X-Pan film scanning

Oj9400

Oj9400

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Hi,

I recently acquired a Hasselblad X-pan and took it on a trip around australia. Im currently in the process of scanning the negatives on an Epsom V500 using the 35mm holder but sometimes struggle to get the entire picture to show in the frame. Also the backlight correction seems to need a lot of variation between photos.

I've also heard mention of the better scanning glass? Has anybody had any experience with it? Reluctant to buy from the states if its not a huge improvement.

Anybody got any advice on the subject?
 
Oj9400 said:
Hi,

I recently acquired a Hasselblad X-pan and took it on a trip around australia. Im currently in the process of scanning the negatives on an Epsom V500 using the 35mm holder but sometimes struggle to get the entire picture to show in the frame. Also the backlight correction seems to need a lot of variation between photos.

I've also heard mention of the better scanning glass? Has anybody had any experience with it? Reluctant to buy from the states if its not a huge improvement.

Anybody got any advice on the subject?
Click to expand...

I don't know much about the Better Scanning holders, but I think that the Lomo Digitaliza holder for 135 might work well for X-Pan photos: http://shop.lomography.com/gb/digitaliza-35mm-scanning-mask

Despite the reputation of the Lomo brand, I use the 120 version and it's a nice bit of kit.
 
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That's an interesting one, might be worth a try.

Has anybody had any experience with the lomo one?
 
Whoops sorry phone cut off the bottom of your reply.

How does it differ from the standard holder?
 
Last year i got lucky on ebay and got both 135 and 120 lomo digitaliza holder for really cheap.
The 120 is pretty good but i find the 135 not so good if the negative as the slightness curve it just come off. At the end i use the one that come with the scanner (epson 4990) and i can scan four strip at once.

Sorry it's not specific to xpan but just my experience, maybe someone had a better experience than me with the 135 model?
Wonder how the anti newton ring glass kind work but it looks like a expensive option!
 
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I bought the 120 lomo job earlier this year and although it is very well made and keeps the film very flat, I found that it does not work as well as the v500 holders, not as sharp I found. It maybe something I'm doing wrong but I've gone back to the epson one.
 
I have an XPan and I scan in a Nikon Coolscan, OK not a flatbed scanner like the Epson.

When mine scans it basically meter reads the film and adjust itself where needed, if I leave everything in auto. I also modified on e of the 35mm holders on mine and removed one of the frame dividers leaving one frame as long as the camera film, if that makes sense.

Then I scan one side of the film and if I am happy with that I switch all the auto functions off, change the film around, making sure there is some over lap, scan again (with the auto functions off it will not change the exposure).
Drag both sides into Photoshop and combine them together.

Yep bit of a faf but after trial and error I found that the easy way to do it.

As far as I know the only scanner that's that will scan X-Pan in one go are the medium format ones like the Nikon 8000/9000, or if you can modify the film carrier to hold the film flat without kinks then fool the scanner into thinking that's its a 6x7 film it should do it in one sweep (maybe, I think, not tried it)
 
Andysnap said:
I bought the 120 lomo job earlier this year and although it is very well made and keeps the film very flat, I found that it does not work as well as the v500 holders, not as sharp I found. It maybe something I'm doing wrong but I've gone back to the epson one.
Click to expand...

A holder can't directly affect sharpness. The only explanation is that the Digitaliza is holding the film at a different height than the stock holder, so the film isn't quite in the plane of focus for the scanner.

You could either prop up or file down the Digitaliza as necessary. The Better Scanning holders have height adjustors for this reason.
 
The flat bed will do panoramic negative, I can fit 3 photos in at a time which is a convenient sleeve length as well, but I have to manually select each frame to be scanned as the auto function only works on standard size frames.

The auto correction is quite good but I often scan twice at different settings and then import into lightroom to correct and crop. Might try a lomo one, or else try and cut some of the holder down so they fit better. Its only one of the two holders I have the issue with so I dont think its the frame on the film at least.
 
Knikki said:
I have an XPan and I scan in a Nikon Coolscan, OK not a flatbed scanner like the Epson.

When mine scans it basically meter reads the film and adjust itself where needed, if I leave everything in auto. I also modified on e of the 35mm holders on mine and removed one of the frame dividers leaving one frame as long as the camera film, if that makes sense.

Then I scan one side of the film and if I am happy with that I switch all the auto functions off, change the film around, making sure there is some over lap, scan again (with the auto functions off it will not change the exposure).
Drag both sides into Photoshop and combine them together.

Yep bit of a faf but after trial and error I found that the easy way to do it.

As far as I know the only scanner that's that will scan X-Pan in one go are the medium format ones like the Nikon 8000/9000, or if you can modify the film carrier to hold the film flat without kinks then fool the scanner into thinking that's its a 6x7 film it should do it in one sweep (maybe, I think, not tried it)
Click to expand...


I would love a coolscan but I fear it's out of my price range at present at least.
 
skysh4rk said:
A holder can't directly affect sharpness. The only explanation is that the Digitaliza is holding the film at a different height than the stock holder, so the film isn't quite in the plane of focus for the scanner.

You could either prop up or file down the Digitaliza as necessary. The Better Scanning holders have height adjustors for this reason.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's probably more likely, but I can't be *rsed, just plain lazy, that's me :D
 
Oj9400 said:
Hi,

Also the backlight correction seems to need a lot of variation between photos.
Click to expand...

Can't help with the rest, but I don't think I'd bother with the backlight correction if you're doing any PP on the shots in Lightroom/PS/etc. It's a pretty clumsy tool if you have levels and curves and whatnot to use after the scan.

Edit: btw, the backlight correction is supposed to correct backlighted shots by raising the shadows a bit, so you'd expect a lot of variation depending on your lighting/exposure. If you're thinking it does something else, then you're almost certainly better off turning it off completely.
 
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I found that the backlight correction brightens the image more and gets more detail out of the neg, then I can always lower shadows ect in pp afterwards. Sometimes the sky can start to lose its colour though.
 
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