[filmscanners] vuescan and the minolta 5400II

["gary" <lists@lazygranch.com>]

Glad the list is back.

I've had more time to use the latest version of Vuescan with the Minolta
5400 II, running under x64. As I mentioned before, the only special
feature you get to carry over from the Minolta software is the IR dust
and scratch removal feature. That is the only thing I used anyway, so no
big loss. [Minolta provides grain reduction, which I don't think is very
good. You can get better grain/noise reduction using pixelinsight
<http://pleiades-astrophoto.com/doc/LE/index.html>. ]

Vuescan doesn't show any of the odd banding that was present in older
versions. The multisampling seems to run a bit faster under vuescan than
the minolta driver, but I don't know if that has to do with X64. [If Ed
is reading this, maybe he could compile a version for 64 bits only, hint
hint.]

At this point, I see no need to go back to the Minolta driver. My only
regret is I don't see this now obsolete scanner being blown out for
pennies on the dollar. I like it enough that I'd get a spare since
repairs may be hard to come by.

This is where I got mine a few months ago:
<http://www.hotbuyselectronics.com/item_detail.php?item_id=110129>

I suppose I can upload some better scans (more artistic), but here is
something I did recently with the 5400 II and Fuji Astia 100F. Beale Air
Force Base had a U2 trainer (basically a 2 seater U-2 spy plane) on
display. Normally these planes are roped off, but this one had the steps
there so you could see into the cockpit. Cool I thought. Of course, I
didn't bring a polarizer to get rid of glare, nor a flash (which I'm not
sure would have helped). I took this photo, glare and all:
http://www.lazygranch.com/images/airshows/beale2006/u2raw.jpg
Using oversampling to minimize noise in the dark areas, tweaking the
curves and perspective correction, I got this image:
http://www.lazygranch.com/images/airshows/beale2006/u2cp1.jpg




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