making a film holder

[@arnonart]

I built a wooden frame to support the plustek film holder. Works great. That's how I already DSLR scanned tons of negatives and slides.

[@agrimsinha3335]

Damn that good now i can save money

[@quang5DCameras]

What type of white plastic board? You should mention in description all materials used some people know

[@depthoffield405]

super sick, gonna try and recreate this.

[@tohyo]

thanks man! don't recreate it 1-for-1 though, what i'd change after using this thing for abit is to make sure the bottom magnet doesn't cast a shadow onto the underside of the film when you backlight it. you could try using smaller magnets or just make the whole thing bigger (it's pretty claustrophobic right now) and space the magnets further from the film scan area, so you can avoid any shadows. That's my reccomendation but you should just improve it to your liking!

[@depthoffield405]

@@tohyo thanks for the tips I'll see how I go and let you know how it comes out.

[@NuelCruz]

Excelente video, muchas gracias!

[@LAR1945]

yer amazing, oh, and pretty smart and talented. Don't have the time to do this, but -Yeah, Go fix the world❤

[@tohyo]

:,,) thank you for the kind words man

[@TokyoGritandGrain]

Thumbs up. It's nice to see someone take this on. I tried as well, and was successful, but using a regular negative scanner holder device on top of a light strip won out for me. I'm crafting a similar video and I hope you can check it out. Probably a few weeks. Great video. Cheers!

[@tohyo]

Thanks man, appreciate the thumbs! Also yeah to be fair this was more for fun than anything, I've since made a new holder that works wonders for me now, I guess it's just what works for each person! Will check out that video when it comes.

[@Petars24]

Excellent!

[@mrfish2064]

That's a really good idea. Would any white translucent plastic do?

[@tohyo]

Thanks! I think it's best to find acrylic diffusers or opal white acrylics, those should make sure that your backlight doesn't get discoloured, while still giving you good diffusion. But to be honest those can be pricey depending on where you look. This UK site provides some nicely sized samples that should be wide enough for 35 and 120mm film. www.simplyplastics.com/catalog/products-by-use/plastic-lighting-materials/led-light-diffusing-opal-acrylic-sheet/c-24/c-110/p-676 From when I checked them out a month or two ago they did not do international shipping for a while due to Covid, only within UK and around Europe. I ended up getting some white acrylic sheet from a local art store which seems to do reasonably well for me.

[@mrfish2064]

@@tohyo I'm based in the UK. If the acrylic I have bought on ebay doesn't work I will get the one you suggested. I will link you when I have it made. It will be similar to yours but a lot simpler design. Where did you ge the knife to cut the acrylic please?

[@tohyo]

@@mrfish2064 Sure thing. I got the knife from the same art store I got the acrylic from, it's an acrylic scoring blade that's supposed to replace a penknife's blade, but my penknife was a bit too small to accommodate. Honestly, after using this design for a bit, I kept getting a dark edge around my negative scans, which after inversion brightened the edges of the image which i had to apply graduated filters in lightroom to correct. I have a feeling it's the high edge of the film guide and the two pieces that hold the film down, casting some weird shadow. I can't quite explain it. I have since made a new holder which uses a thin black card with a cutout in the middle to "crop" in my scan and hold down the negative, and this seemed to work better in my recent scans. I think in general using thinner material to hold down the film will prevent the shadow cast, as well as giving the negative holder enough "crop" so that if any shadow were to cast, it'll at least cast onto parts of the negative that wouldn't end up in the final image.

[@mrfish2064]

@@tohyo Thanks, I will see how it goes and let you know quite soon.

[@shotoyo445]

TY! ME AS BROKE ASS STUDENT NEEDS THIS

[@keenangilson]

This is cool! Whats the name of the cardboard looking material?

[@tohyo]

Thanks! It is MDF - Medium density fiberboard, basically a composite wood board that's still relatively easy to work with compared to real wood

[@keenangilson]

@@tohyo thanks! Gunna try and build it 👍🏽

[@tohyo]

​@@keenangilson no problem,, also after I've been using this design for a while, I've come to realise some problems like edge vignetting and such, and have since moved on to a different design,, so I'd reccomend to just use this design as a base and to improve from there! Hopefully this design will just get you thinking about how you can go about making your own film holder. Of course you're welcome to just copy the design anyways and experiment how to fix the problems I've mentioned! Have fun scanning!

[@abdelrahmana.abdelgawad6635]

the video is very clean and nicely done thank you

[@DAVIRG2]

the idea is great and also the video, but: don't you risk to scratch the negatives?

[@tohyo]

Thanks man! Yep, sadly the risk is that you'll scratch the negative but I think a good workaround is to felt/foam the underside of the two "plates" that hold the film down, at least that should prevent scratching on the top. Sadly for the bottom side that contacts the film, there really isn't a good way to soften the surface, so what I did was just to be careful when advancing the film, and lift up the whole film strip and reposition the next frame instead of sliding it along the surface!

[@DAVIRG2]

@@tohyo maybe a kind of adhesive glued to the surface would fix the problem? just something to make it smooth and friction-free. do you keep the glossy part of the negative face down or up?

[@tohyo]

@@DAVIRG2 I think the adhesive glue may cause the film to not lay flat on the surface. But after scanning many rolls using this system and a new system I built later on, I think the best way to really prevent scratching is to clean everything and use a dust blower or a static brush to really clean off any dust or particulate from the surfaces. Not only does that help with keeping the film safe, it also helps to give clean and dust-free scans anyway, and my film has yet to be scratched! I think regardless of a soft surface or not, the best bet is just to be careful and meticulous when scanning film. Also I scan the glossy side up! Keeping the matte emulsion side to the acrylic helps to prevent newton rings from two glossy surfaces touching.

