Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass for Super Coolscan 8000 & 9000 ED Scanners

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Should have been standard issue with the Supercool scan unit. Excellent results

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Edge to edge sharpness. Faster to use than the one without glass - it's much easier to position the film strip when it is lying on a plate of glass. Easy to clean. No newton rings as long as I have used it. This is a no-brainer, as long as you can afford the price - about 10% of the cost of the scanner.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Easy to load, completely flattens curly negatives, results in well focused scans. Should have been included as standard slide holder with the Coolscan 9000.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

It makes scanning curley film strips much easier. Results on scans have been good. I'm scanning some old odd sizes of black and white and color film. Because of odd sizes it takes some extra time aligning the film to get the scanner to frame the each picture. I couldn't have done it with the standard film holders supplied with the scanner. It would be nice if Nikon provided extra black masking material. I'm presently waiting for a response from Nikon about the masking material.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

It is well known that Nikon 8000/9000 Supercoolscan scanners have problems when scanning non perfectly flat slides because their scanning system has very narrow DOF. So most commonly you are able to scan sharply only a part of the image, while other parts (usually in the borders) appear blurred, and sometimes so blurred that you have to spend many days trying to flat the slide before you are able to scan it correctly. Knowing this problem Nikon produced strip film holder with glass for their line of medium-format scanners.

I was in many doubts whether to buy this accessory or not, as it is rather expensive and, on the other hand, the necessity of its use is not very obvious. Why buy another film holder plus to the one (glassless) that is shipped with the scanner? Besides, many users of this item declared that notwithstanding the fact that this film holder uses ATN glass they still get Newton rings when scanning film. However, I decided to buy this holder, and, upon making my first scan with it, understood that it does its job great!
First of all, I noticed NO Newton-rings on all my scans, even in the parts of the image that were smooth gradients of sky or clouds were, according to people's practice, appearance of Newton-rings is most common.

Second, I finally get what I wanted — perfect image sharpness from edge to edge, even in 6x12 slides. Now I do no need to place my slides under weight for many days to make them flat and can scan slides immediately after developing. The result was so good that I wanted to rescan slides from my library in order to achieve more perfect result than I had previously. Now I can say that the use of glass film holder allows to get much more quality from your Supercoolscan scanner, and makes the phrase from Nikon's advertisement that Supercoolscan is almost as perfect in scanning as a drum scanner to be 100% true. So the final result is as if I bought not new film holder, but a more capable new scanner!

Of course, the presence of two additional glass surfaces in the scanning system cannot but affect reproduction of image details and sharpness, but, as I was able to see, this affect was almost unnoticeable. It was hardly possible to say whether it matters or not, but what does matter is that now the image is perfectly sharp among the frame compared to the image scanned in glass-free holder. So, the final result is much, much better. So, either you get image perfectly sharp only in the area that the scanner lens is focused to when using glass-free holder, or you get just a bit less sharp, but continuing to be perfectly sharp image in all its parts when using this glass holder.

From what I understood about Newton's rings is that when you use this glass holder, you also surely need to use film masks that come with it as they perform a very important role in the scanning process not allowing film to touch lower glass which is actually not ATN glass. If you use the masks, there is no problem, but if you place the film in the holder without a mask, Newton's rings are probable to appear.

I was able to use the holder without problems, it did not require any additional time to place the slide in it and prepare it for scanning than I used with glassless film holder. You only need to take care of the glass surface NOT TOUCHING it with your fingers and protecting it from dust.

My conclusion: if you want to get really perfect scans from your Supercoolscan 8000 or 9000, you surely need to have this item. It is expensive, but is worth the money you spend on it.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

I used it on many slides and it worked perfectly. A good holder for delicate scanning.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

The glass holder realy helps speed up the loading & unloading of 120 film. It is much less finicky then the regular carrier. If you are just making an occasional scan it is probably not worth the high cost (search on Dante Stella's site for info on getting the most out of the stock carrier).

