Will be scanning old glass negatives

[Richard L Hanlon]

I have been scanning/printing old slides for my mother from well before I was born and using PSE to fix them and to print (I love the print packages available). She recently went to visit a cousin of hers and was delighted to learn that he has "a lot" (however many that is) of old glass negatives in a variety of sizes all the way up to 8x10. I have found that the Epson Expression 1680 will scan a negative that big. I have purchased one on Ebay and it should be here early next week. I plan to buy some glass negatives (also on Ebay) as practice material. I figure if I mess one of them up, it won't be as big a loss as screwing up the "only" picture of such and such a relative.

Do any of you have any suggestions on cleaning them? On scanning them? On using this scanner?

I also hope to get an Epson 2000P printer (its large format and archival ink is quite appealing). I plan to print many of these old slides on this new printer. Any suggestions/cautions there?

Thanks

[Ken Wolin]

As far as scanning any solid, three-dimensional object, I'd be extremely careful placing it on the glass of your flat-bed scanner. You might try placing a piece of clear acetate down first.

[Kyle White]

I don't know if you can still get them, but a box of lint free cotton gloves wouldn't be out of place either. A photo shop that still deals in enlargers and film development should have them.

My Mom just finished a project for the local Royal Canadian Legion that involved large scale negatives, but I don't know if she had any plates to deal with. I'll ask and get back to this thread.

As always, the emulsion side is the most vulnerable, and I suspect you'll want to place them emulsion down for the best scans.

If there's a museum handy, you may want to ask a conservator there for handling and cleaning advice.

I used a Google search on photographic plate conservation to find this: <http://www.resource.gov.uk/information/advice/conserv10.asp>

Sounds like you've got a cool project ahead of you! Have fun!

HTH

Kyle

[Leen Koper]

I had to produce prints from glass plates for our regional archives. The easiest way I could think of was placing each of them on a light box and shooting with my digital camera. This worked fine; one image has been printed at 100x100 cm and this print is really breathtaking.

Leen

[Kyle White]

Ref my 20030919/1056PDT above.

Mom didn't have to deal with glass plates, just 2-1/4 by 2-1/4 negs. They scanned well on her Umax Astra 2200 with the transparency lid.

Kyle