Emulsion side up or down?

[Bud Cline]

I have a question about how to orient a slide in a scanner. I have not scanned for ages and cannot find the directions to my Nikon Cool Scan V (LS-50) Scanner or an online instruction manual. I have a rush request for some slides to be scanned and am sure someone in this forum can help.

The question is how do you orient the emulsion - toward the top or the bottom of the scanner? I have my scanner sitting on the desk in the "portrait" position.

Thanks in advance for an answer to this question.

[Roger Clark]

Bud,
Not sure which scanner you have, but one would generally want the emulsion side toward the optics that does the scanning. But you should check your manual to be sure.

Roger

[Bud Cline]

Thanks for your response, Roger.

[Dug Threewitt]

If the slides are in the "holder" this won't be an issue, but a long time ago when I scanned a lot of transparencies(6x6, 4x5) we used to get newton rings if one side was down. Unfortunately, it's been so long I don't remember which side it was. But, I'm letting you know so you can check your scans for newton rings before boxing the slides back up.
Dug

[Alan Melle]

I have the Coolscan V and transparencies are scanned emulsion side down. If you use Nikon Scan you can find scanning instructions with the Help menu.

[Bud Cline]

Thanks to all who responded. I got the slides scanned and sent off to my colleague. With a bit more searching, I did find that you do indeed put the emulsion side down (toward the optics as Roy pointed out) - that is what I had concluded also after thinking about it some more.

So no Newton rings and my colleague has what she needs to send off for review - that's the good news. The bad news is it is snowing again here in the Washington, DC area - we do not have any place to put more snow, thank you very much - they need it in Vancouver, BC!!