Film scanner, Nikon ls2000, very grainy

[karl_wertanen]

<p>I hope i'm in the right forum...<br>

I just bought a refurbished Nikon LS2000 Film Scanner.. It produces super sharp images... the problem i'm having is that i cant seem to find a way to smooth the grain.. the results of the graininess are acceptable on the monitor but when taken to the lab for printing it's super grainy. is ther eanyone w/one of these scanners that has had this problem? and if so, is there a remedy?<br>

Thank you in advance for any responses.<br>

Karl W</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Are you scanning at the full resolution of the scanner? Scan at 2700 dpi, and downscale in your photo editor. Scanning at less than the full resolution of the scanner will greatly exacerbate grain aliasing.</p>

 

[photo5]

<p>film has grain, that's why it's film...</p>

[karl_wertanen]

<p>Dave<br>

i know it has grain.. when i take my negative to the lab for enlargements, they come back clear. when i scan here, then take media to the lab, comes back grainy. therefore, it has to do w/my scanner settings and not the film itself. </p>

[karl_wertanen]

<p>Thanks for the response John..<br>

i believe i am. here is the info.<br>

crop is:<br>

W:2,504 H:3,737 in pixels<br>

output size is:<br>

8"x12" inches<br>

26.8 MBytes<br>

scale:866.95%<br>

and resolution is:<br>

311.4 pixels per inch<br>

when ever i change the output size, it directly changes the resolution in pixels. the larger output size i shoot for, the less pixel size.</p>

<p>are you saying i should not mess w/output size and just scan it and send it to my editor program? <br>

thanks again, and forgive me for i'm new to the digital world lol.</p>

[link]

<p>Yep, this scanner will really show the grain, especially with B&W negatives.</p>

<p>When I owned it, though, I never found it too objectionable. I even upgraded to the LS8000 medium format scanner. The LS8000 shows a bit less graininess though.</p>

<p>I do have one suggestion though: Keep your scanner covered to prevent dust from getting inside when not in use. The dust will really effect the quality of the scans.</p>

[je ne regrette rien]

<p><strong>Karl</strong>,<br>

I experienced exactly the same problem. Most evidently, good film scanners enhance grain.<br>

The there is another element: the higher the ISO of the film, the more grain. ISO 50 will show you very little grain in comparison with ISO 400.<br>

That much grain never shows on optical prints.<br>

So, grain on film scan is something I am afraid we have to accept.<br>

What I do, is to activate the grain reduction feature of the scanning software at its highest setting. I loose some detail, but it helps.</p>

<p>And then I came across a photo sample here through photo.net where the photographer managed to find an excellent solution to film grain.<br>

I promise I will investigate the matter further and give you some feedback.</p>

<p>Regards,<br>

Luca</p>

[plasma181]

<p>I have the LS-2000 that I bought used off eBay. I started out using the Nikon software, but I switched over to VueScan which is superior. I'm not sure why the grain is so bad, but you can try the grain reduction that comes with VueScan, or you can try another software to smooth it out. </p>

<p>The majority of my portfolio was scanned with the LS-2000. </p>

[karl_wertanen]

<p>BG,<br>

Thanks, I will keep it covered. Good tip.</p>

<p>Luca,<br>

Thanks for the response. I'm scanning Kodak Royal gold 25 which has very fine grain.. unfortunately, the ls2000 does not have the grain reduction option on it. (GEM)<br>

Les,<br>

i answered your questions above.. I'll look into those programs. thanks!!!</p>

<p>Robert,<br>

Is Vuescan something that takes the place of the nikon software? or is it a seperate program that adds another stop along the way aditional to the nikon software?</p>

<p>Thanks again for all the responses and time taken!<br>

I'll see if i can get a pic up today.. yesterday i tried to get an example up and every time i hit "submit", it would say "error 505" or something like that and would not let me upload. i just tried it again today and same thing. cannot upload a photo.</p>

<p> </p>

[photo5]

<p>When you print an image, the print will often smooth the grain a lot. I was surprised when I scanned some Fuji NPS 160 negatives way back in the day when I was in school (we're talking 1998 here). I was using a Nikon Coolscan LS3000 connected to a Mac G3/233 at school back then. The prints I had were nearly grainless, but the scans were grainy as heck. Slides scan with less grain than negs. </p>

[bob_himmelright]

<p>are you by chance using a lab that utilizes fuji equipment? Image intellegence, which is applied to digital images unless it's turned off by the operator does NASTY things to the grain of scanned films. Ask and check.</p>

[chrisnielsen]

<p>"Is Vuescan something that takes the place of the nikon software? or is it a seperate program that adds another stop along the way aditional to the nikon software?"</p>

<p>Vuescan takes the place of the Nikon software but can have a fairly steep learning curve of it's own<br>

<br /></p>

[randall_pukalo]

<p>I'm going to depart from the crowd, and say the problem is indeed your film scanner. It is an early consumer model, and its point light source greatly exaggerates grain. The Minolta 5400 solved this issue by using a diffusion plate between the light source and the film. The Coolscan 9000 does this using a light pipe to spread out the the light. $25,000 professional minilab scanners such as the Noritsu or Kodak f235 Plus use large area light sources/lamps to smooth out the light. The result is the "slide projector effect" or "optical print effect" where grain is reduced. Think of it llike this" a point light source will "cast shadows" on the microscopic roughnesss of the grain, while a large diffuse beam of light melts the grain away.<br>

Only way to solve this is to get a better scanner, or use software to smear away the grain and degrade the image.</p>

[sebastianmoran]

<p>Karl, I was dismayed by the grain in the first scans I did. Two things helped...</p>

<p>First, find a copy of Bruce Fraser's "Real World Sharpening with Photoshop CS2." Yup, CS2. Read his chapter about noise reduction for film grain. You have to be able to use unsharp mask and similar routines to make a good image from a scan, and you have to diminish the grain in order to sharpen. Or, use a noise reduction product (e.g. Noise Ninja).</p>

<p>Second, looking at a 100% crop of film vs. a current digital camera is bad for your confidence. The film crop will look awful. Follow Fraser's steps, make a print, and judge the result from the print, not the 100% crop. Film has it's qualities, and you'll be able to get good prints from your scans.</p>