Scanning 4x5 negatives

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Has anybody considered using a 4x5 negative carrier from an enlarger as a negative holder and dSLR scanning the negative?

Steve W

Yes, I've done it with great success. One of my old art school professors has been paying me to photograph his paintings for several years now. He's also been digging up old 35mm slides and 4x5 transparencies of work he did decades ago. He'd hired other photographers back then, in the pre-digital days. He no longer has most of the paintings, which sold long ago; so I've been scanning these old films so he can add these earlier paintings to his website (Which I built for him several years ago). The 35mm stuff could be scanned with my Nikon film scanner, but I don't have anything capable of scanning 4x5; so I put the 4x5 film in the film holder from my old Omega D2 enlarger, lay on it on a light table, and photograph it with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 mark II with the 60mm f2.8 Olympus Macro lens.

The results have been great. Here are a couple of them:

https://johnhrehov.com/product.php?product=13

https://johnhrehov.com/product.php?product=16

 

[Joao]

Scanned 4x5 negatives


That's correct. Place the negative (emulsion side down - the opposite of what one does when scanning 35mm or Medium format) with the white reflector in place; then, in my case, import into Light Room and perform a reversal. Actually works very well. The scanner thinks you are scanning a document.

Before I had a scanner for MF negatives, I used to place them on the scanner glass, emulsion side down, a piece of anti-newtonian glass over the negatives to keep them flat and a strong difuse light half-meter above the negative (scanner lid was removed). I had to seek the adequate light intensity (and distance) but it worked and made images suitable for web-viewing. It was a very basic flatbed scanner, not meant to scan negatives. It should work for other formats, I guess.
Regards
Joao