filmscanners: pushing dynamic range on the nikon 4000ed

[Wayne Williams <wayne_williams@mac.com>]

hello to all,

after a year and a half of following this list and waiting for the right
scanner, for me the nikon, i made the plunge and put together a system.

my specific questions relate to extending the dynamic range of the nikon
using a work flow that involves bypassing nikon color management and
building profiles using monaco ez color per bruce fraizer's recommendations
- his recommendation was for profiling not monaco's solution specifically.

so here is my work flow:

nikon 4000 ed (slides) to mac g4 w. photoshop 6.0 to epson 1280.

monaco ez color to build the scanner profile and monitor profile (with
hardware sensor)

i'm relying on epson's supplied icc profile for premium glossy paper and
their ink.

so bruce indicated that dynamic range was considerably improved by using the
scanner rgb space, which emulates no nikon color management, and building a
scanner profile for slides.  also, nikon 3.1 seemed to break something with
the scanner rgb space such that dynamic range was compromised in comparison
to 3.0.  nikon does not support 3.0 so i have tried to simply use a profile
from turning color management off and using 3.1 and no color management.

i'm in a tinkering mode to optimize dynamic range and would like to compare
notes with someone who is using a similar workflow.  questions relate to
gamma setting w/o nikon color management, experiences with 3.0 vs. 3.1,
scanner rgb vs. no color managment, photoshop workflow (assigning profiles,
printing), etc.

i also want to HIGHLY compliment monaco tech support.  i worked with a
gentlemen named tom clough and it is probably the best support experience
that i have engaged.  i ended up having a bad monitor sensor and tom went
through many iterations to help out.

i'm close with matching color through my system - just going after detail
throughout the tonal spectrum!

wayne williams
boulder colorado