julien_boudreau

<p>It turns out my friend was selling me a Nikon Coolscan V ED. After a few test scans I can say it certainly exceeds my expectations. I'm having a lot of trouble with fuji colour film, but as far as getting a "raw" scan file, it's a great machine. My TriX in Rodinal negs are coming out crisp with tight grain. </p>

<p>I also purchased Vuescan and have been playing around with it. </p>

<p>The only remaining piece of the puzzle is a decent monitor. I only have a few hundred dollars to spend here so I'm looking to buy used or big sales. </p>

<p>Any recommendations for a decent monitor in the $200-$300 range?</p>

<p>Julien</p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies and advice, </p>

<p>I picked up the Coolscan V yesterday and purchased Viewscan professional - I didn't even think that scans of this quality were possible. To say that I'm impressed is an understatement. The resolution and tonal range that the Coolscan produces is the perfect version of a "digital negative". The only time I saw grain so sharp was in a darkroom. </p>

<p>Now to learn about colour correction!</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>With the minolta and vuescan, it seems that I can use multi pass scanning. Is this possible with the Coolscan series? Is it a software issue or hardware?</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Apparantly, it's a Nikon Coolscan V ED that I'm getting! He also has the bulk feeder adapter that comes with it.</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Does vuescan allow one to scan at different exposures? I wasn't able to do so using the minolta software, which was frustrating. With the V500 and the epson software I had more control on the exposure of the scan, or so it seeme. </p>

<p>I will have to explore viewscan to see what I can do. </p>

<p>Thanks, </p>

<p>How does the dynamic range of the Coolscan compare to the new scanners such as the Epson or Plustek models? </p>

<p>Even the Minolta gets more resolution than the V500, so the Coolscan IV will be sufficient. However, there's a lot of noise in the shadows (blocked) that I didn't see on the V500 scans. </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Thanks for all the thorough replies, </p>

<p>I am picking up a Nikon Coolscan IV this week and have just purchased Vuescan 9 Professional. This should take care of the scanning end (?)</p>

<p>I also built a rendering machine last year, a good solid i7 processor that I'm dedicating to this project. All I need is a decent monitor and learn to calibrate it. I think for this winter I will focus on learning to scan properly and editing. I'll get my friend to print a few of them on his high end Epson. </p>

<p>One question; The Coolscan IV is a 12 bit scanner? Are the newer scanners, such as the Plustek 7600 any higher? </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>David, </p>

<p>I will do so. I'll have Vuescan for both the Minolta and the Coolscan IV, so it might be interesting to compare. If the coolscan performs better, I'll probably sell the Minolta and purchase some more film. </p>

<p>My friend has the V700 so we're going to try that one with the Coolscan IV as well. </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Again, I don't have a problem with grain, as long as it's "natural" to the emulsion. I even develop BW in Rodinal sometimes!</p>

<p>That image was Fuji Superia 400 - not the best emulsion around but I generally get good results. When I get it scanned and printed at the local camera shop, there's very little grain. That being said, they might be using grain reduction software, so it's somewhat of an unfair comparison.</p>

<p>Overall I just want the most detailed / accurate scan possible. If there's grain, then there's grain.</p>

<p>Picking up the Coolscan on thursday,</p>

<p>J</p>

<p> </p>

<p>And to be clear, I don't mind grain. Just felt the minolta was a bit much, but then again I didn't use any grain reduction. Once I have vuescan, I'm sure I'll get a better appreciation for these scanners. </p>

<p>Still curious about the Plustek 7600 compared to a Coolscann IV</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies!</p>

<p>I will purchase the Coolscan IV - he had it running in pristine condition recently. He's a very meticulous photographer and keeps all his equipment serviced and clean. I am also purchasing Vuescan, so this will be a good opportunity to learn the software with the coolscan IV. <br>

The issue I had with the V500 was that it couldn't resolve grain at all - it was just blurry blobs at the grain level. This being said, it seemed to have a good dynamic range and I never had problems with blotchy shadows - is it possible that the V500/600 have better DR than the Minolta Scan Dual II and the Nikon Coolscan IV?</p>

