Julian wrote:
> I also would like to put a word of support for Nikonscan
> here. I use LS2000 and Nikonscan 2.5.1. I have tried
> Vuescan but just can't get it to do anything better than
> Nikonscan (EXCEPT reduce jaggies) so I continue to use
> Nikonscan. There has been a lot of negative discussion
> about Nikonscan - I really cannot see why people bag it
> so much.
My main beef with Nikonscan is the jaggies. Makes it
useless for me. Aside from that problem, Nikonscan
works very well, and has a far more usable interface
for meaningfully adjusting scans than Vuescan. But
we've already established that Vuescan's intention is
to capture the most data possible and deliver it to
Photoshop where it can be edited.
> I get predictable output and generally excellent
> colour 98% of the time from negs. I don't do much
> slides, but they were fine too.
When I was using Nikonscan, I did get quite good colour,
with the exception of a roll of whale-watching photos.
Nikonscan wanted to change the colour of the photos to
something virtually B&W because of the dominance of blue
in the images. In fairness, the default settings of
Vuescan did the same thing (white balance) but the
"neutral" settings did not.
> I certainly get better results colour-wise than I
> could ever get out of Vuescan, and VS was *much* slower.
Odd. Vuescan is significantly *faster* on my computer,
especially compard to Nikonscan with ICE.
I suspect you are also getting significantly better results
from Nikonscan since the LS2000 gives you access to the high
bit options. The LS30 is restricted to 8 bits in Nikonscan
and you have to be careful with adjustments to avoid
posterisation.
> I do agree that the jaggies is a real problem, and have not
> been impressed by the results of my email discussion with
> Nikon USA about this. I am about to send mine back for
> "repair" re jaggies - I have little hope but will
> report how it is dealt with. (remember this is in Australia).
I'll be intrigued if Maxwell Optics manage to cure the vibration
that causes the jaggies. As far as I can see it's a design
fault caused by a combniation of hardware and software behaviour.
> IME NIkonscan default auto settings cut off too much at the
> high end (and maybe the shadows end too), so I use the
> option - Scanner extras / prescan mode / low contrast neutral.
If I ever get to use Nikonscan jaggy-free, I'll try this. :)
Rob
(about to travel south to Canberra)
Rob Geraghty harper@wordweb.com
