[Leica] Scanning problems—help needed!

[bamboozld at gmail.com (K Landdeck)]

Howard,

I can't speak to the Digital ICE issue, but I have a V750.  I'm on a  
Mac, so if you're using Windows this may not apply, but it's easy to  
change this behavior on the Mac version of Epson Scan software (ver.  
3.25A).  First, make sure you are in Professional Mode, and then at  
the bottom there should be a check box (right under the Preview  
button) labelled "Thumbnail".  This is the setting that makes Epson  
Scan automatically detect image borders.  Uncheck it, do a preview,  
and then you should have the freedom to select the borders of each  
scanned frame manually.  That will take longer than it auto-detecting  
(since you will have to use the select tool on each frame of the  
preview scan), but it should let you get the whole frame.  I have had  
a similar problem with negatives that are shot in "available  
darkness": the software doesn't always detect where the edge of the  
frames begin and the space between frames (since both are basically  
just film base).

For the record, I've noticed the same as you concerning the resolution  
of the V750: bumping up the resolution doesn't actually get anymore  
detail than my Nikon Coolscan V ED (at 4000 dpi) -- the files just get  
larger.

Kevin

=============
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=============
bamboozld at gmail.com

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/shudaizi/








On Nov 14, 2009, at 12:42 PM, Howard Ritter wrote:

> I'm embarked on a project to scan my 50 years of slides and negs,  
> both 35mm and 6x6. I'm using both an Epson V750 flatbed scanner and  
> a Nikon Coolscan 5000. Two puzzling problems have arisen:
>
>       1. The Digital ICE feature?as I understand it an infrared scan of  
> the surface of the slide to detect dust and allow the software to  
> eliminate it from the final scan image?on both scanners produces a  
> horrible artifact at the borders of contrasty features, especially  
> bright areas. The artifact is so severe that it degrades the  
> appearance of susceptible areas of the picture even when the whole  
> scan is viewed on screen?it's not necessary to magnify it past this;  
> but if I do, the effect is so awful that the image would be  
> unusable. It may reduce dust, but so can I in PS, and I just can't  
> believe that scanner manufacturers, or the developer of the  
> technology, would regard this as a marketable feature, as it  
> intrudes on any image size bigger than (maybe) 8 x 10. Has anyone  
> else seen this? The same phenomenon occurs with the Nikon, on a  
> different computer, but to a lesser degree?probably need twice the  
> image size to see it, but again, compared to the Nikon scan without  
> ICE, it's awesomely degraded. Is anyone familiar with this phenomenon?
>
>       2. The second problem is that the Epson Scan software crops the  
> scan excessively tight, 1.26 x 0.8 inches according to the display,  
> corresponding to about 80% (linearly) of the original slide. I don't  
> see that this is user-controllable, unless I've missed something in  
> the user's guide. Compare to the output of the Nikon, which gives  
> the full frame and some of the mount. Even if I crop to leave out  
> the curved corners of the slide mount, I see significantly more of  
> the slide than the Epson software preserves.
>
> The performance of the Epson is I think quite good for a flatbed  
> scanner, but even at a claimed 9600 dpi it doesn't quite match the  
> resolution of the Coolscan 5000 at a claimed 4000 dpi. The Epson's  
> output at 9600 dpi has no higher resolution than the same scanner at  
> 4800, just is less pixelated. I'm willing to accept the slightly  
> lesser resolution of the Epson in order to be able to run two  
> scanners simultaneously, but not willing to give up 10% of the  
> angular coverage of the slides scanned with it. Anyone know of a  
> solution? If not, the Epson gets consigned to scanning only the  
> Hasselblad slides.
>
>
>
> See examples at
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/scantest/
>
> ?howard
>
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