ok I admit it.. VueScan rocks

[JoeFriday]

I never had much use for VueScan since I had always used C-41 film in my Nikon Coolscan V.. it's a great scanner and the ICE is nice! but it wasn't until I started scanning Tri-X this weekend that I realized how sucky the Nikon software is with b&w film

so I checked out VueScan and finally understood the praise it gets.. big thumbs up!

I'll probably still use the Nikon software for color negs and all slides.. but VueScan will start to see a lot of use now that I'm shooting more b&w film

 

[dcsang]

I concur Brett.

It's a good program and, it's gotten better and better over the years.
For B&W it's the only program I'll use to scan.

Oh.. and BTW, how do you like the Coolscan V? I was thinking of it or the 5000 as an upgrade to my aging Scan Elite II.

Cheers
Dave

 

[ch1]

I never had much use for VueScan since I had always used C-41 film in my Nikon Coolscan V.. it's a great scanner and the ICE is nice! but it wasn't until I started scanning Tri-X this weekend that I realized how sucky the Nikon software is with b&w film

so I checked out VueScan and finally understood the praise it gets.. big thumbs up!

I'll probably still use the Nikon software for color negs and all slides.. but VueScan will start to see a lot of use now that I'm shooting more b&w film

Now I gotta try VueScan.

I've been scanning a lot of Tri X negs this past week on my 5000 and definitely find the Nikon software to be a pain.

Thanks for the info and endorsement. I'm planning to shoot more and more B&W so can really use some useful scanner software!

 

[Mackinaw]

Could you elaborate on the ways Vuescan is better than the software that comes with the Coolscan V? I have the Nikon unit and, while the Nikon Scan software definitely has a learning curve, it does produce pretty good B&W scans once you figure it out. I've considered switching to Vuescan but I'm hesitating until somebody can convince me that it will give me better scans than what I'm getting with Nikon Scan.

Jim Bielecki

 

[dmr]

Does anybody use Vuescan with the K-M SD IV who is also familiar with the supplied software? How does Vuescan compare, primarily for color work?

 

[JoeFriday]

Jim,

I'm sure it's entirely possible to get b&w scans of equal quality from the Nikon software.. but it seems to require a specific workflow that doesn't allow much flexibility.. VueScan's interface, while not quite as intuitive as Nikon's, is similar.. and it works as quick and easily as Nikon's software, but in all modes.. the preview is fast and much easier to use than Nikon's.. that's probably the best (and most important) part, considering that's the guide you use to determine what settings to use

Could you elaborate on the ways Vuescan is better than the software that comes with the Coolscan V? I have the Nikon unit and, while the Nikon Scan software definitely has a learning curve, it does produce pretty good B&W scans once you figure it out. I've considered switching to Vuescan but I'm hesitating until somebody can convince me that it will give me better scans than what I'm getting with Nikon Scan.

Jim Bielecki

Dave, I love the CS V.. it's fast with firewire, and the ICE is indispensible.. it saves me a good half hour of cleanup time with every scan

I just wish it could handle 120 film.. I'm planning to shoot a lot of that in the future, and it looks like I'll be needing a scanner just for that.. does anyone have any recommendations for something other than the Epson 4990 or CanoScan 9950F? both look very nice, but I'm not sure I can handle the price tag

 

[kaiyen]

For just MF? Get the 3170 for $80 from epson, refurb. Drive it with Vuescan and you're all set. You lose out on ICE, but then you gotta pay $250+ for either the 4490 or 4990.

As I mentiond in another thread, I've done 4x3 (that's feet) from MF e6 on the 3200 and it's astounding. The 3170 scanning engine is almost identical to the 3200's.

I would get one myself, except I recently got a 5x7 camera and will need to be able to scan that. Gotta save for the 4990...

allan

 

[JoeFriday]

thanks for the suggestion, allan.. I'll give that a serious look

 

[peter_n]

Does anybody use Vuescan with the K-M SD IV who is also familiar with the supplied software? How does Vuescan compare, primarily for color work?

Can anyone respond to this? I'm really interested in the answer too, but just for B&W work. 😉

 

[bmattock]

Could you elaborate on the ways Vuescan is better than the software that comes with the Coolscan V? I have the Nikon unit and, while the Nikon Scan software definitely has a learning curve, it does produce pretty good B&W scans once you figure it out. I've considered switching to Vuescan but I'm hesitating until somebody can convince me that it will give me better scans than what I'm getting with Nikon Scan.

