Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/10/26

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Follow-up OT Nikon LS-2000 under MacOS X
From: "J. Gilbert Plantinga" <gilplant@hvc.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 16:58:07 -0400

Yes Pascal, Nathan is correct, Vuescan has a 'learning curve'. But I've 
used Nikon (LS 2000, LS 4000), Polaroid SS 4000, and currently the 
Minolta MultiPro, and not one of these scanners dedicated software can 
give me the results I get from Vuescan. Nor have I been as successful 
with Silverfast. But the difference between Vuescan and the rest is 
that the results come from a very different workflow. The native 
software tries to give me an image that looks good when I first open it 
in Photoshop, while Vuescan gives me files that are flat to just plain 
ugly when I first open them; but only Vuescan seems to be able to 
extract all the information from the negative. Working in black and 
white, I set Vuescan's white and black points to very small percentages 
so as to eliminate any clipping - I usually bring them
back in somewhat with the 'Levels' dialog in Photoshop. Final contrast 
adjustments are made with curves, giving me complete control. I never 
use the "auto" functions in the Photoshop Image menu, nor the 
brightness or contrast sliders, they simply clip information that I've 
so carefully captured with my Leicas (OT). Don't give up now, you're 
almost there. If you need more help with setting up Vuescan, contact me 
off-list.

Gilbert

On Saturday, October 26, 2002, at 04:23  PM, Nathan Wajsman wrote:

> Hi Pascal,
>
> Do give Vuescan a chance. I too have a Nikon LS-2000, and have 
> vaccilated between Nikon Scan and Vuescan, finally settling on the 
> latter. Yes, it is not as easy to use as Nikon Scan, but when I look 
> at the resulting scans in Photoshop, I see clearly superior results 
> from Vuescan. I also agree that Vuescan is slower, but once you have 
> all the options set correctly, it is worth the wait.
>
> Nathan
>
> Pascal wrote:
>
>> Now the bad news: the Vuescan program is not very good. It is way too 
>> slow
>> compared to the Nikon Scan software, plus it is quite confusing. I 
>> have
>> tried it out several times, but so far I have yet to produce a decent 
>> scan
>> with it. The Nikon Scan software is way above Vuescan in terms of 
>> ease of
>> use and getting decent results.

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