filmscanners: Further report on dust problem in LS4000

[Barbara & Martin Greene <martbarb@earthlink.net>]

I made a recent report in which I told of a technique for using Unsharp Mask
in Photoshop to compensate for the softening caused by using ICE in the
Nikon Super coolscan 4000.  Despite this, I was still upset by the fantastic
amount of all sorts of crud and spots that showed up on my scans, despite
thorough cleaning.  The fact is that, even after careful scrutiny using a
lighbox and loupe, I could not see hardly any of this junk on the actual
slides.  Tony sleep said there was nothing inside the scanner for dust to
settle on, and something like, "What goes in comes out."  I contacted Nikon
tech-support about this twice, and was told on both occasions that dust
inside the scanner can definitly be a problem.  They recommended that I
either send in my two week old scanner for cleaning or return it to the
dealer from whom it was purchased.  Feeling tht maybe my dust problem is not
as bad as I thought, and could thus do without ICE, I dedcided to return it.
If I can find one, I might save lots of money and get the SS4000, or find
out more about what the SS4000 Plus has to offer.

Martin