Rickyb

I have many slides and negs which are curled. Anyway of flattening them to get a sharper foto?

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Mount in glass.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Your solution lies here. http://www.betterscanning.com/
--Bob

fotojeff

you can soak your negatives in warm water for several minutes then hang them with a small weight attached to the bottom. I have previously used a small alligator clip with a fishing weight attached. Recommend you use distilled water(spotting). In lab work we used to use a solution called photo flo not sure if it’s still available. Be careful when handling the negatives to avoid damaging the emulsion side of the film.

Usually before drying you can run the negative through your fingers to act as a squeegee to remove the excess water. You could also use a special negative squeegee, sponge, or a microfiber towel should be ok. Please be very careful with this step because this is where you will damage the emulsion. If you used distilled water you should just be able to hang and dry without any spotting.

Your negatives were originally processed with chemicals and rinse solution that was mostly water. It won’t hurt them. What will hurt them is contaminated water or scratching the emulsion in handling. Take your time, and if your negatives are extremely valuable to you or of any historical value run some tests first.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

If you're going to soak film in water, distilled is best and also get some Kodak Photo-flo and use as directed.
--Bob

mckraft

Curving does seem to affect my scans, but cupping does example.... ) .... is there a solution for the cupping?

EDWARD ROWLEY Loc: MONTANA

That's a tough one. Just some ideas off the top of my head, if no-one else has a better,easier, or cheaper solution.
Negatives: try pressing between 2 sheets of glass & applying a LITTLE heat - then let cool. Experiment with least valued shots.
Slides: guess you would have to remove from frames.
OR, try re-shooting them under a glass plate on a light table, with a macro lens.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Re: "... try re-shooting them under a glass plate on a light table, with a macro lens".
You'll need ANR glass for that to be successful.
--Bob

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

Bob, thanks for that link. I dreaded the thought of mounting a ton of negs just to get a decent scan.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

You're welcome. I've been using their ANR glass for 35mm scans for a bit over a year. They make some great products. The nice thing is that if you need a bit of extra weight to press the negatives/slides flat it's easily accomplished, but, of course, care needs to be taken.
--Bob

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

As rmalarz suggested, ANR glass will flatten the film for scanning without introducing Newton's rings.

I have have done this using Gepe ANR glass slide mounts in the past. They are great for short term use but I had an issue with them after about 20-30 years. Some of the slides degraded (mold?) so I had to remove them and re-mount them is glass-less mounts for archival storage.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

When I did film... there used to be a product that a couple of drops added to the water reduced the cohesion of the water and made it more 'wettable'. I also had a plastic 'wiper' that was used to 'strip' the water from the negatives. Kept it super clean as not to 'scratch' the delicate negatives.

Dik

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

How about mount in plastic? That will help flatten enough for scaning. Problem with glass is dust can get caught. Digital Ice does a nice job with unmounted slides in cardboard or plastic also.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

That’s only slightly better than the original cardboard mount. If the film is already curled it’s not going to do much to flatten it.

Dust is not going to get caught just because you mount between two pieces of ANR glass but if it’s already embedded in the film it won’t make any difference.

You can’t use Digital Ice on Kodachrome. You’ll just have to remove the dust spots later in PP, a simple task.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Cardboard or plastic mounts are the standard for high-end dedicated film scanners like for my Nikon 4000. You can get hand 2x2 mounters and plastic mounts on eBay cheap.