[Leica] Scanners - Mark's travails

[durling at cox.net (Mike Durling)]

I had trouble with my Scan Dual III just stopping for a long time. I 
decided to get it out again when I became dissatisfied with my flatbed's 
performance. I upgraded to the latest VueScan and walla! It works 
without stopping. If you haven't done so you may want to check for 
updates. I'm on OS-X so your results may vary, but I had the same 
problems under Windows.

Mike D

On 1/10/12 4:51 PM, Mark Pope wrote:
> This thread has been very well timed as far as I am concerned.
>
> I recently our main desktop machine.  It now runs 64-bit Windows 7 
> Professional.  Unfortunately, this means that my Minolta Scan Dual III 
> won't work :-(
>
> I spent most of a frustrating day trying a number of options.  
> Firstly, I tried installing the original Minolta software in Windows 
> XP mode and found that I got an 'unknown error' message.
>
> Then, I tried VueScan in native 64-bit Windows 7.  I found that it was 
> rather hit and miss and the scanner would just stop.  I think after 
> about two hours of switching the scanner on and off, uninstalling and 
> reinstalling the software, I got one scan that worked.  A subsequent 
> scan failed, with the application becoming unresponsive.  The only way 
> to stop the application was to do so via the task manager.
>
> I then tried the original Minolta software under Windows 7 after 
> having found a way of getting the driver to work.  All seemed to be 
> going well: prescans worked but  full scans would just stop for no 
> reason and there was no way of ejecting the film holder.
>
> The new machine has USB3 ports and I'm wondering whether there is some 
> sort of compatibility issue between the scanner (USB2) and the new 
> hardware.  I probably have a USB2 PC card somewhere, but whether it's 
> compatible with either the new motherboard or Windows 7 is anybody's 
> guess.
>
> So I have now given up on the Minolta working under Windows 7.  I may 
> keep my XP machine 'just' for scans and a couple of odd apps, but it's 
> not really practical as it now lives in the garage and I access it 
> when needs be using RDP.
>
> I also have an Epson V700 flat bed scanner, which I've used 
> successfully for 5x4 and medium format scans.  I decided to give it a 
> go for scanning 35mm film.  Colour slides were decidedly soft, so 
> further experimentation is needed, adjusting the height of the slide 
> film holder to see if I can improve the focus.
> 35mm B&W negatives however, were pretty good:  I made a scan at 
> 3200DPI and was able to get a very acceptable A4 print once I had 
> tweaked the settings a touch.  An A3 print is probably going to be OK 
> too.
>
> I did find that scanning using the Digital ICE facility within the 
> Epson software gave some strange artifacts.  Keeping the settings 
> simple gave the best results.  3200 DPI, no USM, some slight level 
> adjustments and that was about it.
>
>
> Mark Pope,
> Swindon, Wilts
> UK
>
> Homepage               http://www.monomagic.co.uk
> Blog                   http://www.monomagic.co.uk/blog
> Picture a week (2010)  
> http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2010
> Picture a week (2009)  
> http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2009
>                (2008) 
> http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2008
>
> On 09/01/2012 00:09, H&ECummer wrote:
>> If you can't find a LS5000 at an acceptable price the LS4000 might be 
>> an acceptable and cheaper alternative.
>> I have that model which I control with Silverfast to my Mac and the 
>> results are very good. Here is a sample scan
>> of an extachrome slide taken in North China in 1976.
>>
>> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/China70s/_HeavyIndustw.jpg.html>
>>  
>>
>>
>> Black and white scans equally well.
>> Howard (in cold Hong Kong)
>>
>>
>>> Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2012 15:14:29 -0500
>>> From: Tina Manley<images at comporium.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Scanners
>>> To: Leica Users Group<lug at leica-users.org>
>>>
>>> I don't think there's anything better for B&W film than the Nikon 
>>> LS5000for
>>> 35mm or 9000 for medium format unless it's one of the very expensive 
>>> Leaf
>>> scanners.  A dedicated film scanner is going to be much better than a
>>> flatbed.  The software makes a big difference, too, and Silverfast 
>>> is the
>>> best I've found.
>>>
>>> Tina
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>