The Space Between

[d.s.]

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I'm considering switching from dedicated film scanners to scanning with a digital camera, light pad, etc. Does anyone here know how much space between a film holder (the Flextights, for instance) and a light pad one should be aiming for to avoid picking up the texture of the latter's surface? And, does adding a slab of anti newton ring glass change that? If so, by how much?

 

Thanks,

Daniel

Edited December 11, 2018 by d.s.

[Exodies]

I think the anti-Newton rings glass is only relevant when the two surfaces are very close (touching range). The further away the light is the lower the intensity. Trial and error is your best guide.

Edited December 12, 2018 by Exodies

[adan]

My Epson flat-bed scanner's light source is essentially "a light pad" - large glowing LED-backlit panel to light the film from behind. Epson recesses theirs about 1 cm/0.5 inches behind the film, and I'd assume they know what they're doing.

It should be noted that anti-newton-ring glass itself has an extremely small-scale texture or roughness of its own - microscopic "mountains" to prevent the glass and film touching all across their joined surfaces. It is scaled to be well below visual perception except as a slightly "frosted" or diffuse look in reflected light...

https://www.yoycart.com/Product/36586837075/

- but with enough camera/lens resolution, that texture may itself become visible. Shouldn't be a problem with most (< 36 Mpixel) cameras, unless one is cropping severely in-camera to a small part of the film.

Edited December 25, 2018 by adan