[filmscanners] Re: SS 120 questions for current users

["Simon Lamb" <simon@sclamb.com>]

The monitor calibration is a question to be asked.  I did notice that the
Imacon scan was almost exactly the same colours as the original slide.

I know that as soon as I make a decision a new scanner will appear and start
me off on the whole decision process again!

Simon

On 11/4/02 10:38 pm, "Dave King" <kingphoto@mindspring.com> wrote:

> I hope the store has their monitor calibrated so you can judge the accuracy
> of the scan's colors.  If you buy the SS120 you may find yourself using
> Insight for chromes and Silverfast or Vuescan for negs.  Vuescan can easily
> be set up to bring in conservative end points for later editing in
> Photoshop, and the film terms for color negs are among the best I've seen.
> For critical work I wouldn't be happy using a scan driver that always
> clipped the end points at some preset value.
>
> Dave
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Simon Lamb" <simon@sclamb.com>
> To: <kingphoto@mindspring.com>
> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 3:35 PM
> Subject: [filmscanners] Re: SS 120 questions for current users
>
>
> Interesting.  I will try again tomorrow and use their copy of Insight.  I
> also found that when I scanned a Delta 100 6X6 neg. the histogram showed
> everything moved towards the black end.  There was a loss of detail and the
> histogram ended sharply at the black end as it everything had been pushed
> against a wall.
>
> I think I need more practice with the SS120 but it is difficult at the
> dealer.  I think I will ask if I can rent it out for a weekend.
>
> Thanks for your reply.
>
> Simon
>
> On 11/4/02 8:03 pm, "Dave King" <kingphoto@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> My guess is Insight 5.5 would be better based on the result of your
> current
>> test, but my experience with Silverfast is limited to a few quick tests.
> My
>> impression is Silverfast can be quite accurate if you go to the trouble of
>> making a custom profile for it with an IT-8 target.  But I do find Insight
>> 5.5 gets the colors of the chrome right on the nose with both the SS4000
> and
>> SS120.  The end points come in on the conservative side, which I prefer,
> and
>> a simple tone curve to set end points and lift gamma a bit gets the scan
>> dialed in from there.  I do the tone correction first, then convert the
> file
>> to 8 bit RGB.  I set Insight up so that "monitor space" and "output
> profile"
>> (or whatever they call it) are Adobe RGB 98 (my working space), and then
> the
>> scan preview matches the Photoshop view very accurately, so basic prescan
>> color and tone correction in Insight is possible.  For some reason
> however,
>> when a working space is used with Insight the curves feature is turned
> off,
>> so the prescan corrections have to be kept pretty basic, but they would
>> still be useful for production work.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Simon Lamb" <simon@sclamb.com>
>> To: <kingphoto@mindspring.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 1:24 PM
>> Subject: [filmscanners] Re: SS 120 questions for current users
>>
>>
>> I was using the Photoshop plug of Silverfast Ai 5.  Would Insight be
> better?
>> I could not of course test out Vuescan which I use with my LS30.
>>
>> Simon
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dave King" <kingphoto@mindspring.com>
>> To: <simon@sclamb.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 6:05 PM
>> Subject: [filmscanners] Re: SS 120 questions for current users
>>
>>
>>> The short answer is you will have to some basic tweaking in Photoshop if
>> you
>>> use Insight 5.5 with the most recent transparency profile.  It comes in
>> with
>>> accurate color, but a little flat.  Many chromes you don't want an exact
>>> color reproduction anyway, considering film's color distortions of lens
>>> output.  Hey it's film you're looking at, not lens output:)  But in my
>>> experience the colors are true to the chrome at Insight's no adjustment
>>> settings, and I would think you could save a standard tone curve for
>>> production work.
>>>
>>> Color negs are an entirely different story.  Insight hypes colors, and
>>> crossovers abound.  Vuescan is considerably better, but I find I often
>> still
>>> have to work with relatively minor crossovers quite a bit in Photoshop to
>>> get a great final.  But since it doesn't start out hyped it's at least
>>> possible to get there.  The little bit I've worked with Insight for negs
>> my
>>> impression was "impossible".  For production work with color negs you'd
> be
>>> better off with Nikonscan or the Imacon software.  (Haven't used the
>> Imacon
>>> software, going by what I've heard.)
>>>
>>> My .02
>>>
>>> Dave
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Simon Lamb" <simon@sclamb.com>
>>> To: <kingphoto@mindspring.com>
>>> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 12:11 PM
>>> Subject: [filmscanners] SS 120 questions for current users
>>>
>>>
>>> I just spent three hours with an SS 120 and the Imacon Photo.  The only
>>> major difference that I found was in the colour fidelity when scanning
>>> slides, in this case Kodak E100VS 6X6 slides.  Whereas the Imacon
>>> representation of the slide was spot on in colour reproduction, the SS
> 120
>>> was more washed out and the saturation had been lost.
>>>
>>> Other than that it seemed to be an excellent unit, not as good as the
>> Imacon
>>> in the final scans (the Imacon seemed to show more detail and smoother
>>> transitions even though it was working at 3200dpi and not 4000dpi.
>>>
>>> Have any of you current SS 120 users notices colours not being reproduced
>>> correctly and have you managed to fix this easily using the scanner
>>> software?  Or am I going to need to do a lot of colour manipulation in
>>> Photoshop?
>>>
>>> Sorry to keep asking questions but I want to make sure I spend my money
> on
>>> the right scanner as it is a lot of money.

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