Getting the most out of New Coolscan 5000 (and comp w/Fuji Frontier)

Tuolumne said:
To get rid of dust I blow my negatives after they are mounted in the carrier with compressed air. I blow them really hard, at an extreme angle, so the dust is blown away and not just scattered on the negative. It also helps to have really clean negatives to begin with. If static is holding the dust to the negative, there are deionizing guns that can be had, but I can't remember their names. I've never had a static build-up problems, so I don't use them, but in the old days I used to use them on my LPs before blowing the dust off them.

/T
Click to expand...

Very interesting thread on the Coolscan 5000
re the antic static gun i got one of these years back for my negs in the darkroom

here's the link http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=ZEROSTAT&Category_Code=PE
 
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I tried using the lock base option in Vuescan. I find that it clips the blacks. The mid tones are better I agree but some of the highlights are also toned down. So switched back to scanning and adjusting later in PS.
 
If your are clipping the blacks, and you are not locking the film base, since by definition the blackest black IS the base :) What exactly are you selecting when you lock the base?
 
I wrote the tutorial referenced here a few times in the I Shoot Film group. For the people talking about mid-tones somehow being affected and/or blacks being clipped - it's not happening due to locking the exposure.

If you don't lock the film base, you're relying on VueScan to perform similar evaluation that your typical center-weighted meter does. On the off-chance that you luck out and it's dead-on - there's no issue. However, that only happens about 5% of the time, and it's not going to be that way across the entire roll. Typically what it does is try to bias the top of the histogram for the extreme highlights - leaving a gap between the lowest point and actual black. Aside from the computational precision issues of a limited range, it just means you'll end up moving the black point on all your images and fighting scans later down the road.

Any texture of black that's interpreted as being clipped is typically just noise and/or texture of the film base itself + fog. Seeing this go away when locking the base does not mean it's clipping black. It's very simple: if we reference a clear section of film we know was not exposed to any light - then by definition that is our reference point for black. It doesn't matter if it's bright purple or translucent green physically - nothing was exposed there and hence for reference value to the rest of the exposed sections of film it IS black.

BTW: Since I've written that tutorial I've found that VS exposure settings are relative to the physical exposure settings within the scanner *at that time*. What this means is that you cannot use it in an absolute way. As an example, if you went through the process of locking the exposure, previewing again, etc. then unlocked it and did lock-exp again you'll find the value to be near 0. It's an offset from the scanner's internal setting being used at that moment (atleast on the CS-5000). Don't re-use the ini files for anything other than your common b&w settings (film type, preferences, etc). Do a lock exposure at the start of each roll. Additionally, since emulsions also have differing film base clarity based on the developer and other processing factors, even if it was absolute, you shouldn't use it across multiple rolls.
 
I use vuescan, do lock exposure on a small crop of clear film, and then scan. Sometimes the grain reduction feature helps.

Sharpening and color corrections can always be done later in your favourite image processing software, but if you expect a quick finished product, these features may appeal to you.

All of my photos are from Coolscan (I used to have IV, now 5000ED, but there is not much difference other than resolution and the long film adapter).
 
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