Slide scanning issue
September 4, 2019 1:30 PM   Subscribe

After an office move, I'm trying to scan slides with my Epson 12000XL GA scanner. Regular scanning works without issue, but my slides are only being partially scanned. Roughly one quarter scans and the rest disappears into weird lines. This happens on the regular Epson software and also Silverfast.

I have a few photos of what I'm doing here - the overall setup, and what I'm getting as output. Troubleshooting doesn't seem to cover it, and googling is just getting me spam. Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
posted by PussKillian to Technology (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
It appears you are not using the plastic piece (ebay picture of specific piece) that aligns the slide jigs? Those divots above the scanner glass hold this strip of plastic which overlaps the glass and has a notch to slide the slide jigs up against - placing the slide film where the software expects to see it.

I've also had luck placing slides loose on the scanner glass, and scanning free-form without the jigs. You need to fuss with the focus plane of the scanner and crop manually but it works. I just use EpsonScan; I'm sure Silverfast has the capability.

Depending on the number of slides you have it might be worth it to farm out the process -
posted by niicholas at 2:07 PM on September 4, 2019


Response by poster: Niicholas, I was convinced that I needed that part - which I conveniently seem to have lost in an office move - but my scanning guru stopped by today and thought I didn't need it. I may have to gainsay my scanning guru and just buy the piece.
posted by PussKillian at 2:11 PM on September 4, 2019


Best answer: All that part really does is shift the jig over so that the left-most edge of the jig is aligned with that "Film Area" line. Sliding the whole business over 17mm (I just measured!) should have the same effect, though I'm not sure why a simple misalignment would produce the results you've posted. Double check that all the settings you're using point to the software expecting to find those slides in those jigs?
posted by niicholas at 2:40 PM on September 4, 2019


Response by poster: That did it! I fiddled with where the film holder sat and nudged it over about 17 mm and they turned out perfectly. Thank you thank you!
posted by PussKillian at 9:32 AM on September 5, 2019 [2 favorites]


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