[@DAVIRG2]

@@tohyo sure, being careful is mandatory anyway :) thanks again, enjoy films!

[@tohyo]

@@DAVIRG2 thanks man, you too!

[@МихаилГришин-з9о]

Hello. What is the name of the product that has matte translucent board inside? I can't seem to find it.

[@tohyo]

It is white acrylic! You should try search a local art store for smaller cuts of white acrylic, I'm not so sure about the prices or availability of smaller pieces online, as most online sellers are in bulk.

[@maunader]

great idea! i’m gonna try to recreate this :) this design seems way better compared to the one I tried to make haha

[@tohyo]

ay thanks man! If you have any questions feel free to ask me I'll try to answer! but do note also that I have since moved on from this design, I reccomend just using this as a base concept and to find a design that suits your workflow best!

[@maunader]

@@tohyo thank you!! I’ll try to come up with something similar, the general idea is pretty good, so I will definitely use it as a base :)

[@cooking-trouble-in-travel]

cool

[@7FilmRevenge]

This is a really good idea, I've been looking for the essential film holder because is cheaper than the rest that is in the market but maybe I could give a try to this. Would you be so kind to give me a list of materials? Have you got any problem with scratches?

[@tohyo]

Thanks! I used roughly 1cm circle magnets and 3mm white acrylic (you don't need a very big sheet, anything over 15cmx15cm (~6x6 inches) should be more than enough for the whole process). I also got a 3mm MDF board that's even smaller than the acrylic. No scratches thus far but that's because I don't push the film along, I intentionally lift the magnetic "clamps" holding the film down and reposition the film that way. Your mileage may vary depending on how rough you are with the film, but in general just handle the film carefully. As I mentioned in another comment, I would reccomend not to follow my design wholesale, but to use this video to get an idea of how you want to design your own holder, and go from there. Of course if you want to just use this design you're welcome to do so, since it worked alright for me!

[@NicholasOrdonez]

Any updates on the new design?

[@tohyo]

school and work... got the better of me but ITS SUMMER HOLIDAYS NOW I'm in the midst of designing and 3d printing a new one, will record and document it when it comes together!

[@oliver5107]

do you get newton's rings using this technique? a lot of people use anti-newton ring glass when placing the negative directly on a flat surface but they are hard to find...

[@tohyo]

surprisingly enough, i don't find any rings in my scans. I think since i scan with the emulsion side down and I'm also not forcibly forcing the negative into contact with the flat surface, but only the edges i hold it down with magnets, the main image stays free of the rings and I've yet to notice them in my 35 scans. Also I try to scan emulsion-side down, since newton rings mainly form from two glossy surfaces contacting. The emulside side is relatively matte so hopefully doesn't form as obvious, if any, rings.

[@oliver5107]

@@tohyo that's cool, I'll try it out. Thanks!

[@mrcroket]

@@tohyo Scanning with the emulsion down is not the most adequate because the image goes through the film material and you don't have 100% sharpness. On the other hand, not pressing the film against the support will mean that it will never be completely flat and you will have blurry areas. All of this is only a tip, it all depends on the purpose of the scans. ;-)

[@ryanortega1511]

I've been hearing you made an improved version, could you make a video on that?

[@tohyo]

i do plan to make a video on it soon! but am also in the process of trying to improve on that version too, so when I'm free and done with that i'll be sure to share it

[@neerajnongmaithem392]

I stumbled across your video some days back when I got fed-up of the ost of scanning setups in my countrym hopefully you find time to make that video ​@@tohyo

[@markstephen2051]

Hello, what the material is at 6m32s? Thank you

[@tohyo]

not exactly sure which piece you are refering to at 6m32s but the small white pieces is cut from white acrylic! it doesnt really matter what material it is made of, its just to use as a block to raise the holder. if you are refering to the bottle and brush, it is a bottle of plastic cement for model making!

[@markstephen2051]

@@tohyo thank you for your reply. I am using iPad as light source and got trouble as the pixel is also shown in the pic. Finding some diffuser at the moment and just saw your video in KZbin. Wondering if that small white piece can help.

[@tundrrv]

what do you use as a backlight?

[@tohyo]

i use a video light! the exact model is the Viltrox L116T i think, but generally i think a good quality high cri video light can be had for much cheaper than a high cri light pad

[@tundrrv]

@@tohyo thanks! i’m gonna try to recreate your setup today. it will certainly work better than my own film holder made with a pringles can

[@tohyo]

@@tundrrv no problem,, all the best man, I'm down to help advise with any scanning snags you hit along the way!

[@SagarKeswani]

How do you edit your negatives?

[@tohyo]

For colour I do manual inversion in photoshop! but for B&W I just use NLP in Lightroom since I get nice enough results there.

[@mrfish2064]

Darktable is good for doing the conversions as it has a converter built in called Netadoctor and it is free and open source.

[@ageofgrace100]

Can't see measurements

[@tohyo]

Oh, oops! Should've included some i guess, but when I went about building this, I didn't really measure anything out intentionally, since the measurements do not play a huge factor here, instead it was more "trial and error" using a test strip of film to help check the fit. If you'd like to try this for yourself, just make each piece big enough to accomodate a strip of film and play around with the tolerances until you like 'em!