I've got a Nikon 9000ED on the way, a few questions...

[andrewnelles]

I've been using a Nikon 5000ED for about 10 years and have been very happy, but I've been shooting more 6x9 these days so I decided to finally pull the trigger on a used 9000ED, it should be here in a few days.

I scored one that luckily includes the FH-869GR rotating glass holder. This looks perfect for my medium format needs, but for 35mm can it handle regular 24x35 frames? The 35mm masks only appear to be for panoramic ratios. Is there any harm to using the pano masks and just cropping to the regular format?

Also, with my 5000ED I've stuck with the old Nikon software, keeping an ancient laptop solely for that purpose. It's kept me happy, but I was thinking maybe it's time to switch to VueScan so I can use my newer computer. Will the results be of equal quality? I tried VueScan once years ago but hated the interface...

Finally, I hear the 9000ED is less likely to over-emphasize grain as my 5000ED does. Has this been anyone's experience has used both models?

Thanks!

 

[Chris101]

Hi Andre,

I am sooo jealous! I too have been using a 5000ED for a while, and I love it. I have slacked off considerably with medium format because I use a microTek i800 for that, and ... well it's not as good as the Nikon scanner.

When I switched from Nikon's scanner software to Vuescan I hated it too. All the features seemed to be hidden, as if Hamrick wants you to stick with the defaults. Once you figure out a workflow though, it does a really good job.

I also know what you mean about the 5000 making grain super-evident. I mean, I like grian, so it's great and all, but c'mon! I found a work around by fine-tuning my scanning resolution. It turns out 4000dpi is not the ideal pitch to keep grain in it's place. I've come down to 3200ish, and everything looks better. It prints fine up to 20 inches.

And I have also noticed that 120 film shows grain a lot less than 35mm ... always.

 

[J enea]

I have a 9000, but only use it for MF film. I use vuescan and its far superior to the nikon software, at least thats how i feel. I found at my local library a great book called the vuescan bible. you can read the whole thing in a hour or so if you understand basic scanning. its a great tool. I copied the 2 page part on doing "raw" scanning and it was very helpful when i first started out using vuescan. dont need it now. there have been many updates to vuescan so some info is out of date, but it helps yo get the the right way much faster. Dont pay $60 for it, again i found it at my library.

https://www.amazon.com/VueScan-Bible-Everything-Perfect-Scanning/dp/1933952695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494372118&sr=8-1&keywords=vuescan+bible

john

 

[Robert Lai]

You need to get that book about Vuescan in order to make it work properly. I've had both the Coolscan 5000 and the 9000. I eventually sold off the 5000, but only when I was unemployed and needed the money. I still have the 9000.

You should be able to use the full 4000 pixels/inch resolution without super evident grain. If that's the case you probably have some "sharpening" setting in the Nikon scan.

Although I still do have a laptop running Windows XP, and another one running Windows 7, I use Vuescan now. What I've done is get reference slides, and profiled the scanner. Now I scan to RAW, and attach the color profile of the film (e.g. Fuji Provia 100F) to the scan, to instantly give me a match to the colors on the slide. This gives me a starting point for further editing. Vuescan also lets you do this in a batch mode, so you can do dozens of RAW scans at a time.

The 9000 have a maximum scan length of 9cm. Thus 6 x 9 is the largest format that you can scan. It's good for me, as I have a Kodak Medalist II, and a Voigtlander RF in this format. If you want super panoramics e.g. 6 x 12 or 6 x 17, then you're going to have to scan each half, and stitch together. You have to be aware that depending on the color depth and so on, a 6x9 frame will give you a 120MB TIFF file. It's for this reason that I don't want to keep torturing myself with those old antique Windows XP computers with 1GB of Memory.

The 35mm "panoramic" film holders will indeed allow you to scan a full XPAN frame. However, you can stick TWO strips of film with 5 (maybe 6, I can't remember all the details now) frames each. Once you do an initial scan, it will identify all of the different frames for you. You can crop each frame individually, and designate some frames not to be scanned. Then once you hit "SCAN", it will automatically scan the 10 or so frames in the film holder for you. So, go do something else for 20 minutes or so, and at the end you'll have 10 image files added to your hard drive.

I don't have a half frame camera, but I don't see why you couldn't scan 20 individual frames at a time from a half frame camera film strip.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I have the 8000ED with the FH-869-GR carrier. I scan 35mm using the pano masks and it works perfect. Make sure you use the appropriate mask for any film you scan on that carrier. If you put film in it without the plastic mask, you'll get newton's rings.

