When I scan film using the film holder, my images appear soft or blurry. What should I do?

• Try the following:
  • Make sure the original is sharp.

    Note: On smaller film formats such as 35 mm, it can be difficult to determine the sharpness of the original image with the naked eye. Use a loupe or magnifying glass to verify the original's sharpness before scanning.

  • Make sure the film is not wrinkled, warped, or pinched in the film holder.
  • Make sure you do not move or bump the film holder or scanner while scanning.
  • Make sure the scanner is placed on a flat, stable surface.
  • Change the Unsharp Mask default setting when using Epson Scan in Professional Mode. This setting makes the edges of certain image areas sharper. To increase the Unsharp Mask setting, click the + (Windows) or (OS X) icon next to the option and select High to add more sharpness detail to the scanned image.
  • Increase the scanning resolution, if possible.
  • The film holders have height adjusters to set the distance between the film and the scanner glass. In most cases, the default height provides quality images. The default height of the film holder adjusters is 3 mm (0.12 inch) as indicated below.
    
    If the suggestions above did not resolve the issue, adjust the height between the film holder and the scanner glass. You may need to try scanning at different height adjustments to determine the optimum focal point for your film. It may differ from frame to frame or image to image.

    Note: Make sure all the height adjusters are set to the same height level.