[filmscanners] Re: white LED vs Cold cathode flourescent

["Maurice Rickard" <mrickarx@labyrinth.net.au>]

Hi Berry,

After your last email, I decided to have another look at my settings
for the scanner. I got out my IT8 target slide and associated IT8
transparency data file (which came with the Sprintscan I already had)
and had a careful go at recalibrating the LS-50, using the
calibration function on Vuescan v 8.3.22 ( . . an absolutely
excellent and inexpensive piece of stand alone scanner software . . .
I'm not sure if the bundled Nikon software has an IT8 calibration
function. It might).

I can happily report I've had considerable success at getting natural
color  The cyan (and general coolness) decreased, and the saturation
went down too. After also going through some trial and error with the
analog gain controls (to decrease the green and blue exposure and
increase red), I've managed to match on screen color with true slide
color. I use a handy little Gepe 5000K daylight balanced desktop
slide viewer to see what color the slide captured (usually Fuji
Provia 100f). After scanning, i only need very minor adjustments in
Photoshop - usually Red or Green Curves - to get as good a color
match between screen image and slide as I could ask for.

I have no idea how IT8 calibration works, or what it does inside the
scanner software, but it seems to have done the trick very well. I
usually take landscape shots (Australian rainforest, etc), which can
often be green anyway, and Provia tends to accentuate the blue. So
having the scanner add a cyan cast was disappointing.

So, I'm a happier guy now. Thanks for causing me to have another look!

I've yet to scan some negatives. I think there might be an IT8 data
file specifically for negs. Hopefully, they'll turn out well also.

ICE is excellent as well. It did a miraculous job of cleaning up some
grungie 50 year old Kodachrome slides, with hardly noticeable effect
on sharpness ( . . .even though it's not supposed to be the best with
chromes)

cheers

Maurice


On 05/04/2006, at 12:21 PM, Berry Ives wrote:

> Hi Maurice,
>
> I have compared my 12x18 prints, on Super B size Epson watercolor
> paper, to
> the 4x6 prints I get at a good quality local, fast turnaround type
> lab (not
> a custom/pro lab), and I like what I get on my system in
> comparison.  I
> think the lab oversaturates to make the customers happy.
>
> I am using a G5 with 10.3.9 and the 17" flat panel Apple display.
> Guess I
> should update to 10.4, but I haven't bothered to check that all my
> stuff
> supports Tiger.
>
> Maybe it's a slide thing.  Also, I am shooting mostly in New
> Mexico, and we
> have a very strong sun and hence warmer color, and I almost always
> shoot
> outdoors in natural light.
>
> I always use ICE; it saves me a lot of grief.  I don't notice any lost
> resolution from it.
>
> I print only on the watercolor paper, so that is maybe more
> forgiving on the
> resolution issue.  I've been using mostly Fuji 400 neg film, and it
> still
> holds up well on the 12x18, for my style of work.
>
> Berry
>
>
>
>
> On 4/3/06 5:08 PM, "Maurice Rickard" <mrickarx@labyrinth.net.au>
> wrote:
>
>
>> Hi berry,
>>
>> It is just with slides. I haven't scanned any negs yet (since I
>> mostly take slides, Provia, and some early kodachrome (without ICE
>> on.) The saturation and cyan aren't overwhelming, but they are
>> noticeable, compared to the slide under daylight and scanned with the
>> Polaroid/Microtek.
>>
>> I'm not sure what the issue is. My monitor is top of the range (ie.
>> Sony G520 CRT, and there's no obvious calibration problem between it
>> and the scanner). I've scanned with Nikon color management system on
>> and off.
>>
>> Have you compared the neg scans you do with good quality prints of
>> the negs you're scanning?
>>
>> Interested to hear any views. I'm using a Mac G4 under OSX 10.4
>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Maurice
>>
>>
>> On 03/04/2006, at 11:30 PM, Berry Ives wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I have been using the Nikon Coolscan V ED, but only for negatives.
>>> I have
>>> no cyan or saturation problems, nor have I encountered any halo
>>> problems.
>>> Is your experience with this scanner just with slides?
>>>
>>> Berry
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/28/06 7:25 PM, "Maurice Rickard" <mrickarx@labyrinth.net.au>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I was wondering if anyone knew how white LED light sources in film
>>>> and neg scanners (eg. Minolta Dimage Elite 5400 Mk II) compared
>>>> with
>>>> cold cathode flourescent light sources (eg., Elite Mk I, and
>>>> Sprinstcan/artixscan 4000), when it comes to color fidelity.
>>>>
>>>> I've been using a Spintscan 4000 until recently, which I've
>>>> found to
>>>> have v good color fidelity (for slides anyway), but I'm thinking of
>>>> getting a more current alternative (eg. either of the Elites, or
>>>> the
>>>> artixscan 4000tf).
>>>>
>>>> I've had experience with the Nikon Coolscan V ED, with an RGB LED
>>>> light source, but this generally gives me raw scan colors that are
>>>> too saturated and which also err on the side of cyan, with a more
>>>> noticeable blue halo on image-object edges (more prominent than the
>>>> sprintscan anyway).
>>>>
>>>> Any clues or advice appreciated
>>>>
>>>> Maurice
>>>>
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> --
>>>> ---------
>>>> ----------
>>>> Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe
>>>> filmscanners'
>>>> or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the
>>>> message title or
>>>> body
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> --
>>> ------------------
>>> Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe
>>> filmscanners'
>>> or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the
>>> message title or body
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------
>> ----------
>> Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe
>> filmscanners'
>> or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the
>> message title or
>> body
>>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------
> Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe
> filmscanners'
> or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the
> message title or body
>
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe 
filmscanners'
or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or 
body