rjnedimyer Loc: Altoona, PA

I could be wrong, but I believe that scanner is a flatbed scanner. If so, simply place the Glass negative on the scanner in the right orientation as square as possible with the correct side up [sorry way past my bedtime so you will have to figure that out yourself], you may wish to have several straight-edged sheets of preferably matt black paper to cover areas of the scanner bed NOT in the "picture" [hopefully this will decrease glare and light bleed over].
If incorrect or typing errors I apologize!

magnetoman Loc: Purbeck, Dorset, UK

I scan and improve digitally when I find a plate negative I like. Most here are talking super-perfection and there’s nowt wrong with that, but you will get a decent enough scan just resting it carefully on the bed of the scanner, just take care that everything is clean - and handle it carefully. For interest, here’s one I restored a while back: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-641948-1.html

PGJR Loc: 33868

[quote=rjnedimyer] I believe that scanner is a flatbed scanner.

Thanks for the instructions, I appreciate it. Paul

PGJR Loc: 33868

[quote=magnetoman] I scan and improve digitally when I find a plate negative I like.

Thank you for your help. I'm amazed at how good some photographers are. Awesome work, thanks for sharing. I'm not proficient at post processing, just a little (and I mean a little) in Topaz, Affinity along with Photos on a Mac.

Paul

PlymouthWoodworker Loc: Plymouth, MA

I have had very good success scanning large negatives on my Epson Perfection 2400 flatbed scanner. I use the negative mode (backlit) and scan 3 or 4 overlapping slices of the large negative, and then stitch them together using Microsoft ICE. This has really worked great for me.

FL Streetrodder

I have processed several old glass negatives in this manner.
1) Bring up a solid white image on your computer monitor
2) Place the smoked glass negative up against the monitor
3) Take a photo of the backlit glass negative
4) Use a program, I ued Irfanview, to convert the negative to a positive
5) Process the Positive image in the photo editing program of your choice

PGJR Loc: 33868

[quote=FL Streetrodder] I have processed several old glass negatives in this manner.

That sounds like that's the easiest way. Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

Paul

carlberg

Not sure it was made clear in all the replies that in order to scan negatives (glass or otherwise) on a flat bed scanner, the scanner must be in "negative mode", that is, back lit and using proper holders. Simply placing negatives on the glass in front lit mode will only result in black images. Using a light box is the way to go.

Bunko.T Loc: Western Australia.

Yes, me too. I have a V500 Epson & I scanned numerous glass negs my grandfather took & developed himself. The beauty of it was to preserve the neg, having scanned it then tidy up the digital image.

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

I have an Epson 550 and made a work around for large negatives. Instead of using rhe Epson supplied negative holder, I made my own. Set it up so I scanned just a portion of the negative, than put it back together as a panorama in Photoshop Elements.

Opsafari Loc: Roodepoort South Africa

Thank you E.L. for your advise building a small lightbox. Yes in days gone by I had a small lightbox, the "glass" was clear perplex and on the one side I sanded it with water sandpaper. Use a rather longish filament globe which tend to become very hot but it was my b&w preview box and worked well till it tumbled down from my desk and the globe shattered! The globe no longer manufactured and I moved to digital and the box found the dustbin. A few days ago 12 glass negatives found their way from a friend that wanted a positive of them. No problem I said I can scan it as I did a lot of negative and slide scanning on my Epson Perfection 2400 flatbed. Left the negs on the desk, will do it some time until I read this post. O BOY although the glass are 4x3 in size I can not scan it (directly)
Reading your comment I decided to build a small lightbox and started to search on the Internet for Plexiglass, found some suppliers near me (I'm in South Africa) but wow, its EXPENSIVE, have to buy a whole sheet!!! This morning I had to visit my son close by and asked him if he does not have a small piece of Plexiglass as his wife is an fantastic art designer. Yes, he had a piece, 5mm thick! He cut me a piece of 200x200mm. Making a box is not a problem but the light source might be. Was thinking to use LED strip light (12volt) and found a shop that sells 1meter 6500k strips. My question: will the strip light be bright enough (luminance) for me to capture it with my DSLR 100mm closeup lens (Pentax K3ii)? But tonight there were more entries to this discussion and PlymouthWoodworker mentioned that he very successfully used his Epson 2400 to capture big glass negatives in stages!! Going to give it a try before building that lightbox but it might just be a good investment as the lightbox can also be used as a small sourch of light for closeup photography. Feed back would be appreciated, thanks.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I have used the scanner to digitize large format transparencies- in sections and stitched them together in post-processing. The results were excellent but it was a lot of work. For critical work, it is likely the superior (quality) method. To do a quick job on old plates negative, I have used th camera method successfully. It's kind of a quick and dirty workaround but you will get a fast look at the image and can still make prints if required.

If you don't want to build a box, you can simply transilluminate Plexiglas with any light source. The camera's automatic white balance will correct for any kind of lamp or even window light. It's a black and white image so color is not critical. You can even replicate a sepia tone for an old-fashioned image.

Whatever you decide to do, don't forget to post an image.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Find someone with a highly diffused LED light panel big enough to back light the glass plates, plus a copy stand, and a digital camera with macro lens. They can photograph the glass negative, and process it in Negative Lab Pro Plug-in for Lightroom Classic. Admittedly, you need a pretty geeky digital photographer to do that... but they're out there.

I know this works because I've done essentially that. It works the same for all sizes of film. I camera scanned six rolls of old 35mm negatives this afternoon. Unfortunately, I don't have a big enough light source for anything larger than 120 film.

The attachment shows how I do it:

Camera Scanning.pdf opens in your favorite PDF reader.
Attached file:
(Download)

Boris77

If anyone is interested - the Art stores carry multiple lines of "small" led light pads/tablets.
The cheapest listed is 9x11 at under $80 on sale. My friend has one and it looks good, has multiple power settings, and works well for art applications. I do not know how even it is for photography.
She has also used it as emergency photo light source.
Boris

Opsafari Loc: Roodepoort South Africa

E.L. thank you for feedback and you mentioned something that I never thought about! Mount the plexiglass with the glass neg against a window facing the sun and try copy the neg! You will not believe it but during my days as a Military photographer (just out of school) I had to copy a neg (B&W) urgently and thought to use the enlarger but it was impossible - for many reasons. Used some carton, made a hole the size for 35mm stuck it to a window, placed the neg in the hole and took a photo with a short zoom (Nikon F1 camera) with sun behind, developed and made a 5x7 print. It was not the greatest but it served its purpose, after all it was during bush war period. Will do some various experiments before trying making a light box. Will publish the image here once done!