Scanning negatives

August 13, 2005 1:06 PM

I have a Canon CanoScan 9950F and I'm attempting to use it to scan 126-format negatives.

Technically, this film fits into the scanner's 35mm film guide, but
since 35mm film has a top border and 126-format film does not, this
causes me to lose the top of my photos. Sometimes this loss is
unimportant, but more often than not, I end up missing peoples' heads
or the tops of Christmas trees, etcetera. I really need a way
(preferrably some kind of easily-loadable caddy) to scan these so that
I get the entire photograph.

posted by Scoo to Technology (3 answers total)

Maybe someone else here is familiar with the film adapter mechanism used in this model, but I'm not. My first thoughts would be to make a custom film holder from illustration board (quality cardboard), or to use a larger film holder, and rig it to hold the smaller film. Of course a cardboard adapter won't work if he film adapter needs to have ridged edges to fit the innards of the scanner or whatnot...
Dollars to donuts you're not going to find a caddy for 126.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 1:48 PM on August 13, 2005

From http://www.shutterbug.com/digital_help/1204digitalhelp/index1.html:

The easiest way to handle 110 or 126 with a dedicated 35mm scanner is to use either Gepe or Wess Plastic Mounts (glassless) that are 2x2 for 35mm projectors, and have a window size in the mount for 126 or 110 film frame sizes.

although looking at your canoscan link, i can't tell quite what kind of negative holder it uses. Does this get you any closer?
posted by misterbrandt at 2:05 PM on August 13, 2005

I've scanned 126 negs (and other weird sizes) with my CanoScan 8000F by laying the negs on the glass platen and not using the holder at all. I de-select the "Display Thumbnails" option, and use the marquee tool to select the frames individually, or else in a strip for dividing and cropping later. It pays to get them aligned pretty straight up-and-down. A piece of firm card can be used as a right-angle guide, and you can use little post-it tags to keep the strips in place.
posted by TiredStarling at 6:53 PM on August 13, 2005