Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Nick Hillyer writes: > I am looking for a film scanner to scan my Tri-X negatives, and an curious > what others are getting good results with. I tried a Minolta Scan Dual > IV, > but couldn't get it to work with my Mac, and ultimately returned it. I > have > been thinking about the Nikon Coolscan V with Vuescan (which seems to be > highly recommeded), but I have not found a lot of info on how it handles > silver based B&W film. Anyone using this combo? What are your thoughts? I'm using an LS-5000 on a Mac running OS X. I use both the Nikon software and Vuescan. The scanner is OK, but has a couple of drawbacks: - the light source (led's?) seems to accentuate the grain in silver films. - the scanner has a very shallow Depth of Field, so getting wavy negs sharp can be touch. Using the one-frame-at-a-time holder instead of the 6-frames-at-a-time slurper often solves the problem. - [only applicable to color negs...] The Nikon software has a characteristic behaviour where it clips the shadows and then puts the darkest value at abot 225, wasting dynamic range. The solution is to scan as a positive and reverse/color correct it yourself. Sigh. Better solution is to use Vuescan. All of that said, I wouldn't actively advise against the scanner. If you can find a used Polaroid Sprintscan 4000, it might also be a nice choice. Apparently it uses a diffuse light source that doesn't accentuate the silver grains. It's missing Nikon's digital ICE stuff, but that doesn't work on silver films anyway.... g.