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Scanning film is time consuming with out a doubt. With frustrating film curl, I was wasting a lot of time with poor results. Since getting the glass film holder, I went from being frustrated to now wanting to shoot medium format film again. Expensive, YES! Worth it in "time saved" and "supreme image quality"? It's a no brainier for me. Yes, all the way.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

I was fortunate to receive this holder as a gift (albeit something I very specifically asked for), and I've been very pleased with its performance so far. It's been nice having edge-to-edge sharpness in the negative after having used the somewhat flawed Imacon film holders.Being such an expensive item (and honestly, quite overpriced from the manufacturer), I treat it incredibly well, as I don't want to have to replace it... or even clean it, if I can help it.The latch that holds the glass lid down seems sturdy enough, and brings each piece of glass into very solid contact. It's also easy to open, which has been nice.Due to the nature of film and glass, it's a tad difficult to remove a piece of 120 film from the bottom glass after scanning while wearing gloves (a must!), but that was expected.Overall, a fantastic product. [...]

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

This holder should come with the scanner. It is night and day compared to the regular holder. Film is very flat with the glass holder, although you can still get Newton's rings. This is rare, only with vert bent film. Repositioning the film fixes this issue. I scan editorial work for magazines that insist on digital delivery.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

I use the product to scan medium format strips with a Nikon 9000 ED film scanner. It keeps the strip flat and helps produce excellent files. Must keep glass clean so a bit of labor but not bad at all. Much better than accessory supplied with scanner.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

This works great!

I'm scanning 6X12 negs and this holds them perfectly flat.

The only down side is that it didn't come with the scanner.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Bought it after using regular holder supplied with Nikon CLS 9000ED. Many films like Rollei retro stays curled even after weeks of being pressured - so getting good scans are real challenge. FH-869G really helps in this situiation. Take one to get maximum from yur scanner!
ANR glass sandwitch slightly decreases effective scanner resolution, but it's not critical. You also need to keep it clean as number of surfaces collecting dust increasing to 6!

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

You will need this film holder if you want maximum detail in your scans. It should of been included with the scanner, that's the whole purpose of buying it to scan 120 roll film. If Minolta can do it, why not NIKON? The supplied holder is a joke, I will never use it.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

As other reviewers have mentioned, this is a must have for 120 film. Sharp and dust free. No newton rings, super minimal flare. I just wish you could do a scan of the entire glass instead of being limited by the "stations". Also the negative support is greatly enhanced by using 3rd party software like Vuescan or Silverfast.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Item is a little pricey for what it is, but the results are great! Even sharpness throughout the scan. Probably will go back and scan the images that I scanned with the stock holder, as there is a noticeable difference. Nice to be able to put in a 35mm strip and scan the entire frame, notches and all.
Very happy with purchase.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Finally I can scan my slides 6x6 perfectly. It´s very important accesory for my scan Nikon , very easy to work [...] Thank you very much.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

I bought this to hold strips of 110 film flat while scanning after trying several "glassless" alternatives. The Nikon 9000ed has a very narrow depth of field. The strong curl of the film - both widthwise and lengthwise - combined with its small frame size made it impossible to achieve sharp edge-to-edge scans.

The FH-869G solved the problem. Three strips of film will fit side-by-side in the holder. I put the film in with its emulsion side down against the smooth glass with the film base up against the roughened top plate and did not encounter any problems with Newton's rings.

Although expensive, the holder seems more substantial than the flimsy ones which come standard with the scanner. It has a real clasp to hold the top plate down rather than relying on plastic-to-plastic friction like the others.

An alternative solution is to buy ANR glass (two pieces or one paired with plain glass) and fit them to the FH-369S holder.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

Holds the film flat and improves sharpness. Nikon should supply this as standard with the 9000 scanner.

Comments about Nikon FH-869G 120/220 Strip Film Holder with Glass:

You need this device for 120/220 film to prevent curling.