carl_pearson1

Using a slide copier would be a quick way a grab a digital image of a slide, but not very high quality. ICE is very important when it comes to scanning film, you want to use it. There is no way that method can touch the results a dedicated film scanner can produce. This is very important if you want to make large prints, you want as much data as possible. If you only have a few hundred I can help you out.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson </a>

I agree, too much jpeg compression. If you take the time to scan a negative on a flatbed save it as a TIFF so you have as much data as possible.

I also think you've got a dirty mirror. It's strange that you noticed the problem after switching OS's. Maybe your video card and screen on the laptop were not showing the problem? Some do a very poor job at displaying images. Just a thought.<br><br>

 

Here a page I've put together on film scanner cleaning, it's not specific for your model but it may help, links at bottom: <a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com/ls5000cleaning.html" target="_blank">http://www.pearsonimaging.com/ls5000cleaning.html</a>

I think it will be, at the very least, another year before we hear about a new model lineup. The LS-50, 5000, and 9000 will be here for a while.

1) Use decent media<br>

2)

Burn data slightly slower than the drives full speed<br>

3) Check files after the burn...first and last are most important<br>

<strong>4)</strong> DO NOT write on the media at all, do not place any label on the media...label the cases<br>

5)

Store your media in plastic cases, slim or full size<br>

6) Avoid temperature extremes<br>

7) Make backups ...with hard drives at all time low prices have a dedicated drive(s) just for archive material<br>

8) Check your media periodically ...nothing lasts forever</p>

<p>Those are some important things relating to data storage IMO just off the top of my head. #4 is extremely important for long term storage. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

It's not necessarily a bad scan, I can't tell you that unless I have the slide to compare it too. Scanning is the first stage in the digital workflow...image capture. As others have said, you need to make adjustments. I do basic color adjustments free of charge for my customers, it's too bad not every lab does this. Good luck with your adjustments.<br><br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

IMO a good scan picks up everything that you're scanning, the good and the bad. In other words, a good scan is a perfect one for one copy of the original. Once you have that digital copy of the original then you can manipulate and improve it.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a></p>

B&H is always a good choice, but you have to pay shipping. I bought mine from <a href="http://www.wolfcamera.com" target="_blank">wolfcamera.com</a>; an authorized Nikon dealer. They offer free shipping and there is no tax for most people. I haven't seen any deals so far, you will be lucky just to get one in stock. Expect to pay about $2000 for it.</p><p>Carl Pearson<br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">www.pearsonimaging.com</a></p>

I scan professionally and always recommend ICE to my customers. ICE is a wonderful technology that works extremely good. If you have it I would use it! Of course you should still clean the film as much as possible before the scan, ICE usually takes care of the rest. Take a look at my <a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com/gallery.html" target="_blank">customer galleries</a> to see for yourself, all the images there are ICE scans and they have not been sharpened. <br>

<br>

Carl Pearson<br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">www.pearsonimaging.com</a></p>

I have been using Dreamweaver since version 3 so I have a little experience with it. You should start by simply going through the tutorials that are built into the program. Click "Help > Getting Started and Tutorials." If you can't find what you're looking for there then do google searches until you find your answer. Do not use frames for your site. A good site takes time to design and build, then you need content. Feel free to browse my site, I only use Dreamweaver MX.<br><br>

Carl Pearson<br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">www.pearsonimaging.com</a></p>

Rob, have you considered hiring a professional to scan your slides? It sounds like this would be an excellent option for you since you said you don't want to take the time and effort. I scan professionally and would be happy to help you with your project. I can even create a very nice DVD slideshow for you from the slides so you can view them on your TV. People hire me because scanning does take a lot of time and effort. Did I mention that this route will probably be cheaper! Take a look around my website, I think there is a lot of information that will be helpful to you. <br><br>

Carl Pearson<br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">www.pearsonimaging.com</a></p>

Francis,<br><br>

Do not get the liner notes printed at Kinkos! If he's serious about releasing a CD he needs to invest some money into the duplication and printing. I have recorded and released two CD's so I know a little about this. For the printing and duplication you need to plan on $1000 as the absolute minimum. Both of my CD's ended up costing much more because we decided to have more pages in the liner notes.<br><br>

I also say to get your digital camera back. You'll save a lot of time and money if you can view the pics right away. Plus you won't have to scan the film.<br><br>

Pricing this whole deal is complicated because you're talking about so many different things. I would suggest charging a small hourly fee and also making sure to get credit in the liner notes for your photography. If you do the graphic design for the liner notes that would be a separate charge. Since you're young and you haven't done this before you really can't charge too much. It's better that you get the experience and something to add to your portfolio.<br><br>

Doing a CD is a LOT of work. Good luck!<br><br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

Good question, I looked into it a little and can't even find an answer on the ASF website. However, you do know that ICE does work with C-41 process B&W film, right?<br><br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

Some people say that the auto-feeder jams and others don't have a problem; either way you have to keep an eye on it. I have a LS-5000 and have done 10,000+ scans on it so far, without the auto-feeder. You know, for the price of buying this scanner you could probably have me scan everything for you. This may be of interest to you, <a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com/whynotdiy.html" target="_blank">professional scanning vs. scanning yourself</a>.

