Coolscan 5000 question

[rolly]

Just started using a Nikon Coolscan 5000 and while it does a good job, I notice a slight off focus which is apparent when there are sharp contrast areas, particularly visible with words or letters. The letters aren't crisp. I know the camera was because I originally had the negs scanned medium resolution by A and I and the same shot of a wall with many theatrical posters comes out tack-sharp. And the A and I scans are not even as large as the file output by the Coolscan. So I am thinking the rollers in the film strip adapter may not be holding the film flat enough. The results are the same whether I use Nikon Scan or Vuescan software.

Anyone have experience with this sort of problem, or suggestions?

 

[M. Valdemar]

It's possible that the lens in the Coolscan is dirty or misaligned. If you Google, you can find instructions for cleaning it, but it's not for the squeamish.

The depth of field of the lens in the Coolscan usually takes care of all but the most horrendous film flatness problems.

Are you scanning with infra-red dust removal?

 

[rolly]

No, I'm not using IR-- the scans are Black and White; I was under impression the dust removal works only on color negs.

 

[rolly]

Oh, also this is brand new unit. I suppose the thing could have been dinged or poorly made at factory, but another scan I made on it was much better at revealing the highlights than the same scan done by AandI, so it doesn't seem to me to be the unit-- although it could be-- but rather something I am not doing right or the need to flatten the neg.

I will mostly be scanning BW Agfa APX 400.

 

[lewis44]

This may be a simple question, but are you setting the focus point? You need to put it on an area with high contrast where there is a distinct line between black and white or similar. Also make sure the settings have the scanner auto focus before the final scan or focus yourself. It makes a big difference.

 

[tennis-joe]

I don't have a great scanner like a Coolscan but I found that negatives get curved in folders or when they are dried and this has caused out of focus problems for me. The negatives have to be very flat to get the true scan for me. Have you pondered that situation?
Joe

 

[rolly]

Randy, that makes some improvement. Still not as tack sharp however as I would hope. But an improvement.

 

[rolly]

Hi Joe-- The negs are pretty flat. But yes, I did wonder if even a small curvature would throw the edges of letters slightly out of focus. If that is the situation, maybe a flatbed scanner handles film better than the rollers of the film adapter that comes with the Coolscan. I'm new to this film-to-scan stuff so I appreciate all the input and ideas.

 

[Ronald_H]

Hmm, I have the same scanner and think the scans are plenty sharp. But the fils it puts out are huge. It might be that the software you view them with does not interpolate down that well. Try to resize a scan to 1024 wide and see how that looks. Play around with unsharp masking as well.

Here is a scan from my M2, Fuji Sensia:

 

[rolly]

Thanks Ronald, but that doesn't change much. I think I need to dig deeper into the software controls, and also consider that A and I just may have better scanning equipment which would explain why their scans look better than what I am getting, so far, from the CS5000.

 

[Ronald_H]

Good luck trying to find settings that work for you. The coolscan really is very good. But it is still possible of course you have a dodgy unit.

Can you post a resized but fairly large scan here, of a neg you know to be sharp?

 

[rolly]

Just to add more info, since this topic of film-to-scan can always benefit from more information-- After comparing several kinds of shots both on my new Coolscan 5000, done with two passes each and sharpening, plus same workflow in Lightroom-- I have to conclude that the scanner A and I uses, the Noritsu1700SA, scanning 25MB files, does a better job with focus than the Coolscan. This is maybe a 10% difference. However, the Coolscan can pull details up out of the shadows very well indeed.

If anyone is thinking about the cost factor, as I was when I decided to do my own devloping and scanning-- AandI chages $15 for developing and 25MB scan of your roll of film. To match that --well you can do the math. As others have said elsewhere in scanner threads, you are also competing against the output of digital cameras.

For me, however, I like the entire ritual of shooting film on my MP, loading and rewinding and loading again, and spooling the film onto the developing tank reels, and the magic show of the film coming out of the tank. The scanning is not an activity I like much, so I have not yet come to any opinion about whether the Coolscan 5000 and its own rituals will be something that win me over. But for better or worse seeing my pictures on a screen is both a modern reality and a new enjoyment.

 

[Ronald_H]

Scanning and post processing are arts in itself. No matter the reasons, nostalgia, the llok of Tri-X, archiving, people like to work both analogue and digital.

Only this year I started doing my own B/W development, it gives me satisfaction that my D200 just cannot give me. So now I have 3 film Nikons and a Leica M2...