Remember film? Short story: I am trying to scan some old negatives (color and B&W). "Old" as in some of the B&W go back to the early 1940's. Mostly cut into strips of 4 or 6 frames. Some are badly cupped and/or curled to the point that I cannot make them stay within the film holder on the flatbed scanner (Epson V600). Any suggestions for practical means of flattening these? There is a large number of negatives involved, most of them probably have nothing of merit worth scanning/preserving, but I can't tell until I scan/preview.
Longer story: My father-in-law was a prolific photographer. He has multiple notebooks of neatly filed an labeled contact sheets & negatives (35mm, 645, 6x6, some 3x4", some 4x5). Those are in fairly good condition and easy to deal with; most will go directly to the local Center for the Arts (MCFTA) or Historical Society. (For 20+ years he was the primary photographer for the MCFTA, everything from portraits of board members to publicity shots for advertising posters for upcoming concerts and plays, etc.) But there are a few shoe boxes with items less well preserved. The negatives are mostly cut with one roll together in a sleeve, mostly annotated with the date taken and the date he made prints from the negs. Some of those are usable, particularly the medium-format (scannable), some are badly cupped, and some have somehow gotten into a lengthwise spiral. So do I soak and hang out to dry, with appropriate weights attached? Any better, easier, alternative? stan -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
