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Author Topic: CCD flare issues in Coolscan IV and V scanners  (Read 2273 times)

AFairley

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CCD flare issues in Coolscan IV and V scanners
« on: December 13, 2014, 12:05:38 pm »

As I mentioned in another thread (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=95742.msg783766#msg783766) although I love the feel of Kodachrome scans from the Coolscan IV and V, I can’t use them because of flare around high contractst boundaries.  This apparently is caused by low quality cover glass on the CCD (see these threads http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00CTcF?start=10 and http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/ccd-flare-nikon-coolscan-5000ed-t1939510.html).  In one place I read that the CCD cover is not even glass but plastic.  There was a fellow in Europe who offered replacement of the cover with high quality optical glass as a service.  Unfortunately, I cannot provide links for the above since I researched the issue a couple years ago and did not keep notes.  Anyway, here are some photos that illustrate the problem I had along with a comparison to a digital camera “scan.”  Note that with both the IV and the V I had cleaned the scanner mirror and lens, so that the issue was not caused by built up mirror dust, a common cause of poor scan results with the Coolscans.  The flare is directional; if you rotate the slide when scanning, the flare goes in the opposite direction.

In my case, this is what it is, but I am wondering if others see it or if I just happened to luck into two bad samples of the scanners.

Below is the original scan from the CS IV (I do a hardware adjustment of exposure in the scanner so that I don't blow the highlights, but don't apply any other corrections) and then scans from the IV and V with exposure of the scanner dngs boosted in Lightroom to show the flare issue more clearly and comparison of a "scan" with an Olympus E-M5 with the orf exposure similarly boosted. No other LR adjustments applied.  Take a look at the top of the umbrella.

Image order:
Coolscan IV out of scanner
Coolscan IV lightened
Coolscan V lightened
Olympus E-M5 lightened




« Last Edit: December 13, 2014, 12:19:37 pm by AFairley »
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langier

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Re: CCD flare issues in Coolscan IV and V scanners
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2014, 04:05:08 pm »

I have a similar problem with my Coolscan 8000… The worse problem was in deep shadows and the scan lines made the scans unusable and the flare from the edges, especially around sprocket holes. What I found that works to keep the flaring down is to run multi-sampling when I scan. Multi-sampling worked well with the Nikon software when my system still supported the software. It is much the same solution when I use Vuescan now that the Nikon scan software is orphaned.

That said, I've had a few negatives come in lately too large for my scanner and now am using my light table and I'm pretty happy with the results.

You may want to try turning on 4x sampling and see if that may help. It takes longer but I've found the results are worth the time.
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Larry Angier
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Matulaitis

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Re: CCD flare issues in Coolscan IV and V scanners
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2014, 08:48:55 pm »

I get this too on a Coolscan 5000.
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degrub

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Re: CCD flare issues in Coolscan IV and V scanners
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2014, 09:45:04 pm »

Were you thinking of "scanhancer" device that was intended to provide a more diffuse lighting source instead of the 'hard' light of the leds directly ? He was  in the Netherlands if i recall correctly. It is a reach, but i might be able to find his contact details if interested.

I do not remember noticing  the issue on either my 4000 or 5000, but i have not scanned in a while. I also used 4x sampling at minimum with Silverfast 6.x which was the last to use the Nikon libraries. I would do a two pass scan if trying to pull up dark details instead of pushing the gain or exposure time in one scan.

I saw that Kennedy was involved in one of those threads. He was very active in the scanner forum on usenet years ago and seemed to be very knowledgable and helpful to many.

Does it occur on all three channels ? Can you push it so that other , lower contrast areas show the same ?
Do you see the issue with Vuescan, nikon scan, or version 8 of Silverfast as each uses a different driver now ? Is it just with Kodachrome or all films ?




Frank
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howardm

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Re: CCD flare issues in Coolscan IV and V scanners
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2014, 07:37:49 am »

As I recall, on the hutchcolor site, in his 'scanning' tutorial, he covers ways to mitigate such issues.  Perhaps it's applicable.

http://www.hutchcolor.com/PDF/User_Guide.pdf
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