I'm trying to pick up this technique.

So far I've tried mounting the negative on a thick piece of 11x14 normal glass, rising it with 4 pennies, and think the results are OK.

I picked up a piece of 11x14, thin anti-reflection / museum glass, and will try that too.

The museum glass has instructions printed on the edge telling which side the art faces vs which side is the outside.

I plan to mount the emulsion side to the side that says the artwork is supposed to face, and not the outside, is that right, will I see any difference?

So far, with the normal piece of glass, the main issue I am having is placing the mounted glass in a manner that preview scan will pick up all the film edges. I preview and move it many times (increasing dust), to get this right, and it never seems totally right!

I seem to think, with the film area guide in place, placing the mounted glass over it in such a way that the bottom and right sides of the neg align with maybe a 1/16th inch gap works (that was my experience with direct on glass scans), but there is some play in the film area guide up and left, and things seem like they might be reversed when trying to figure out why the top, bottom, left, or right border isn't scanning. E.g. I'm not sure, but sometimes I think if the bottom border is cut off, it means I should move image down ... can anyone confirm?

Does anyone not use film area guide?

Any tricks for getting the mounted negative in place right each time? I have considered masking the correct 8x10 negative area on the glass with 1/4" white paper tape, but it seemed to cause more problems, or I had no registration system, that would allow it to be effective, having a mask is good for mounting, but the glass still needs to be correctly placed (over the film area guide), masking might make that harder to determine visually each time. Anyone use a mask for film placement on mounting glass?

Since my glass is 11x14, it extends all around the platen, and over the registration area, I wonder if I should mount the negative in such a way that it is near the top edge of the mounting glass, so I can insure no clear glass is hanging over the registration / calibration area?

I've seen the weird vertical lines on certain previews using the film area guide, when the glass is over this registration area (which so far is always), though not consistently. Slight adjustments, and subsequent previews / scans don't have them.

Do smaller cuts of glass work better (e.g. one that would fit directly over the film area guide, and not the registration / calibration area), my rationale for going 11x14 was the ease with which I could access the penny risers, and no risk of getting the risers in the scan.

I tried mounting with the paper tape mentioned earlier, but that messes up the borders.

Lately, based on reading something here, I am using crystal clear scotch like tape, but it is harder to remove and can leave residue, though it is harder to see and easier to correct in Photoshop.

Any tips on mounting techniques and getting perfect registration (e.g. straight, and can see all the edges / borders) every time?


Thanks,
Bill