Vuescan, Coolscan 8000, 35mm panoramas

[ssobol]

Here's the deal.

I have a bunch of 35mm panoramic (24x56mm)negatives that I want to
scan with my Coolscan 8000 (with Vuescan 8). I could use the FH-869G
holder (6x9cm size with glass), but it's about $250 and a 35mm holder
is only about $50.

If I use the 35mm film holder I'll have to scan each negative in two
halves and stitch them together. I thought about cutting some of the
frame dividers from the 35mm holder so that the negative is not
blocked in the middle by the plastic. However, I realized that the
scanner (and Vuescan) detect the film holder type and set up certain
scanning parameters (number of frames, position of frames, maximum
scan area, etc.), so using the 35mm holder would only let me scan an
area about the size of a normal 35mm negative anyway.

I have noticed that there are square holes in the leading edge of each
film holder. I assume that these are detected by the scanner to
determine the film holder type. I figure that I can modify the holes
in the 35mm holder (fill one in, cut a new one) and make the scanner
believe that the holder is a FH-869G instead of the 35mm holder. The
scanner would then let me see a large scan area (for 6x9 cm negative)
and I could select the part I wanted scanned (the panoramic neg).

Does anyone know a reason why this wouldn't work? I want to avoid
messing up the internal mechanism of the scanner.

Thanks,

Stefan

 

[ssobol]

Ok. I modified the holder (added a hole). Now I can change the frame
spacing and scan the whole width (long edge) of the 35mm panoramic
negative. However, aperture of the 35mm neg holder (total of both
lanes) is wider than the aperture of the 120 holder. Therefore, the
bottom of the 35mm panoramic neg is cut off. Is there any way to tell
vuescan to use a different scan area instead of the default set by the
detected film holder?

Stefan

 

[Bart van der Wolf]

Ok. I modified the holder (added a hole). Now I can change the frame
spacing and scan the whole width (long edge) of the 35mm panoramic
negative. However, aperture of the 35mm neg holder (total of both
lanes) is wider than the aperture of the 120 holder. Therefore, the
bottom of the 35mm panoramic neg is cut off. Is there any way to tell
vuescan to use a different scan area instead of the default set by the
detected film holder?

Have you tried all of the relevant options on the Crop tab, notably Preview
area and Crop size?
If they don't work as required, ask Ed Hamrick on his Support email-address
as given on the Support webpage. If you get it to work (even if you don't),
let the group know, so others may benefit from your experience.

Bart

 

[ssobol]

Studying the problem more, I ended up making a holder out of plastic
card. I two pieces that fit in the aperture of the Coolscan 120 film
holder. Each plastic piece has a hole for the negative (56x24mm), the
negative gets sandwiched between the plastic pieces. The whole thing
rests on the 120 film holder. So far it works fine. However, since
there is only one opening I can only scan 1 neg at a time.