Andrew Wise

It's not a wetgate. It's a wet gate. It uses Isopropyl alcohol so it doesn't do the same thing as a proper wet gate with perc or trichlor, which have the same refractive index as the film base, to fill scratches. And at that, with a diffuse light source like the HDS is using, a proper wetgate would be of minimal value because the light isn't collimated. Does it clean the film right before it enters the gate? Probably yes. I mean, you can use 99.9% isopropyl to clean film and it works fine. Our Lipsner Smith Excel 1100 uses it. But is it performing the same function as a wet gate? It is not. Dude, it's a wet gate. It's wetting the film as it passes through. The delivery method doesn't have to define what it's called, or the solvent used. I've never used another scanner with a wetgate using a different solvent, so i can't compare. Anyway, I couldnt care less about what people call it, or what the old fashioned machines used to deliver it. This simple method the HDS uses with just two glossy paint rollers does a terrific job of filling in cracks and scratches before being photographed. Sometimes the most simple methods are the best! And you haven't used one, so i'm not sure how you can questions it's effectiveness Also regarding refractive index, i don't know what the refractive index of acetate or polyester film bases are. But i'm sure someone on here can pretent to know or make it up. Here's what google told me the two solvents are: Iso 1.3772 at 20°C Reference Perc 1.519 reference I'm not sure your point regarding film cleaning? this isnt their purpose. Sure, for arguments sake - the rollers would probably lift a bit of loose dirt, but it would remain trapped there on the roller and probably end up back on the film a few ft down. I don't have a film cleaning machine, nor have I ever used one, but i was under the impression the buffers (i suspect paint rollers) rotate while being sprayed with fresh solvent to allow the dirt to fling off.

I would avoid modifying it that might damage it. These machines would be very useful to keep to digitise magnetic audio on film. It’s not too difficult to build a scanner from scratch like a moviestuff scanner