<br>

<br>

The scan speed is actually less than 2 minutes per slide. It ranges between 1 minute and 1.5 minutes per scan. Those are average times if you're scanning manually and are concentrated on the scanning workflow. My guess is that the average scan times are more like 2 minutes per scan with the SF-210. The auto mechanism cannot be faster than switching slides manually. Of course, it may jam up to and that costs even more time.<br>

<br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

Alex, it sounds like you have 126 negatives. Your best option is to use the FH-3 film strip holder. Now even if you use that some of the negative will be cropped out. This is because the aperture of the 5000 is designed for 35mm film and 126 frames are just slightly wider.

Yup, NS4 is an improvement over NS3. In addition to what you've already said I think it's more stable.

If your scans have been degrading in sharpness or you've been getting a lot of flare cleaning may help. I decided to clean mine because I was starting to notice more flare in my scans. Also, I do a lot of scanning because this is my business. The more scanning you do the more likely the mirror in your scanner is dirty. You don't need to clean the scanner all the time, but you should once in a while. Maybe it should be cleaned every 10,000 scans or once a year; it just depends on how you use it and how concerned you are about the scan quality.

Johann, if you actually remove the mirror you'll be able to get it much cleaner.<br><br>

My scanner lens had no dust on it. This is probably due to the fact that the lens sits in the scanner vertically, it's also further in the scanner.

I wanted to announce that I have put together a tutorial on how to

clean a Nikon scanner. It is aimed specifically at the Nikon Super

Coolscan 5000 ED, but the procedure will also work on the LS-4000.

It <em>should</em> also work on the LS-40 and LS-50, but I cannot

say for sure. These instructions could save you a couple hundred

dollars but it will take some of your time. Be sure to read my

disclaimer for this procedure before attempting it; you assume ALL

responsibility. It may void your warranty and there is a possibility

of breaking your scanner.<br><br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com/ls5000cleaning.html"

target="_blank">How to Clean a Nikon Scanner</a><br><br>

I thought of a few questions during the process of writing up this

tutorial:<br>

-Does anyone know if you can buy a new mirror from Nikon or a Nikon

service center?<br>

-Does anyone have any other additional resources, related to

cleaning a Nikon scanner, that I could add to the ones listed at the

bottom of my tutorial?<br><br>

Carl Pearson<br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com"

target="_blank">www.pearsonimaging.com</a>

Sorry, it looks like the thumbnail size is fixed. I was thinking slides in my last post for some reason, nevermind that one.

Enlarging the scan preview window is the first step. The second is to enlarge the thumb preview tab. Just click and drag a corner to make it bigger.<br><br><a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

You just click each image you want to scan by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking.<br><br>

If you were originally referring to multi-sample scanning the Coolscan V doesn't allow that, only the 5000. Multi-sample scanning is having the scanner do multiple passes on the same image.

I have a 5000 ED and you can multi-scan with Silverfast. Since the V ED is very similar I would say you can multi-scan with Silverfast using this scanner as well. It would be pretty poor if you payed $350 for software and you couldn't multi-scan ;)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

I tried Vuescan with my 5000 and did not like it. Yeah it has lots of options, but I thought the scans were not that great. Slide scans were decent but not any better than using Nikon Scan. Negative scans were extremely poor. After testing Silverfast Ai 6 with the 5000 I've found that negative scans are best with that. However it does not support all the features of the 5000, so I'm not sure $350 is justified. At this point in time, I'm sticking with Nikon Scan.<br><br>

Every scan I do I adjust the color balance post scan. This provides me with excellent results. I recently scanned some Velvia slides for a customer and they turned out wonderful. I did not have any trouble with them. Use your light box, your eyes, and your judgement as to what looks good and you'll get good scans ;)<br><br>

<a href="http://www.pearsonimaging.com" target="_blank">Carl Pearson</a>

They'll fit, but you cannot scan the entire frame.