Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV

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jasonhupe

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Hey folks. Need some advice here. I got this scanner today, purchased used. All seems in order, working fine. But I seem to be having troubles getting good sharpness out of my negs. I know the negs are very sharp but there is an overall softness to the images.
Im using vuescan, calibrate and focus the unit, but still no change. Ive played around with scanning as negative and positive. Ive only been scanning B&W negs. HP-5 seems to do much better than Tri-x on this scanner.
Anyone who has experience with this unit I would greatly appreciate some wise words of wisdom. Thanks for any pointers and recommendations.
There was a thread here about a week ago with a bunch of samples from the plustek scanners, im not getting anything like what I saw from that unit. Ill post a sample tomorrow.
Thanks all.
 
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Ive played around now with the scanner for a bit and have gotten some sharp scans now, but my biggest problem now seems tonality. My tri-x negs have a severe grittiness to them, almost as if the film was a 3200 iso film. Maybe I am expecting too much from the scanner. Gotta learn how to get the best from the negs with it I guess.
 
For Tri-X, I've got the best results scanning at maximum resolution, multiple passes, and 16 bit depth. You may get a significant grain aliasing if you scan at 1200 or so.

Also, in some cases it appears that you'll get slightly better results scanning as a color positive then inverting in Photoshop. I did some tests along this line back some years ago, they are probably still on line. (Search and ye shall find.) 🙂
 
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Might be getting somewhere

Might be getting somewhere

Thanks for all the replies. I think I am getting some where.
Still need to decide if I should get Vuescan or go Silverfast. I think Ill pay for Vuescan.
 

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jasonhupe said:
Still need to decide if I should get Vuescan or go Silverfast. I think Ill pay for Vuescan.
Click to expand...

Okay, not to sound like a total b*tch here ... but ...

I would hold off on getting Vuescan or Silverfast or whatever until you get really familiar with the scanner and decide if you really need it. It's not the one-size-fits-all magic bullet for all of the problems in the world. 🙂

Back when I first got the scanner and I was climbing the learning curve, it seemed like when I would ask for advice, among the useful answers was this background chorus drone of "Get Vuescan" no matter what the issue was.

My scans are too dark. Get Vuescan!

Should I keep the scanner off or on? Get Vuescan!

My car won't start. Get Vuescan!

Well, I got the trial of Vuescan and quickly realized that it was not the universal answer. I found it to be bloated, something I had to pay for, something I had to learn, and really did not need.

There are a number of Vuescan fans here, but none of them have truly convinced me that:

1. Vuescan will really-truly extract more information from the slde or negative than the K-M software.

2. Speed up the scanning process. It still takes a few minutes for a max-res multi-pass scan.

3. Really do anything more for dust/scratch/spot removal than that placebo "auto dust brush" in the K-M software.

I found that familiarity, practice-practice-practice, and attention to detail were the real magic bullets here. 🙂
 
I've had the DSIV for about 6 years now, have used the supplied software and Vuescan both extensively. I like the results I get with Vuescan better. I scan mostly Tri-X, but use the same settings for all B&W film. 16-bit, multipass, 3200 dpi, black point 0.1, white point 0.01 (gives very flat scans, but nothing blown out or pushed into shadows; stretch out in in photoshop to suit taste), film type black and white T-max 100, CI index .50 or .70 usually. I don't do any other manipulation. I do the focussing as the last step before scanning to make sure no change to the film position occurs between focussing and scanning. I set the focus point about halfway between center or image and the edge, placing it on a contrasty pattern.
 
Well, no software was supplied with the scanner, and I am on a OS 10.6 system. I could only find the software online that went up to 10.4. So I think that a third party software is my only option. Am I wrong to think this?
 
jasonhupe said:
So I think that a third party software is my only option. Am I wrong to think this?
Click to expand...

You may not have any other option. 🙁

I may have to go this way when I "upgrade" my "media peecee" to Windows 7 or whatever version there is when I have to. I know there are reports that the SD IV will not operate properly on Vista using the standard software.

LOL, I'm running an orphan scanner on an orphan operating system using an orphan version of Photoshop on a peecee that's now technically obsolete.

They also tell me that my printer (HP B9180) is about to become an orphan as well! 🙁
 
Jason....
I wouldn't worry too much about what the Minolta download site says,as I'm running Minolta software successfully on OS 10.5.8. So,give it a go on 10.6,you've got nothing to lose.
 
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