Emulsion Up or Down on Epson Fluid Mount Accessory?

Anyone know? No mention of it in Manual or on-line. Maybe just doesn't matter.

Thanks,

Tony.

I'm going to make an educated guess that it makes little difference. Fluid is applied to both sides of the film, effectively filling scratches and reducing inter-surface reflections. In general, I put the emulsion side toward the lens, reducing the effect of defects on the back. In lieu of fluid scanning, the emulsion side goes toward the glass on a flatbed. It is relatively matte and less likely to form Newton's Rings. The back can be held flat with anti-Newton Ring glass without its texture affecting the scan.

I agree on emulsion down-it's how I do it, although realistically as Ed said it likely makes little difference.

 

With that said, the fluid mount tray doesn't have an provisions for adjusting the height for fine-tuning focus like the film holders. You MIGHT find that your results are slightly sharper with the emulsion one way vs. the other. Try this out and see-in my experience, the focus of Epson scanners vary slightly from sample to sample. This is why the holders are adjustable, and emulsion up or down can make a difference.

 

BTW, Ed, one of the things I like about TXP-320 is that it has a "toothed" back for hand retouching. I don't hand retouch(I should give it a try) but the back also avoids newton rings with flat glass.