[filmscanners] comments on using NikonScan/PC

["Ed Verkaik" <verkaik@sympatico.ca>]

Fellow scanners,

I've been using NikonScan on a 4000ED for a few months now, getting
better each day. I just want to make a few general comments for those
who might be new to this software.

First, it is surprisingly flexible and simple, and I find it easier to
do most adjustments to curves, etc. before scanning. Then I save as NEF
16bit, come back to the file later and tweak a bit more, resave as TIFF.
For focus, the spot check is very handy and it never strays more than
about 7 points across the film, usually only 3 points (most are
cardboard mounts).  I use ICE normal for everything now, after trying to
turn it off on Kodachromes and getting 30+ minute spotting jobs!  But...
to my surprise... I have only seen one artifact so far, so ICE works
fine with most Kodachromes! (Thanks to Jack Phipps for suggesting that I
leave it on.)  The hardest thing to correct is polarized wideangle shots
where the corners are darker. My PS7 skills aren't up to that yet!

Do any of you regularly use GEM or USM "on" for standard scanning?

A simple question about use of curves and the histogram...  If I just
want more light (after clipping black/white point) I usually move the
greypoint slider to the left, then sometimes adjust the resulting curve
for one end or the other on the range. I have noticed, that the output
value for greypoint changes with the slider but not if you change the
curve directly. The true number still changes further, doesn't it...
just Nikon has opted to let its value stay the same when the curve line
is changed?

For those using this software, what do you do for adjusting contrast or
brightness?
Thanks, and hope this is of interest to some of you.
Ed Verkaik


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