. I'm hoping to make these available "soon". I'd like to have them done by the fall. I might even have some glass options!

#Prototyping #EpsonScanner #FlatbedScanning #FilmScanning #3DPrinting

One more prototype post and then probably back to waterfalls and Iceland stuff. I just wanted to quickly share what legit ANR glass looks like on my prototype 120 carrier. I did have to widen the inlay a bit to accommodate the glass as I had to go with an "off the shelf" size rather than one that was closer to the museum glass and the width of 120 film.

Because of that, and because I can make all these to order, if these do turn into products, I plan on having various options so folks can pick and choose what works best for them. If you want the option for ANR or museum glass, one tradeoff is a wider inlay (and I would have tops for open air scanning too). If you just want open air scanning, you can get that version which will have the inlay much closer to the film width which makes it easier to align (but it wouldn't work with glass unless you opted to get something custom cut).

Lots of ideas!

#EpsonScanner #FilmScanning #FilmPhotography #FlatbedScanning #Prototype #ANRGlass

Is that glass? Why yes, yes it is! Tested out some "museum glass" as a less expensive option to true ANR. I'll be writing a longer post on our blog probably this afternoon to elaborate on my ANR glass testing for both the 4x5 and 120 Epson scanning carriers. 35mm is coming too but not until I work on these two formats first.

#EpsonScanner #FilmScanning #FilmPhotography #FlatbedScanning #Prototype #ANRGlass

The one some of ya'll have been waiting for! The initial prototype base for the 120 Epson V-series scanner holder system thing (I need to come up with a more concise name..).

As you can see the inlay goes edge to edge with the gate being able to support up to 6x24 (224mm). This will be the longest base but I might have shorter ones (which would be cheaper) but would still have an end to end inlay for cases where the film strip was longer. That's an irritation I have with the current options I use - I really would prefer to cut my 6x6 frames into 3 strips of 4 frames (rather than 4 strips of 3 frames).

What's missing here is the top masks. I'm still pondering some logistics there such as if I'll need magnets or some sort of clip system to try and keep the film flat, if I should consider ANR glass (or rather museum glass as I hear that stuff can be just as good but is much much cheaper) and if so how I might do masks in that scenario, etc.

I may also have single frame masks which would be big enough to wrangle 120 film simply by the weight of the top (which may include ANR glass options as well) and for the ultimate in masking. Part of the headaches I personally have with scanning 120 is having to redraw the frame lines over and over. If I can have a single gate that's always in the same spot, advancing the film after each pass isn't such a big deal for me.

#EpsonScanner #EpsonFilmHolders #FilmHolders #FilmPhotography #120Film #FilmScanning

One more update for the evening! I'll go back to sharing Iceland photos here again soon but since I've had folks asking me and I have a personal use case for it, I've been working pretty hard on the Epson scanning table stuffs. Here's the first functional prototype!

Full details on the Part 2 post on our blog.

#EpsonScanner #FlatedScanning #FilmScanning #Prototype

I've made some bigger prototypes already and things are actually going rather well! At first I was kinda bummed about having to use an inlay (instead of just using posts) but actually does have a few benefits (to the point I'm pondering what that might look like for some of my darkroom enlarger carriers).

Of note this is the 4x5 version but I plan on making ones for 120, 35mm, and maybe even 8x10.

#EpsonScanner #EpsonScanning #FilmCarriers #FilmScanning #FilmPhotography

On a roll today! Been making small test prints for testing heights and things for my possible Epson film carrier design and thought I'd share a teaser. More info on our blog (https://www.bitbybitphoto.com/film-carriers-for-epson-v-series-scanners-part-1/)

#EpsonScanner #Prototype #FilmPhotography #FilmScanning #FlatbedScanning

In between sharing some of the photographs from our Iceland trip (worry not, there's many more of those!); I thought I'd take a detour back over to product development for a moment. I had a customer ask me today about an Epson carrier system and since I've been scanning lots of 4x5 and 120 on mine, it's been already top of mind. So I finally got around to seeing how I might design one as I do get semi-frequent requests for one. This is the first pass:

Of note, for slide I will probably use my Raleno scanning table solution as I get better results from camera scanning slide I have found. I may also scan my 120 film that way too since handling 120 film on an Epson is a small nightmare. My hope, though, is to apply what I've learned in making darkroom carriers and camera scanning tables to flatbeds (Epson V-series specifically in this case).

The idea is to set the base down and leave it on the scanner and simply lift the top off to swap film. That idea will probably work better for roll films than sheets, where I might need to see if I can put in a notch on the bottom to get a finger underneath to lift the negative out. This plus several things still need to be ironed out before this turns into a product. But thought I would share this just the same.

I should add too, this is spartan by design. For the best flatbed scanning solution, I would still recommend BetterScanning (at least I think they are still around). But my solution might be sort of an in-between option for something that is hopefully more capable than the original OEM carriers. Or so is the idea anyway.

If interested in something like this, I'd love to hear from you!

#FilmPhotography #Prototype #EpsonScanner #FlatbedScanning