Scanning workflow with Nikon 5000

[Nigelfrommanchester]

I am about to dust off (literally) my Nikon 5000 and do my first neg/ tranny scans for 3 or 4 years. I need help!

When I look at the old scans I have in my library they look terrible. I'm probably a little better a colour management now, though from memory Nikon don't help much with that.

Given that the Nikon must have been used to do countless scans in libraries around the world, does anyone have a mug-sheet on how to set it up?

I can run it on a windows XP system or a MacbookPro, and have an old Vuescan licence.

From what I can remember:
- 16 bit wasn't worth the extra file size
- 4000 dpi felt like overkill but I always ended up there
- the dust removal was worth the time to run it
- GEM was of variable use and is best avoided in favour of a Photoshop blur if needed.
- Cleaning the negs before putting them in the scanner can take as long as the scan ....

Any help appreciated.


Nigel

[dmerger]

There are different opinions on the best scanning procedure, which has been discussed several times on this forum.  Here are a couple of posts you may want to read.

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....mp;#entry251635

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....c=33511&hl=

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....&hl=dmerger

[Nigelfrommanchester]

Many thanks for the links - I'd found two of them but not the third. Google also brought up a few (including a very scary demo of how to clean a 5000).

Sadly my conclusion from a couple of hours research is that scanning is a 'black art' where individuals have taught themselves to use equipment and software that generally has woeful instructions. It does strike me that with colour neg film most of us let the lab do their thing, and the scanner colours are not necessarily more off than what the lab gave us.

Earlier today I downloaded the latest version of vuescan and it looks better than I remember.

Hopefully someone out there has the crib sheet they have given to a series of interns/ assistants/ contractors explaining how to set up a Nikon 5000 and get it going.

I'm also very unimpressed that Nikon isn't supporting its current equipment.

[bob mccarthy]

the Nikon 5k can do wonderful scans.

Couple of keys

1) Use vuescan pro, does all you need to do

2) Important to calibrate/profile the slide type your using with an IT-8 or equivalent for each film type

3) Do all editing downstream in Photoshop

bob

[Nigelfrommanchester]

It would appear that I was worried for no reason. Either I've become much more patient in the last three years     or my current PC is much faster than what I had at the time. Transparency scans are very quick and producing good colour. I managed to scan around 100 yesterday afternoon and then import them to Lightroom ready for tweaking.

The other striking things are:
- my 1980s transparencies are generally terrible, and
- even the worst autofocus is clearly better than my eyes!