Scans are really dark, Nikon V

[byron_fry1]

<p>All the scans I seem to be getting with the Nikon V seem really dark. However, when I put the slide in a projector or hold it up to light, then there is a lot of information there. Anyone have any tips?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Byron</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

<p>What do the histograms look like/ How are you scanning?</p>

<p>One easy way to make a better quality scan is to use your histogram in your scanning software. It is very much like levels in Photoshop.<br>

For slides, leave the black clipping point (indicated by the position of the triangle on the left end of the histogram) at zero but bring in the white clipping point (indicated by the triangle on the right side at the bottom of the histogram) to just about 5 points beyond the right end of the "mountain range". Moving the middle triangle has an effect on the gamma or mid tone brightness of the scan but you want to be very conservative with how you use it.</p>

<p>Better ways involve scanning at 16 bit per channel depth, using a very large color space to scan in, and using Silverfast AI Studio scanning software ( it isn't cheap) in conjunction with one of the SilverFast E-6 targets to profile your scanner.</p>

[dangoldman]

<p>I would adjust the analog gain and maybe turn up the gamma control in the settings, and turn off color management and deal with it in PS. If it is still coming up dark, sometimes using the 'digital restoration' thing can help, but be careful with that one, it can do some wack things to the colors...</p>