Jim Bielecki

Jim,

I don't know that Vuescan can do your B&W scans better than you're presently getting. I think it's a matter of being able to master whatever software package you use to the point where you can control it and have some idea what happens when you push here or poke there and why.

But I believe you can still download the demo Vuescan for free - it puts a watermark on the resulting scans, but for grain peering and edge looking, no big deal. Worth a try anyway. Warning - Vuescan, like any powerful package, takes some time to master.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[bmattock]

Can anyone respond to this? I'm really interested in the answer too, but just for B&W work. 😉

I have never opened the software that came with my IV, but that's because I couldn't use it if I wanted to - look ma, no windows! But I did use the software for the III which I had before the IV when I was still running Windows XP. I thought it was OK, and with Kodak Gold 200 or whatever, it worked pretty well. But I wanted to get everything I could out of my negs, and Vuescan (at the time) scanned deeper into the edges and corners, producing more pixels edge-to-edge. It didn't so stupid automatic cropping that kept turning itself back on in the Minolta software, etc. I just found that there were so many more controls in the Vuescan, it was like night and day. However, over time I have learned that many of the really advanced controls in Vuescan are only for really BAD negs, ones that might not be scannable by other means. Most times, the really heavy manners are not required. It is nice to have the ability, whether I use it or not.

Vuescan trick: I scan my B&W as if it were 'generic color' c41 color print film. I desaturate and turn to B&W only AFTER adjusting levels in Gimp (PS for you guys). Works a treat.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Stan98103]

I too am interested in the advantages of using VueScan versus Nikon software.

I've had no problem getting good scans using Nikon Scan software on my Coolscan V from B&W negatives (Tmax 400, Delta 400 and 3200, and Neopan 400 and 1600) that were properly exposed and developed. I've also gotten good results scanning scratched XP2 negatives using digital ICE.

I have not yet tried to scan Tri-X negatives, and I'm wondering if these negatives behave differently than the T-grain based negatives.

Does VueScan produce better results with Tri-X?

Also, are there any useful features that VueScan has that are lacking in the Nikon software?

Stan

 

[lido]

My issue with Nikon Scan on Coolscan 2000 is excessive grain with Tri-X. Read somewhere that the culprit is LED illumination on this scanner. Vuescan handles it much better and I find the workflow (in advanced mode) faster and more flexible than Nikon. Grain removal is a useful feature, but can produce soft scans if used excessively. Agree with Bill that there is a (steep) learning curve there for someone who is new to scanning, but once you figure it out it is pure pleasure 😉

 

[Stan98103]

Hi Doug,

I intended to download a trial version of VueScan and give it a try. Since you and others have said that there is a steep learning curve for this software, I would appreciate it if you could provide me with a brief outline of your workflow and any other tips that would be useful. Thanks in advance.

Stan

 

[stevew]

Scanning learning curve.

Scanning learning curve.

I've been bouncing around the past year on what scanners to get. Made the plunge Sunday and bought the 4990 for 4x5, 120, and restoring old family photos. I bought the Nikon V for 35.

I scanned a old damaged photo, ICE worked pretty well on the folds and scratches. Scanned a 4x5 color neg using Epson Scan. Wow over 500mb file, can't use layers on my computer, I'll have to save versions.

Haven't scanned yet with the Nikon. I have Veuscan also so I'll have to decide what software to use and figure out the workflo.

 

[kaiyen]

Stan,
this is a bit late, but check out this from my blog: http://www.kaiyen.com/photos/pages/2005/12/bw-neg-pos-vuescan-nikon.html

allan

 

[daveozzz]

Hey, did you have any problems with frame alignment with Vuescan and your Coolscan V? I've just spent the last hour trying to get batch scanning working with it. Scan the first frame and it crops about 1/8 of the frame - so adjust the frame offset to fix it and then frame 2 is miles out! Slightly frustrating.

So anyone got any tips how to get 35mm batch scanning to work?

 

[Jamie123]

i bought the epson 4990 a few months ago and have mainly been using the Silverfast SE software that came with it. i haven't been that impressed with my scans but i believe this is primarily due to the fact that my monitor isn't calibrated.

can anyone tell me how vuescan compares to silverfast?

 

[Peter S]

daveozz,

I had the same problem and solved it as follows:

What I do is a preview of frame nr 2, somehow Vuescan finds that 9 out of 10 times. If I need to offset a bit I do so, it usually is only marginal. Then I just do a batch scan and it works well. Somehow by doing a preview of a frame that is not the first or the last frame of the strip Vuescan is able to orientate itself better.

Hope it works for you as well