Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/05/05

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Subject: [Leica] Nikon Coolscan 4000 Users.... I need help!
From: hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (Geoff Hopkinson)
Date: Mon May 5 19:47:23 2008
References: <7061.14484.qm@web82102.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Since I was wrong and am now a reformed unbeliever, I feel obligated to
provide the information. My email does not accept chocolate attachments.

As Bob, says, the latest professional version of Vuescan software can save
scans as a .DNG file, which is a Raw file format, just like the files from
an M8.
If your scanner is 16 bit like the top Nikons (and you scan at 4000dpi) then
you will get a very large .DNG. About a 100MB from a 35mm original, bigger
from medium format, obviously.
Once you have the scan as a DNG, then normal Raw converter progs should
work. This is a big leap compared to doing a conversion (to TIFF or JPG)
within Vuescan itself. In the interests of science I shall make some new
scans and have a play. I'll try with ACR 4.4.1 and LR2 beta.

Caveats:
Maximum quality defined by the actual dynamic range of the CCD in the
scanner as well as the originally captured dynamic range (film and exposure
dependant). I suspect that the CCD signal to noise ratio may be a bigger
factor. Your scanners analog/digital converter will determine the quality of
the 16 bits outputted too. 
Those limitations may or may not be significant. Certainly worth some
experimentation. No question but that exposure and white balance adjustment
in Raw is superior to any saved TIFF or JPG.
ACR has a default setting to ignore DNGs over, (I think) 200MB.

Other thoughts: If you have a computer with enough grunt to digest
quantities of DNGs of these sizes, then lossless compression in ACR (and I
guess LR) should shrink them down to a mere 50MB or so each from 35mm scans!
Or buy an M8 and cut out the middle man. 

Cheers
Geoff
http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/e
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: [Leica] Nikon Coolscan 4000 Users.... I need help!

DNGs are like RAW. Fully able to be manipulated in ACR or Lightroom without
impacting the original scan. So you can always go back later to the DNG when
the new HDR/UberDOF/3D/MegawideGamut becomes available. Also, you can play
with the white balance, which is, in my experience, more difficult to do
with a .tif file. ACR lets you do other stuff in RAW that you can't do
elsewhere, but I've never known enough to use it...

It's definitely not smaller; my tif files are about 100mb smaller than my
dng files (6x6 scanned at 4000dpi).

Like I said, though, Lightroom seems to freak with 550mb .dng files; perhaps
Wade can give some insight...
Bob
 
Bob Adler
Palo Alto, CA
http://www.raflexions.com



----- Original Message ----
From: Mark Rabiner <mark@rabinergroup.com>
To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2008 6:09:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Nikon Coolscan 4000 Users.... I need help!

> Careful Steve. Never come between me and my chocolate!
> :-)
> 
> Bob Adler
> http://www.raflexions.com
> 
> On May 5, 2008, at 2:42 PM, Bob Adler <rgacpa@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> No Geoff. Here's what you do:
> Go to the Output tab
> Set Output RAW DNG format to on.
> 
> The manual is a bit confusing, but if you go look at this it works.
> DNG format
> ACR usable
> 
The DNG's are better in some way? Smaller? More compatibility with
Lightroom?

Mark William Rabiner
markrabiner.com



Replies: Reply from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Nikon Coolscan 4000 Users.... I need help!)
Reply from msadat at gmail.com (mehrdad) ([Leica] Nikon Coolscan 4000 Users.... I need help!)
In reply to: Message from rgacpa at yahoo.com (Bob Adler) ([Leica] Nikon Coolscan 4000 Users.... I need help!)