Hi Andrew,

That's what I've been doing. Based on things I've read here and elsewhere, I tape a negative, base side to normal glass (possess but have not tried on museum glass), flip glass over, so film emulsion is facing platen, and shim or rise the glass with 4 pennies, selecting (and using) film area guide.

I still have a very hard time getting it to line up properly in preview, due in probable part to crooked mounting, and / or crooked placement of mounted negative over platen.

I need to come up with a registration system, and determine if using the film area guide is actually required; for 8x10 I know you must select film area guide in the software.

I spoke to a tech at Aztek just a moment ago and he suggested on a test V750 from Epson, the optimal focus and scan (using targets), was achieved when mounting the film directly on platen (and not with the V750 fluid holder),

but he also mentioned this could be different from scanner to scanner, due to tolerances, etc. I don't have a V750 but do have the V700 and 4990, which may be yet another focus variable.

The tech also recommended that if mounting on the scanner platen, it would be wise to seal the edges, perhaps with the special Kami tape that doesn't dissolve when in contact with mounting fluid.

I wonder if using more fluid and Mylar on top of the film is beneficial when direct wet platen mounting?

I find it interesting that the Epson V750 fluid holder and better scanning station do not accommodate 8x10, though I do imagine they get to use the better lens - which is used when "scan with film holder" is selected.


Bill