[bigdavephoto]

I have a Canon canoscan 9000f markII flatbed scanner. It works well and I have not had a problem with it.

The issue I am having is that my father was a prolific photrographer and used different camera's at different times. His main camera that he used was a Mamiya c 330. He also had a 4x5 view camera that he used quite a bit.

This is where the issue starts. I got that 9000f to scan his photographs. The 9000f comes with film holders for 35mm slides, 35mm film and 120/220 film. The issue is that the scanner did not come with holders for 4x5 film or 120 slides (not to worred about this though).

Having a holder for 4x5 film would be great. Knowing this, I have been on the Canon website looking into support for help. I think I would be better off talking to a pile of rocks. Canon support stinks! Part of the reason for saying that is that I did something stupid and I needed to get the drivers for the scanner again. According to the Canon website, when you try to download the drivers, nothing else is needed like a utility of somesort. When you try to install the drivers though, it will tell you that a certain utility is needed but when you try to get that utility, it is nowhere to be found.

Now, back to the film holder. I am looking for suggestions for a 4x5 film holder. I have seen that Epson has a 4x5 film holder and I have wondered if that could be adapted to be used on a Canon.

Do you think that would work. Also open to other suggestions.

---

Last edited by bigdavephoto; 10-30-2022 at 07:31 PM. Reason: spelling

[grog85361]

I also own a Canon 9000f. The problem you may have is the back-light built into the scanner lid is 3" wide, so you are not going to be able to scan a 4x5 in one pass. You could scan the sheet film in two passes, then join them in panorama stitching software. I had success with that method scanning 120 film with a previous scanner that would only do 35mm film. Or, you could try digitizing the 4x5 with a camera and macro lens.


I wish you luck!

[tuco]

I'm not familiar with the Canon enough to know if the 4x5 sheet film carrier on say an Epson 4990 would work on a Canon. But in addtion to the physical form of the carrier fitting the scanner, you also need to know if the carrier holds the negative at the correct height for a fixed focus scanner ( which I assume the Canon is). Look at the other film carriers you have to get a clue on what height that might be. Just guessing but maybe you can make a 4x5 carrier from matboard and shim it to the correct height.

[kypfer]

This may or may not help.
If you're having problems with drivers for older scanners on newer operating systems, you could do worse than try VueScan VueScan Scanner Software for macOS, Windows 10, and Linux
I've used it for 20 years or more. Support, when needed, has been good and the program is still regularly updated, though no longer as low-priced as it was when I bought my copy!

[stevejo]

How about using an ipad with a lightbox app. Put the 4x5 on the scanner glass and ihe ipad on top. Maybe worth a try

How about using an ipad with a lightbox app. Put the 4x5 on the scanner glass and ihe ipad on top. Maybe worth a try

I do something similar. Light table consists of a rectangular piece of white acrylic I got off Amazon, supported at the ends by boxes, books, bricks, or whatever else I've got on hand, with battery operated led lighting underneath. I mask off slides and film with a piece of pasteboard with an appropriately sized hole cut in it, put a piece of glass on top and take a picture with a 50mpx camera using a macro lens. For prints, I use two pieces of 1/4" glass with the print flattened between, with the led lighting above - important to angle the lighting to avoid glare. The raw file can then be treated as any other digital image in post-processing.

I've got an HP scanner that'll do 1200 x 1200 dpi, and comes with the light source and a film holder, but I never use it - the camera's so much easier to deal with.

[titrisol]

You can have this 3D printed: Film Scanning Frame for CanoScan 9000F by MalNivek - Thingiverse

There are several of these designs in Thingiverse

Having a holder for 4x5 film would be great. Knowing this, I have been on the Canon website looking into support for help. I think I would be better off talking to a pile of rocks. Canon support stinks! Part of the reason for saying that is that I did something stupid and I needed to get the drivers for the scanner again. According to the Canon website, when you try to download the drivers, nothing else is needed like a utility of somesort. When you try to install the drivers though, it will tell you that a certain utility is needed but when you try to get that utility, it is nowhere to be found.

Now, back to the film holder. I am looking for suggestions for a 4x5 film holder. I have seen that Epson has a 4x5 film holder and I have wondered if that could be adapted to be used on a Canon.

Do you think that would work. Also open to other suggestions.

[bigdavephoto]

I also own a Canon 9000f. The problem you may have is the back-light built into the scanner lid is 3" wide, so you are not going to be able to scan a 4x5 in one pass. You could scan the sheet film in two passes, then join them in panorama stitching software. I had success with that method scanning 120 film with a previous scanner that would only do 35mm film. Or, you could try digitizing the 4x5 with a camera and macro lens.


