Minolta 5400 green lines show in prints :-(

[tolga_yurek]

I recently purchased a new Minolta 5400 (version 1). After spending

the return period playing with IT8 calibration, I finally got it

nicely profiled. The first set of slides I scanned had dark

backgrounds (they were portrait shots I took for a friend). I scanned

them at 5400 dpi, 16bit linear with ICE (and GD of course) using

Minolta's software (version 1.1.5). I scanned about 20 slides each

scan taking about 5 minutes. All frames after the first one or two

show the dreaded green lines (1 pixel wide) across the length of the

frame. I can see them in Photoshop starting at 33% view. I was very

much hoping that they would not be visible in prints. I asked a friend

to print one with his Epson 4000 on Epson luster paper. Unfortunately

at 16x24", the green lines are as visible as they were on my monitor.

I had applied some sharpening to the image (amount 300, radius 0.3,

threshold 0) but that's something I expect to do often.

 

I cannot return the scanner since it's been 2 months now. Has anybody

found a solution? The green lines are always at fixed distances with

respect to each other, so I don't know if a photoshop action can be

easily engineered to take care of them at once. I'm using the latest

Minolta software version (1.1.5) but this sounds like it's a hardware

problem looking at the posts I have read before. I am planning to

make large prints (up to 24x36") from my slides and most of my

images are taken with a solid tripod and this is the reason why I had

chosen Minolta over the 4000 dpi Nikons. Now I'm thinking if I should

swallow the $500 I paid for the Minolta and switch to a Nikon 5000

before it's too late (I have not started to archive my slide

collection)...

 

Thanks and best regards.

[jpursley]

Also, can you post a sample? I've never had this problem with the 5400 and am curious to see it.

 

It sounds like the problem could be electronic interference - have you tried isolating the scanner from sources of electronic noise? A lot of scanners (not just the 5400) are sensitive to other electronic equipment and anything with a motor. Try isolating the scanner as much as possible on its own power circuit and USB hub. Ideally you'll also want the scanner physically distant from sources of noise.

 

Please let us know if that helps...

[tolga_yurek]

I'm attaching a 100% crop. Three of the vertical lines are visible here.

The scanner is connected to its own firewire port. It's also connected to an exclusive wall power socket. It's sitting next to my computer case though. I don't know if electrical interference would result in what

I'm seeing. The lines are always in the same position. It looks like

some CCD pixels are saturated, though I'm not an expert in this area.

I will try moving the scanner away from the PC.<div></div>

[erik scanhancer]

These lines usually indicate that certain CCD-pixels are flipping out because the light levels

are too low for a healthy response. (I see red and blue lines too.) What happened when you

disengaged the GD? 5 minutes for a full res scan with GD seems pretty short to me. A longer

exposure might solve the problem. Other solutions might be multi-sampling or using

Vuescan's Long Pass. Also a new (brighter) lamp comes to mind. On the big brother of the

5400, the Multi Pro I have an external power supply that can boost the lamp a bit in cases

where I have to deal with very dark slides, although I usually don't need it. Brings down my

scantimes a bit too, so I do like to use it anyway.

[tolga_yurek]

The lines continue through the bright parts of the image. Do you think once the pixel flips out, it's not recovered when more light starts to hit it? I haven't tried turning GD off when the problem occurs. I will try that (full res scans take about a minute without GD). I'll also try the multipass. Thanks for the suggestions.

[graham_sheppard1]

Do you have the latest version of the firmware? Minolta fixed up some of this in the latest release. I still occasionally get the lines so I think I use the Median filter (?) in Elements 2.0 which usually clears them up.

 

Good Luck

[wilfred_van_der_vegte1]

Since it doesn't happen with each first slide(s) it may be a calibration issue: after scanning the first slide the lamp has heated up and the scanner needs to be recalibrated. In the Minolta software there is a keystroke combination to re-initialize the scanner.

Windows - Press Ctrl, Shift, and i keys simultaneously.

Macintosh - Press Command, Shift, and i keys simultaneously.

Perhaps you should try this after scanning the first or second slide.

[patrick_p]

Tolga,<br>

 

You're in luck, I have a plug-in that will fix these annoying lines for you. I posted them about a month ago. <br><br>

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00D9bv

<br><br>

These lines were really bad in the early drive versions but the newer driver (I think v1.5 or something) resolved this problem for me in 90% of my scans. For those 10% it was still useful. <br><br>

 

BTW, I tried every imaginable combination of settings and nothing made the lines disappear. For me they didn't appear in the same place, they were random. I think they are a form of noise in the CCD, but not sure. If it really bothers you, sell your 5400 and get a Nikon, like I did.<br><br>

 

Good luck,<br>

Patrick - <a href="http://www.patrickperon.com">www.patrickperon.com</a>

[mary_gerlach2]

I too get the lines in the scan. People have been trying to tell me it is in the printer. I can actually see the lines in the scan,on the computer screen, especially in the dark area. My scanner is a HP 4670. I know, it's not a real film scanner, but it's all I've got right now. Someone said something about CCD. I don't know what that means. Do you suggest that I go to HP website and look for an upgrade to the driver> A friend loaned me his Pacific Image 3600 film scanner, but I can't find much about it. Do any of you have any experience with PI? Thanks..

[graham_sheppard1]

Patrick, thanks for the link to those plug ins. I will give them a go, although the lines aren't as frequent with the latest firmware.

 

Cheers,

[tolga_yurek]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Patrick, the filters you provided worked wonders! They completely removed the colored lines, even the faintest ones without leaving a trace! Minolta should provide them in their next firmware release. You are correct that they should be applied before any image manipulation, especially sharpening. Heavy sharpening artifacts sometimes cause the filters to leave a banding pattern behind (still better than the green lines). Before any manipulation though, the filters work like magic. Thanks again!

 

I did also rescan some of the problem slides, but this time the lines

were very faint (the first two scans again had no lines, but I had not read Wilfred's post yet then, so I did not try recalibrating the scanner). I did test Erik's suggestion of turning GD off to increase the amount of light and it did help. With no GD, the lines sometimes

disappeared altogether or were even fainter, so the root cause of the problem may indeed involve low light levels/exposure time. The current status is that I will keep my Minolta 5400 and start archiving my collection. Thanks everyone for helping me out. Patrick's filters completely remedy the problem.

[erik scanhancer]

Patrick, is there a way to run those plugins on a PSCS Mac version as well? I would like to

experiment with them, but couldn't get them to work.

[patrick_p]

Sorry Eric, I've got no idea. I know very little about Macs. I've seen sites offering Mac and PC versions of plugins so it may not be possible.

[orlando_roman]

i too am having a similar problem with a minolta film sacnner (scan dual IV) but my vertical lines are NOT 1 or two pixels wide. they are entire vertical chunks of the image that displaced and or discolored. example: <img src="http://tinypic.com/epnms0.jpg" alt="BAD scan">

 

anyone know anything about this?