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Origins in Fluid Immersion Microscopy
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In Microscopy, Fluid immersion increases the resolution of the lens and that enables the lens to achieve higher magnifications. (The numerical Aperture of the lens is proportional to its numerical aperture which in turn is proportioanl to the refractive index of the fluid). Similarly, LUMINA Scanning Optical fluid has the effect of increasing the resolution of the scan. Nikon microscopy website has an excellent write up of oil immersion microscopy. http://www.microscopyu.com/tutorials/java/objectives/immersion/
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For Fluid Immersion Scanning, the film must be immersed in fluid during the scan. This is accomplished by placing fluid between glass an film and film and an optically clear overlay, as illustrated in the image to the right, Ideally the fluid and the film backing have the same index of refraction or the closest the better.
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Optical Benefits of Fluid Immersion Scanning
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- When the source light strikes the dry grain, some of it travels through and some is lost to reflection. When light strikes film immersed in
fluid, the light can travel through the grain without loss to reflection.
- Reducing losses through reflection makes the image appear more brilliant and wth greater color saturation.
- Grain rich areas of the film block the passage of light. When some of the light is lost through relfection, there is less light available to
illuminate the shadows and detail in the shadows are lost. Because there is more transmission integrity with fluid scanning, there is better definition of the shadow areas, and greater dynamic range.
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Elimination of Pepper Grain
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- Because losses through reflectivity at the grain are minimized with fluid scanning, less light is scattered as it hits the grain,-which results
in greater resolution. Reflectivity and light scattering also have the effect of emphasizing the grain, making it appear bigger and coarser than it really is.
- Cutting reflectivity cuts pepper grain. "Pepper grain" drives photographers to distraction but that only occurs to photographers that use
high quality film scanners like the NIKON 8000 and the Imacon (prior to the latest model) which use a highly collimated light source. That collimated light source, increases the reflectivity of the grain and causes 'pepper grain'. The pity is that scanners that use a collimated light source potentially produce sharper scans. Because fluid imersion undoes the negative effect of a collimated light, that potential is fully achieved if such scaners are used as fluid scanners.
- The pepper grain complaint is not attributed toFlatbed scanners, because only a very few of those can pick up grain detail. Drum
scanners, in spite of their high resolution, never get blamed for "pepper grain" because all drum scanners are fluid scanners.
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Elimination / reduction of Dust & Scratches
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Fluid scanning has a similar effect on dust and scrateches but while digital ICE generally degrades the image, fluid scanning uogrades the image. The extra time soent on scanning with digital ICE is overcompensated bny fluid scanning, It takes kess time to fluid mount than to scan with digital ICE.
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Newton Rings- Good bye to the glass holder
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- Newton Rings are caused by reflections beween two surfaces when one of the surfaces is separated from the other at a slight angle.
Along the horizontal axis, of the projection of a sine wave, the reflections from the surfaces interact and either knock each other out or help each other.
- The the result is a series of concentric rings that alternate between dark and light. Newton rings are encountered in old fashioned devices
such as the glass holder for the NIKON and a difuser device that was sold to Minolta scanner users. People use these devices hoping to restrain film curvature and achieve a flat film plane, although that only succeeds when the curvature is down on the glass. With fluid scanning a perfectly flat film plane is a given, and without degrading the image as the glass holders do.
- Fluid scanning attains film flatness utilizing the surface tension of the fluid to temporarily 'glue' the film to the glass. The detrimental
effects these old devices make them obsolete.
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Newton Rings Goodbye to Anti-Newton Glass
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- Since with Fluid Scanning newton rings are a thing of the past, AN glass has outlived its usefulness. AN glass is glass which has
corrugations on the surface to break the Newton Rings but is detrimental the image. You would not put AN glass in front of your camera lens.
- The improvement in image quality between a fluid scan and a glass holder with AN glass is significant. The ScanScience System brings
you refraction-free Fluid scanning to film scanners at a fraction of the cost of glass holders, and AN glass
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Limitations of dry Processes: Scanning , Enlarging, or Projection
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All these processes are similarly impaired. The degradation of image quality due to the reflections and scattering at the film grain are shared equally by all techniques.All these practices are similarly impaired. The degradation of image quality due to the reflections and scattering at the film grain are shared equally by all techniques.
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Fluid Scanning techniques for film and flatbed scanners by ScanScience well established for Drum Scanners
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- First used in drum scanners and now with the advent of ScanScience it is universally used on all scanners.
- Because drum scanners are fluid scanners by definition, their uniquely saturated and sharp quality and smoothness made it the choice of
connoisseurs.
- With the advent of ScanScience, all other scanners can benefit in the same measure from fluid immersion scanning. Significantly, users
that have access to a drum scanner are finding that fluid scans with their NIKON, IMACON and EPSON scanners rival drum scans.
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Fluid scanning with ScanScience's LUMINA Optical Super Fluid is easy and quick, it takes very little time and requires no post operative cleaning and drudgery. Compared to digital ICE it saves time: You can assemble a wet mount faster than you can scan with digital ICE and it upgrades the image instead of degrading it like digital ICE.
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