EverSmart Pro-Fluid Mount Vs Dry Mount

[sanking]

The anti-reflection glass bed was only included with the more expensive EverSmart scanners (original EverSmart, Pro, ProII, Supreme and Select), not with the Jazz and Jazz+.

It is supposed to increase contrast in shadow detail, in the same way such a coating improves contrast on a lens.


Sandy King

My guess is it has a lot to do with the type of light source. My coolscan V has a very hard light source, and scanning medium and large-grained film with it leads to a significant coarsening of the grain. As a technical exercise, I tried wet-mounting with it, and this helped significantly, but with that scanner I couldn't find away to do this easily. (For the test, I cut down a negative and mounted it to a long thin plate from Focal Point.) These pro flatbeds tend to have a comparatively larger-sized light source.

The Cezanne scanning bed is a 6mm thick piece of what looks like acrylic with a _very_ fine anti-newton texture on it, much finer, for example, than that supplied with De Vere and Durst enlargers. I don't think it's anti-reflection coated, though.

[Kirk Gittings]

The anti-reflection glass bed was only included with the more expensive EverSmart scanners (original EverSmart, Pro, ProII, Supreme and Select), not with the Jazz and Jazz+. Sandy King

I was not aware of this, I guess because my Jazz+ does have AR glass. It must have been replaced and upgraded at some point.

[sanking]

Kirk,

That is probably the case. Jazz scanners were not delivered new with AR (anti reflection) coating bed glass. However, all of the bed glass units are compatible with all EverSmart scanners, including JAZZ. So one could use any bed glass provided on Jazz scanners with every other EverSmart scanner, and vice versa. The original glass on your JAZZ scanner may have broken and was replaced by glass with AR coating.

However, don't confuse AR coating bed glass with AN (Anti Newton) glass. The former will have a bluish/greenish tint when viewed by reflected light, while the latter will have the dull look we expect with AN glass.


Sandy

I was not aware of this, I guess because my Jazz+ does have AR glass. It must have been replaced and upgraded at some point.

[Kirk Gittings]

Definitely bluish green. Is it more of a delicate surface than AN? Thanks for the info.

[sanking]

Kirk,

Yes, the AR coating is definitely more delicate than the AN surface bed glass. Treat it like the coating on your fine lenses. It is basically the same thing.

The AR coating on the glass of my EverSmart Pro has some areas that have been degraded from over-zealous cleaning by some well-intentioned person. Fortunately, it is possible to avoid these areas since the bed is very large and resolution is the same all over the bed. And that is equally true of your JAZZ+/

Sandy

Definitely bluish green. Is it more of a delicate surface than AN? Thanks for the info.

[Ben Syverson]

I'm not seeing any difference in the provided crops... it doesn't help that they're slightly different sizes, but even accounting for the difference in scale, it's six of one, half dozen of the other.

Given what a PITA fluid mounting is, sounds like for this scanner, you can confidently dry mount and not worry about sacrificing quality.

[George Kara]

I have an eversmart as well. I find it difficult to clean and get rid of any smudges. I dont want to rub much. What are all of you using and what technique as well?

[sanking]

Many people in the grahic arts business use a Sprayway Glass Cleaner, Formula 40.

It contains no ammonia.

You want to be careful to not rub the surface of the bed glass too hard as it will scratch. THe coating is like the coating on a lens. Also, be very careful when cleaning the calibration area as there is a zipper pattern there that is essential to stitching. It may wipe off with household cleaners that contain ammonia.

Sandy King

I have an eversmart as well. I find it difficult to clean and get rid of any smudges. I dont want to rub much. What are all of you using and what technique as well?

[Doug Fisher]

Just one person's opinion, but for things with special coatings like this I use the eye glass cleaner WalMart sells for glasses that have an optical coating. If you buy the smaller size, they give you free refills for life

Doug
---
www.BetterScanning.com

[adrian tyler]

i've done a lot of fluid mounting on the IQ smart scanners, my conclusion is that it is really only worthe the trouble in you have worn negatives, with pristine negatives the difference is minimal even at 5000 dpi.

to clean after oil mouting i use filmcleaner to get the worst off, then spray on tap water, it works fine.