EmulLab
Manual · 08

Crop, straighten
and rotate.

Frame the picture, level the horizon, and turn or flip frames.

Crop and straighten

  1. In Edit, click the Crop tab. The whole frame shows with a crop box.
  2. Drag the box’s corners, or drag inside it to move it.
  3. To keep a shape, pick an Aspect Ratio: Free, Original, 1:1, 3:2, 4:3, 5:4 or 16:9. The rectangle button switches portrait and landscape.
  4. Drag Straighten, or click Draw Level Line and drag along something that should be level or upright.
  5. Click Done.
Rotate and flip

Rotate Left (⌘[), Rotate Right (⌘]), Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical are in the Crop tab and the Photo menu. In Library, right-click to turn every selected frame at once.

One crop for the whole roll

Frames scanned in one holder often share a crop. Click Apply Crop to Roll in the Crop tab or the Photo menu; EmulLab asks first. With several frames selected, it applies to those instead. Only the crop and straighten are copied; ⌘Z undoes it.

The automatic crop

Frames start with an automatic crop that leaves out the film holder; with the current conversion, a negative is cropped to the picture inside the film border. Reset in the Crop tab goes back to it, with no straightening.

Grid

Show grid lays a rule-of-thirds grid over the crop box.

Applies to EmulLab 0.9.1 (Public Beta). Updated October 9, 2026.