paul_cousins1

Hi, I have a Nikon LS-30 scanner which has worked well for some time. However, for a while I’ve experienced an

intermittent problem in which the film transport sticks when a neg strip is inserted. There’s no problem with the SA-

20 adapter. I’ve opened the case and the scanning transport appears to become stuck in the fully forward position

rather than its natural resting place at the rear of the transport arms. On a few occasions this has rectified itself on

later power-up, but recently it has become fully stuck. When I power on the step motor tries to move the transport for

about half a second then stops and the unit issues a whining noise. I’ve looked to ensure the transport is not being

stopped physically by anything, and all appears to be well. Is this a known problem with the LS-30 and does

anyone know of a fix for this, or am I to assume the unit is at the end of its working life and look for a replacement?

All advice gratefully received….

Thanks for the advice guys. I thought the camera-specific default settings when auto boxes were unchecked were, in fact, generic. I'd seen the values elsewhere and it seemed too much a coincidence.

I started using Exposure/Shadows/Brightness in ACR once I'd realised that these were effectively the White, Black and Grey points for setting levels, but comparisons showed that I could gain better control over levels in PS, rather than in ACR [where the histogram is smaller]. So once I'd established in ACR that the WB was OK I had planned to complete the rest of the workflow in PS, including setting of levels. Now I realise I can check for white/black clipping in ACR I'll experiment again - setting levels in ACR and re-think the workflow. I certainly plan to have Bridge host ACR.

So......are there any camera-specific settings in ACR?

I've just started to shoot digitally, using ACR in CS2 for raw images.

I'd prefer not to use the ACR auto settings and have unchecked the Auto settings

and saved this as my default. But are the settings I'm left with specific to my

camera or are they general ACR settings?

I have a Fuji S7000 and the ACR settings after Auto settings are unchecked are:

Exposure 0; Shadows 5; Brightess 50; Contrast 25; Saturation 0; Sharpness 25;

Luminance 0; CNR 25

 

If I set all values to 0 as my default then all images appear underexposed, so

how can I find the 'true' raw settings from my camera before editing them in CS2?

All replies gratefully received ....

Thanks Edward. The answer was staring me in the face, but I hadn't noticed the values in the crop toolbar. Once they were cleared, cropping works well with no drastic changes in image size.

I run Photoshop Elements (I believe version 1) and routinely crop

scanned 35mm neg images to 95% or so to tidy up the edges. Since

installing the software on a 2nd PC I find cropping automatically

reduces the image dimensions by a factor of about 8:1

 

For example, I have an 18.3mB tiff of 3084x2071 pixels which after

cropping becomes 700x465 pixels. Resolution remains the same, but

the document size has increased correspondingly from 3.6 x 2.4 cm to

24.7 x 16.4 cm.

 

I know it�s possible to maintain pixel dimensions because I�ve done

this routinely on the original PC. I assume I have a default setting

incorrect, but I can�t find anything in Preferences. How do I

maintain the original image dimensions when cropping? All posts

gratefully received.

Thanks Don. I cleaned both top and bottom mirrors several times using lens tissue and lens cleaning fluid. It's a job best suited to a 3-handed, small-fingered extremely patient mutation of our current human form [must remember to evolve more quickly]. But after several sweeps, as you suggested, my scans are now clear and free of halo effects. Now I've got the hang of it and I know the scanner's functioning well I'll order pure ethanol/methanol for the future.

Thanks Don - I was beginning to wonder if I had to replace the scanner because of my own stupidity. I'll have several runs at cleaning the mirror. The position is awkward and I'm weighing up whether to dismantle the assembly to get good access [which means drilling out a smallgrub screw which is burred in the top plate]or whether to try with the mirror in situ. Two steps back, one step forward....

Will post again in a week or so.

Thanks Bob. The LS-30 has a mirror set at 45 degrees below the neg transport system. There was no obvious means of adjusting the mirror and I've not seen any posts/articles on mirror alignment for this scanner [or the LS-2000 which is similar]. So am I right in assuming that once misaligned it's not possible to repair it?

I decided to clean my Nikon LS-30 because I was getting a lot of halo

effects and focus problems on one half of the scan. Air cleaning to

the mirror didn't improve things (but they were no worse)so I applied

isopropyl alcohol to the mirror with a cotton bud. Now I can't

achieve focus at all and the whole scan is considerably worse. How

can I rectify this?

All posts gratefully received....<div></div>

I've recently started using a Nikon LS30 scanner with Nikon Scan 3.1

software for my 35mm negs. I'm using sRGB colour space and I've

calibrated my monitor [TFT, but not laptop]. I've noticed a green

cast on the scanned results for Kodak. How can I adjust the tonal

quality at the scanning stage and are there published correction

values for each type of film? All comments welcomed by this digital

darkroom newbie - thanks

Thanks for your help Edward. I hadn't realised access to scan size was through the Crop function. As a computer darkroom newbie I'd planned to leave cropping till later, once I'd got the hang of managing full-size images - so I hadn't investigated it before posting this request.

I've just acquired a second-hand Nikon LS-30 scanner and I'm using

Nikon Scan v3.1.2 software. There are no control drawers as stated in

the manual. Most of these functions are covered by the tools palette,

BUT there appears to be no way to change the default scan size -

which is 7mB+ as a tif. Has anyone else encountered this problem and

is there a way round it? All help gratefully received.