I wish you luck!

Thank you for the reply. I have thought about building a rig to do that with my camera. Just haven't thought about it enough to get close to building something yet.

[bigdavephoto]

This may or may not help.
If you're having problems with drivers for older scanners on newer operating systems, you could do worse than try VueScan VueScan Scanner Software for macOS, Windows 10, and Linux
I've used it for 20 years or more. Support, when needed, has been good and the program is still regularly updated, though no longer as low-priced as it was when I bought my copy!

Thanks for the reply. I should have put this in my original post. I was able to solve the driver problem by finding the software disk for the scanner. Most of my stuff is in storage and I knew what bookcase my software was on. I just wasn't sure where in storage the bookcase was. Me and my son found the bookcase and it wasn't as far back as I thought it was. That was the weekend we also solved the problem of the memory card I found and wrote about in the general talk section of the forum. It's finally over. A story of being determined. - PentaxForums.com

[bigdavephoto]

You can have this 3D printed: Film Scanning Frame for CanoScan 9000F by MalNivek - Thingiverse

There are several of these designs in Thingiverse

That would work. I'm not sure where I could get it done. I'll need to talk with my oldest son, he might know. Thanks for the reply.

[bigdavephoto]

Thank you all for the replys.

Plenty of food for thought.

[LesDMess]

Interesting read on the Epson V850 as it pertains to Scanning 4x5 sheet film with an Epson V850

Basically, use an ANR glass holder unless you find the results of simply placing it on the scanner glass to be acceptable. For instance a former colleague's dad used to be a WW II combat photogrpher and he used 4X5 so he asked me to scan a few on my Epson V700. I simply put it on the glass and got this result.



He found it suitable for his purposes.

BTW, if you're considering acquiring a 4X5 - or even 8X10, capable scanner, I would suggest used. Also consider the Epson 4990 as the V7XX or V8XX do not provide significant quality improvements but do offer speed advantage.

[Wheatfield]

How about using an ipad with a lightbox app. Put the 4x5 on the scanner glass and ihe ipad on top. Maybe worth a try

Yer gonna see the pixels. Any screen density is pretty low for copy work. Even a small 8K monitor is going to be close to 500 pixels per inch in an RGB array, so the number of pixels illuminating the sheet is somewhat under 2500 pixels (the image is less than 5 inches wide). Even a recent iPad Pro will only put 1250 or so pixels over the negative length.

This is best done with a continuous backlight source that is filtered heavily with opalized glass if using a camera, or a continuous beam such as a fluorescent of some sort (I'm not up on scanner tech) if the neg is being scanned.
I've had very good success with an x-ray viewer (one might be sitting in a closet in your lawyers office, that's where mine came from). Being the idiot that I am, I got rid of all my Beseler neg carriers. I want to build a 4x5 illuminated negative copy stand. Now I have to try to find film holders again.

[bigdavephoto]

Update, Update, Update.


I solved the problem. Not perfectly, but it works.

After looking through the suggestions and thinking about all the negatives I need to see what's on them, I started thinking about a light box. Looking on Amazon for a light box, which I never found, I found what is called a Light Pad. It is made for art work and tracing plus looking at negatives and copying negatives with a camera.

Just tried it out.

Set up my camera on a tripod with a 100mm macro and was able to get the negatives I needed done.

The only problem I found was I started out with the pad flat on a table. With how I had the tripod set, the table was too close and I couldn't get the whole negative in the frame.

So I set the pad up vertically and it worked. I still had a problem in that the pad did not have an edge for the negative to set on. I solved that by putting a peace of tape on the pad.

I need to work on the set up some more but it worked so I am happy.

Thanks for all the advice.

[titrisol]

DSLR scanning works great, your enemy is stray light though
You may want to make a black paperboard pyramid to keep it out

Update, Update, Update.


I solved the problem. Not perfectly, but it works.

After looking through the suggestions and thinking about all the negatives I need to see what's on them, I started thinking about a light box. Looking on Amazon for a light box, which I never found, I found what is called a Light Pad. It is made for art work and tracing plus looking at negatives and copying negatives with a camera.

Just tried it out.

Set up my camera on a tripod with a 100mm macro and was able to get the negatives I needed done.

The only problem I found was I started out with the pad flat on a table. With how I had the tripod set, the table was too close and I couldn't get the whole negative in the frame.

So I set the pad up vertically and it worked. I still had a problem in that the pad did not have an edge for the negative to set on. I solved that by putting a peace of tape on the pad.

I need to work on the set up some more but it worked so I am happy.

Thanks for all the advice.