Epson V700/V750/V800/V850 negative holder system

Summary

This project provides printable negative holders for Epson range of flatbed scanners with transparency support, namely: v700, v750, v800 and v850.

The main objectives of this project are:

• to allow for easy and precise negative holder height adjustment

• to maximize negative flatness as much as possible without using glass or fluid mounts

• to enable printing on generally available 3d printers (most holders will print with a bed of 22x22 cm, all will print on printers with 25x25 cm)

Practical height adjustment range is from about 2mm to about 6mm (exact values will depend on print settings such as layer height, first layer height, etc. and the fact that over 6mm the cover scanner glass will press on the holder).

For the record, so far I have only tested these with my own v750 using Epson Scan 2 and VueScan software.

Currently available holders:

• 35 

  

• 6x4.5 

  

• 6x6 

  

• 6x7 (untested)

• 6x17 

  

• 4x5 

  

• 9x12 (untested)

Printing

To print a holder for specific negative format, follow these steps:

• Choose the right holder type for your negatives (for medium format negatives not available here choose one whose window will cover your negative strip)

• Check the Holder dimensions section below to verify if the holder will fit on your printbed

• Download Base and Frame models from the respective folder

• Download Latch, HeightAdjustmentScrew and HeightAdjustmentKnob(optional)

• Print 1xBase, 1xFrame, 4xHeightAdjustmentScrewand Latch number depending on the holder

• When removing the Base from the print bed make sure not to bend the model too much, either wait until it cools down and bed the print sheet or use your preferred method

• Remove any filament strings (if any) around the Base  and Frame  window edges

• Check that the Base lays perfectly flat on a table

Print settings I used:

• Filament: PETG (should work also with PLA)

• First layer height: 0.2mm

• Layer height: 0.12mm

• Wall loops: 3

• Infill density: 15%

• Supports (only for Base): Normal (not  Tree)

Assembly

• Take Base , HeightAdjustmentKnob  and HeightAdjustmentScrew

  

• Place the screw directly over the thread and align the dots (see picture below). (You can use regular small screwdriver at this point if it's easier, however later when adjusting the height on the scanner glass, using HeightAdjustmentKnob  is much safer than using a metal screwdriver) 

  

• Start rotating the HeightAdjustmentScrew clockwise until the bottom of the screw aligns with the bottom of the Base(when it touches the table) - the dots on Base and HeightAdjustmentScrew should again be aligned 

  

  

• If you used different print settings and the HeightAdjustmentScrew is either too loose or too tight, scale the HeightAdjustmentScrew  in your slicer and reprint

• Repeat for the remaining 3 threads 

  

• Your holder is now at the minimum height (2mm)

• Take the Latch and insert it into one of the latch slides in the Base, the latch should move relatively easily (if you used different print settings and it doesn't move easily - scale it in your slicer slightly and reprint) 

  

• Repeat for remaining latches 

  

• Place the Frame on the Base , make sure the notch matches (in general the frames are not symmetrical) 

  

• Slide the latches towards the center of the Frame 

  

• Check that the frame is tightly pressed against the Base and that the entire holder with the Frame still lays perfectly flat on a table

Usage

• Slide the latches outwards from the Frame  and remove the frame

• For the first time, if possible, don't use your most precious negatives, until you get the hang of it

• Slide the negative along the guides in the Base, preferably emulsion side up, this is recommended by Epson and also minimizes the risk of scratching the emulsion side when loading. If your negative is significantly curled, the guides won't help - just place the negative over the window and center it as much as possible.

  

• Align the frames with the holder Base window. This is important, as any emulsion that ends up between the Base  and the Frame  will likely get scratched.

  

• Ideally, both ends of the negative strip will be on the outside of the window so they can be also pressed by the Frame - if not use the small black sheet from the original holders to flatten one side

• Place the Frame  over the negative and make sure the top and bottom edges of the strip flat out away from the center of the frame (you can bend the holder a little or gently push the negative from the bottom) 

• Push the latches in all the way 

  

• Check that your frames are aligned with the window

• Place the entire holder in the scanner using the positioning pins and make sure it's lying flat: 

  

  

• Run your preferred scanning software, make sure you're using Transparency mode and run a preview

• Since these holders do not share the layout of the original holders, you will have to manually select frames in the scanning software

• Adjust the height to the optimal sharpness height for your scanner (each full rotation gives you ~1mm height difference)

Finding optimal height

> There are several methods out there (some more scientific than others), maybe someone can recommend a better approach...

• Find a negative with relatively course grain (e.g. for me 6x6 shots with Ilford HP5+ on a very sunny day worked well) and some sharp features

• Start from the base position of 2mm and scan a small fragment with pronounced grain and some edges at 3200dpi

• Increase the height of the holder by 2 stops clockwise

• Scan again the same selection

• Repeat 8-12 times (i.e. up to 4mm or 5mm)

• Open the images side by side and try to spot the sharpest range

• Repeat the process in that range adjusting by single stop

• Choose your optimal height

• Once you've done it for 1 holder, any other holder printed with the same settings will have the same optimal height

• In case your optimal height is very high, you may notice the positioning pins of the Base are above the scanner positioning holes. In that case print 2x PositioningPinExtension and insert it in the positioning pins (you may have to remove a tiny bit of support from the bottom of the positioning pin in the Base

Holder dimensions

• 35 

  

• 6x4.5 

  

• 6x6 

  

• 6x7 

  

• 6x17 

  

• 4x5 

  

• 9x12 

  

F.A.Q.

1. Why is there no holder for 6x7, 6x9, 9x12, 5x7, etc...: I don't have any negatives in these formats, so I cannot measure myself exactly what are the frame sizes, what should be the optimal window size to match all frames from a give format on a single strip and I can't measure film sheet dimensions. I can relatively easily create holders for other formats, but I would need to see with my own eyes pictures of negative strips or sheets in this format with a metric ruler over them (from left to right and from top to bottom) so I can see exactly both the film strip/sheet dimensions as well as margins from the film edges to the frames...

2. The window frame is very close to the negative frame, I can't scan the empty space around the frame or frame numbers: The main goal of this design is to maximize flatness, so as much as possible of the empty space of the negative is used to apply pressure on the negative.

3. Is it possible to get Fusion 360 design files: I don't use Fusion but OnShape - I will paste a link to the files here but I need to clean them up first.

4. When adjust the height too much, the positioning pins no long fit in the scanner positioning holes: In that case print 2x PositioningPinExtension and insert it in the positioning pins (you may have to remove a tiny bit of support from the bottom of the positioning pin in the Base

License

• CC BY-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Links

• GitHub repository - https://github.com/bkryza/Epsonv700PrintableHolders

Changelog

• 03/27/2026 - added PositioningPinExtension part, which allows to extend the length of position pins by 2mm in order to work with scanners with very high focus plane; updated 35mm Basemodel to accommodate the PositioningPinExtension part

• 04/22/2026 - added 9x12 holder

• 04/26/2026 - adjusted 9x12 window size