Emulsion side when scanning 35mm film.

[kaharoth]

Hi,
I am a happy owner of a Plustek OpticFilm 8100,
However yesterday, when scanning some negatives, I had a doubt.... Am I really scanning my 35mm films correctly?

I've always scanned my negatives putting emulsion side (the not-lucid part of the negatives) face down. I have read in the internet that emulsion side should NOT face the sensor but the other side (the lucid one) should face the sensor.
So my question is... where is the sensor located in my Plustek OpticFilm 8100? In other words...how should negatives be oriented when inserted in the Plustek OpticFilm 8100 scanner?

Thank you for your time,

cheers,

Giovanni

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear Giovanni,

we suggest scanning film with the emulsion side facing down.
Mainly to prevent dust from settling on the emulsion because it can not be cleaned.

Kind regards,
Arne

[Jossie]

Hi Giovanni,

in the past I had oriented my slides with emulsion side towards the LED. Then I got a diagram of my scanner which explicitly showed that the emulsion side should face the CCD. I contacted PIE and they confirmed that this orientation gives the optimum quality. Then I made a simple test with the USAF1951 target. I scanned it with emulsion side towards the CCD and again with the emulsion side towards the LED. There indeed was a noticeable difference in resolution (left is emulsion towards LED, right towards CCD):

Vergleich_Orientierung_Target.jpg (57.83 KiB) Viewed 3107 times

Of course this may vary from scanner to scanner, depending on how the optics is optimized. And it also depends on the focus adjustment of the optics. But the test shows that due to the narrow focal depth of the slide scanners, the orientation matters.

Best wishes

Hermann-Josef