<p>Here's an example of the grain I'm talking about with the minolta;</p>

<p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/49215063@N05/8248112267/in/photostream</p>

<p>Is this excessive or am I just used to the V500/V600 blur?</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>I was surprised by the shadow blocking in the minolta - the lack of "exposure control" is what I find really frustrating. My negs don't have a lot of contrast, and I do this on purpose. In fact, there is lots of shadow detail. But the minolta seems to vary based on the image.</p>

<p>I want to purchase the coolscan, I just want to make sure it's money well spent. As long as it's better than the V500 I had (I wasn't happy at all). </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I was recently given a Minolta Scan Dual II and have had some limited success using the minolta software. BW blocks very easily in the shadows, and colour shows rather harsh grain.</p>

<p>I have a friend selling a perfectly working Coolscan IV for $150 - is this a worthwhile purchase? Am I getting an improvement? Should I just save my money for the Coolscan 4000 or the Plustek 7600? I'm starting to have a lot of negatives and would really like to start scanning with the intent of eventually getting proper 8X12 prints. I mostly shoot colour negatives and TriX.</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>One of my big problems is getting the tone curve right. In the darkroom, even if I'm using split filtering, the mid tones seem to just fall into place. In photoshop, not so much. </p>

<p>I have a small air compressor on my to buy list as well. So far not too many problems with dust, since I built a cabinet</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I have been shooting film for almost 3 years now, and that started with about a year in a darkroom. I mostly shoot TriX (in Rodinal 1+50) for BW work, and various colour emulsions for the rest. </p>

<p>I have recently acquired a Minolta Dual Scan II, and I'm getting a Coolscan IV from a friend in a few days. As far as scanning goes, I'm sure I can get good results from the Coolscan IV and Vuescan. </p>

<p>I am also quite familiar with photoshop and illustrator. However, I am having a hard time getting the same tones I'm use to getting in the darkroom with my BW negs. I know it can't be replicated, but many properly printed photography books still achieve the rich mid tone range that I attribute to darkroom printing. </p>

<p>I have been playing around with levels and curves, but I'm open to starting from scratch as I'm setting up a small photo hobby studio at the moment and would like to eventually print on an epson inkjet with proper BW inks. </p>

<p>Any suggestions? Workflow? Software?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance, </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Sorry, fixed link;</p>

<p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/49215063@N05/8254504649/in/photostream/lightbox/</p>

<p>Also, a friend is willing to sell me a Coolscan IV for a good price - is there much difference between the Scan Dual II and Coolscan IV?</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>About Vuescan;</p>

<p>How much will it improve image quality? I'm starting to get better BW scans from the minolta software. The grain seems natural, and these are Tri-X in Rodinal which is a fairly grainy combination.</p>

<p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/49215063@N05/8255504786/in/photostream/lightbox/</p>

<p>I'm finding that the shadows 'block' fairly easily, and I see that vuescan has a multi exposure tool. Does the multi-exposure help bring out shadow details that are on the negs?</p>

<p>Also, any recommendations on how to get that really smooth silver look to scanned negs? I'm use to darkroom work, and just learning the digital scanning rocess.</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Is there a demo version of Vuescan without the watermarks all over the image?<br>

<br />I tried scanning various emulsions and speeds and they all turn out quite grainy. I'm not ready to give up on the scanner yet - but there's a Nikon Coolscan 4000 for sale in the city. </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Just to show an example, here's an image scanned with the Minolta:</p>

<p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/49215063@N05/8248112267/in/photostream/lightbox/</p>

<p>And here's one with the V500, which seems to be much better?</p>

<p>

<p>Both 400 speed film.</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Thanks, </p>

<p>Been playing around with it for a few hours. I had some images scanned on a V500 a while back - it seems that the minolta has more resolution but LOADS of grain! I'm using the bundled software. I downloaded vuescan but it has watermarks all over the image. </p>

<p>Julien</p>