Nikon coolscan 9000 post process bug

[guillaume1]

I just purchased a Nikon Coolscan 9000 for medium format, and have a

problem with the Nikon Scan software that came with it.

When I try to scan at resolutions of 2500 dpi or more on medium

format, and when I allow for post processing (digital gem), the post

processing phase suddenly stops and displays a message like 'an error

has occured during post processing'. And that's it, no picture comes

out of it.

It also occurs when I scan 35mm slides at 4000 dpi, but I managed to

go around by closing Nikon Scan and opening it again.

Has anyone experiences a similar problem?

Does it have anything to do with my computer power (Athlon 1600, 1.25

Gbytes RAM)? Is the software just that weak?

Any suggestions welcome!

 

Guillaume

[ilkka_nissila]

Nikon hasn't been known for well-debugged software. My Nikon Scan worked flawlessly on the LS-4000 but it sometimes crashes on the LS-5000 and occasionally refuses to complete ICE on the LS-5000). What you need to do is report the problem and exact conditions of its occurrence to Nikon and request that they send the info to Japan.

 

Does VueScan work with your LS-9000? It is an alternative.

[Ed_Ingold]

You may be short of scratch space on you hard drive(s). You are also downsampling at 2500 dpi -- the LS-9000 scans at 4000 dpi then downsamples the output, which increases the memory and computing demands. NikonScan will not upsample.

 

You should use NikonScan as a stand-alone program, rather than as a plugin within memory-hog Photoshop. Make sure your version of NikonScan is up to date, as well as the firmware in the scanner. I haven't had a problem using a 1.5GHz P3 and 850 Mb of RAM with an LS-8000.

 

As a last resort, try un-installing NikonScan and re-installing it after rebooting. A corrupted installation or missing DLL can cause the problems you notice.

[scott_brim]

I've experienced exacty this problem with my Coolscan 5000, as have others who post to this board. I've not been able to solve it. One suggested remedy from Nikon was to disconnect all other USB devices from the computer except the scanner. That has apparently worked for some people. But alas, not for me.

[fred_bonnett2]

I would guess you are running out of memory. Three solutions come to mind: first, run Nikon Scan as a stand alone program rather than out of PhotoShop --- also close all other programs so that Nikon Scan can use all of your computers resources. Second, scan at 8 bits. Third, if the above does not work, increase your RAM to 1.5 to 2.0 gigs.

 

I scan 6x6 film at 4000 ppi on my 8000ED with 1.5 gigs of RAM. Nikon Scan will hang if run under PS but works fine as a stand-alone program when working with such big files.

[mattb1]

Yes, I'm the one they told that it was a USB problem. Haven't really seen it since I removed a cheap hub and I usually disconnect the other USB devices. I also have a AMD processor, one of the 64bit CPUs. I seemed to notice it more when I used DEE, for me ICE and GEM didn't really seem to be a problem.

 

Contact Nikon support.

[fabgo]

Yes, I have the same problem when scanning medium format 6x7 film. I run an Athlon64 3000+ machine w/2GB of RAM, so there should be plenty of resources available. I contacted Nikon support, but they had no clue. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has a solution to this problem.

[fabgo]

I did some further testing, and discovered that 8-bit 6x7 images work fine for me, as do 16-bit 6x6 images. I'm guessing it could be a memory issue, although I already have 2GB????

[fabgo]

The Nikon Scan manual (page 65) actually says that DEE can only be used with images less than 169MB (why 169?). Experimenting quite a bit I found that I can successfully use it with images up to 500MB, but only if I just started Nikon Scan and start a scan without even doing a preview. Once you do a preview, this limit drops quite a bit.

 

Note that this is not a memory issue. I reduced the memory in my desktop from 2GB to 1GB, and the only difference is Nikon Scan now runs much slower.

 

To reduce the image size, open up the crop tab in the toolbox and adjust the slider, DPI or size until the image size is quoted as being less than 500MB.

 

I urge you to contact Nikon Technical Support requesting an update to the Nikon Scan software. If enough people file a request, maybe we will get an update at some point. Their phone number is 1-800-NIKON-UX (1-800-645-6689), menu 1-1-4-1 for Nikon Coolscan 8000/9000 scanners. Or use their online support center.

[king_wong]

The Nikon coolscan 9000 manual also states that if there are other firewire(1394) devices hook up in the same computer as the Nikon scanner( such as a harddrive, printer, or another scanner), the scanner(or the Nikon scan software) may not work properly. The software may unexpectedly quit itself. Turning off the other firewire devices will help.