Scanning glass plate negative

[Akira Takiguchi]

Happy new year!

Is there anyone who has experience in scanning glass plate negatives? (hard glass, not the slides)

Attached is one of such glass plate negatives (18cm x 24cm). My GT-X700 doesn't do justice.

[Mil-Archive]

That looks like a Japanese version of something from the Epson Perfection series ?

I am currently looking at buying the Epson Perfection V600 (the v700 which many people swear by is out of production). The V600 seems the most sensible balance on performance and price.

Apparently glass negatives need a light coming from above down to the scanner sensor, which I believe the v600 and v700 models can accommodate.

Here is a video review of the v550 in case it's useful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM7H_fsKrPk

[Mil-Archive]

This is probably a better review :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2buwklEqvmU

[Akira Takiguchi]

Thanks. X700 was top of the line then (2004), capable of scanning various size up to 4x5 negatives. The glass plate I am trying to scan is 8x10 and glass negatives seem to have different characteristics than normal negatives.

I am googling now to find out. When I find a better way, I'll give you an update.

[Richard Woods]

This may work.

Try putting the neg on a light table on copy stand, make a mask to go around the plate. Photograph it, you'll get a negative image but that's easily fixed.

RW

[jmark]

Akira, that is an extraordinarily interesting and rare image!!! I've never seen a 2cm Flak mounted on a Stug before.

Jason

[Akira Takiguchi]

Richard, thanks. I once had a copy table and gave it to someone else who needed it badly then. I still have a light table, I must get a copy table again. I have one of the best B/W digicam in the market, SIGMA Quattro H. It will produce the best tonal image with its SFD (super fine detail) mode with 7 exposures combined. Let me try it this year!

Jason, this is one of the photos from an SS experiment to install 2cm on a StuG.

[Akira Takiguchi]

I did a quick test with my Sigma and light table with a tripod instead of a copy table - see below.

[Akira Takiguchi]

two cropped images from the original file (these are not still 100% size, Sigma creates 6192x4128 pixel image!)

[Akira Takiguchi]

Tonal representation is uncomparable from the earlier scanner result.

In case if anyone is interested in the camera (not the photo ), here it is - http://www.sigma-global.com/en/cameras/sd-series/

[Mil-Archive]

The tonal quality is outstanding. I'd love to see the setup behind this. What lens did you use ?

I think given the size of the plate the only other way would have been to stitch 2 scans together, so the setup you have gone for seems more manageable.

[Akira Takiguchi]

It is managable, yes.

I used a legendary (now out of production) SIGMA macro 70mm F2.8 EX DG on my SIGMA SD Quattro H. Had I set it up precisely, I am sure I could get even better results.

I believe that I need to renew my light table because the light isn't completely uniform.

[Akira Takiguchi]

Somehow I made a mistake when placing comments to the scans - Schwab was a Gruppenführer, not an Obergruppenführer...

Schwab was the leader of the Technisches Amt VIII of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_S...nktion%C3%A4r))

The page below shows SS Artillerieschule 2.

http://postconnections.com/tag/trebbin/

[astarr]

Akira,

Thank you for sharing. Great thread!

Astarr

[Remy Spezzano]

Akira I think it's time for you to break down and get the EPSON VF850 PRO scanner.
This is the one I use and it can scan everything under the sun. It has a special built in top light for scanning slides and negatives. It would be ideal for scanning your glass negatives as well.

The glass negatives really contain a lot of detail. Even with your simplified setup for capturing the image you can see pretty much everything the negative has to offer. I made some quick adjustments in Photoshop and got some excellent results. Very cool image. Thanks for posting it.