Afraid I can't help with the glass slides, David, but you've aroused my curiositiy. Will you be experimenting with fluid mounting in "glassless" negative holders, like the Microtek 1800f? The results should be interesting....

Bill,

I will do that experiment using fluid mounting with the new Microtek ArtixScan M1 if and when they ever get them into production. That should be pretty easy to do, as it is really with the 1800f using the 8x10 glass film carrier.

What I am trying to accomplish is fluid mount scanning with dedicated 35mm scanners like the Nikon CoolScan 5000 ED or Minolta Scan Elite 5400 II. So to mount the film in fluid I need two sheets of glass 2x2 inches square exactly that will then fit in the standard slide carrier. (I'll use a tape border surrounding the edges of the glass to secure the two sheets together and seal the sandwich and fluid inside.)

I am sure I could get a company that makes microscope slide glass to custom cut and make up some 2x2 slide glass, but the cost I'm sure would be way out of my budget.

David, just a follow-up to my last post on this subject in the Digital Darkroom forum: I called the near-by company I mentioned, and was told they haven't made glass in nine years! Another pothole on the information superhighway.....

I have another question regarding the experiment (and please tell me if I'm jumping the gun): With the Microtek 1800f, and presumably the M1 as well, there is no adjustable height feature. If you use the sandwich technique you described in a standard 6X9 holder, won't that raise the negative above the plane of focus by the thickness of the bottom glass? I guess another option would be to use the 8X10 glass carrier, with your slide glass taped down on top of the negative. In that case, you'd probably want "slide" dimensions larger than 2X2....

Bill,

With your Microtek ArtixScan 1800f you should have an 8x10 glass based film holder. That is what I would use for fluid mounting, and the top surface of that glass base should be exactly at the scanner focus plane. With fluid mounting I would place the film and fluid on the 8x10 glass base, and depending on the size of frame being scanned use a piece of optical glass somewhat larger than the film frame on top after fluid is applied to the top surface of the film. So you have guessed essentially how I would approach fluid mounting film for scanning with the Microtek ArtixScan models.

Some reading this may wonder with 4 glass surfaces and 2 film surfaces how optical quality is improved? The fluid mounting essentially eliminates the optical refraction effect of all of the inside glass and film surfaces by making the sandwich behave as if were sold glass with only two external surfaces. This is the same optical function as in lens manufacture where elements are cemented together, and two elements actually function like one with no surface refraction between them.

I think I'll give this a try myself, if I can find some optical glass to work with.

The old Leitz and Kodak cover glass I believe was just a high grade plain 1/32 inch thick variety. Today there are 100's of specialty glass manufacturers and fabricators, I am sure a few would be able to accommodate the need. As long as the sheet is defect free it does not have to be all that special. Lexan and similar plastic sheets are used for "cover glass" with drum scanners to accommodate the curve, but it deteriorates rapidly with handling and use, while plain glass is easier to keep clean and scratch free, If nothing else the cover glass function could maybe served with a sheet of clear Lucite (easily obtainable and cut), and work fine if you replaced it with a new one periodically. But what kind of plastic because the Kami mount fluid might just melt ordinary acrylic.