Many scanners come with negative carriers for current popular film sizes,
such as for 4x5 film. Perhaps the manufacturer has one that is available for
your model and could be modified to hold the glass negative. If the negative
is based on the old plate sizes that were used for daguerreotypes, tintypes,
etc you might have to have someone to fashion you one out of plastic or
wood. Many scanners have the ability to auto or manually focus for items
that are not flush with the bed of the scanner and you might have to
experiment with the proper setting.

 

Jim M.

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of John Hart
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 8:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Scanning Glass Plate Negatives

 

Hello All,

It doesn't happen often, but we sometimes receive requests for images that
require us to scan from the glass plate negatives from our Smith-Telfer
Photographic Collection. I use a flatbed scanner with a transparency unit
and place the emulsion side up and keep something between the bed and the
transparency top to keep it from touching, but I'm wondering if there's a
better way. We had talked about building custom frames to set the plates in
to keep them elevated off the bed and set into the frame to keep the top
unit off of them. Does anyone out there have any suggestions for a better
way to scan from these negatives? We only have to scan them once, after that
we create a digital file to work from. 

 

Thank you!

John

 

John Hart, Jr.

Assistant Curator of Collections

Interim Rights/Reproduction and Photo Sales Handler

New York State Historical Association 

The Farmers' Museum

PO Box 800

Cooperstown, NY 13326

P: (607) 547-1447

F: (607) 547-1406

[log in to unmask]

 

 

 

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