Vuescan works well. I have written Vuescan tutorials using the 8000; the settings I give should work fine for the 9000 as well.

BW Negative Scanning Tutorial

Color Slide Scanning Tutorial

 

[andrewnelles]

Thanks everyone, some good info here.

Quick question for the Vuescan crowd. With NikonScan, I got the best results for color by scanning raw yielding .NEF files, and then doing my toning and outputting to AdobeRGB in Adobe Camera Raw. The ICE dust removal was preserved in the .NEF file which was handy. It looks like if I save to DNG with VueScan, no dust removal is in the file. I have the IR channel saved, but I'd still have to output to TIFF or JPEG from VueScan to utilize it after the scan. Am I understanding that right? Not really a big deal, I'm sure I'd be happy just saving as 16bit TIFF from VueScan.

 

[Godfrey]

I have the 9000 with a full complement of the standard carriers as well as the ANR glass carrier. The 35mm strip carrier handles two standard format 6 frame strips at a time .. very efficient.

I use VueScan but do get the book. I've been using it so long I forget the details of my setups because I have them all saved and just load the one I need and use it.

G

 

[brbo]

Quick question for the Vuescan crowd. With NikonScan, I got the best results for color by scanning raw yielding .NEF files, and then doing my toning and outputting to AdobeRGB in Adobe Camera Raw. The ICE dust removal was preserved in the .NEF file which was handy. It looks like if I save to DNG with VueScan, no dust removal is in the file. I have the IR channel saved, but I'd still have to output to TIFF or JPEG from VueScan to utilize it after the scan. Am I understanding that right? Not really a big deal, I'm sure I'd be happy just saving as 16bit TIFF from VueScan.

I never use a DNG container since I don't see any benefit to it, so I don't know what it's limitation actually are... But, what exactly are you trying to do?

a) Output uncorrected raw file with separate IR channel layer?
b) Output ICE corrected raw file?

Vuescan can do both. Although I don't think you can have a) with DNG container.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I never use a DNG container since I don't see any benefit to it, so I don't know what it's limitation actually are... But, what exactly are you trying to do?

a) Output uncorrected raw file with separate IR channel layer?
b) Output ICE corrected raw file?

Vuescan can do both. Although I don't think you can have a) with DNG container.

I think his purpose in outputting RAW files is that, for color photos, you can adjust white balance in Lightroom or Photoshop. Though Vuescan has a few light-sources to choose from in the COLOR tab, its not as precise as what you can do with a real image editor like LR or PS.

 

[andrewnelles]

Correct, I found I got better results working off of a .NEF file with NikonScan. It was handy that the .NEF raw file had the ICE dust removal applied to it. Less dust removal for me to do in post.

Curious if I can do the same with VueScan.

I think his purpose in outputting RAW files is that, for color photos, you can adjust white balance in Lightroom or Photoshop. Though Vuescan has a few light-sources to choose from in the COLOR tab, its not as precise as what you can do with a real image editor like LR or PS.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Correct, I found I got better results working off of a .NEF file with NikonScan. It was handy that the .NEF raw file had the ICE dust removal applied to it. Less dust removal for me to do in post.

Curious if I can do the same with VueScan.

Good question. I haven't tried it. I rarely scan color film anymore, I'm all digital in my color work. I'll have to try it and see.

 

[brbo]

I think his purpose in outputting RAW files is that, for color photos, you can adjust white balance in Lightroom or Photoshop. Though Vuescan has a few light-sources to choose from in the COLOR tab, its not as precise as what you can do with a real image editor like LR or PS.

I never wondered about his motive behind outputting to RAW. I was asking about the usage of a DNG container (vs. TIF format). DNG might or might not have (I don't know as I never tried) the ability to save IR channel data...

Correct, I found I got better results working off of a .NEF file with NikonScan. It was handy that the .NEF raw file had the ICE dust removal applied to it. Less dust removal for me to do in post.

Curious if I can do the same with VueScan.

... but since you are trying to output "raw" data with IR correction already applied this is moot. It is possible to have that in Vuescan and it's very easy.

In the output tab set the 'Raw output with' option to 'Save'. Check that in the Input tab you are scanning with 64bits per pixel and that you have 'Infrared clean' enabled in the 'Filter' tab.

With that Vuescan will scan the film, apply IR correction to raw and then save that to your desired output format/container.

 

[andrewnelles]

I never wondered about his motive behind outputting to RAW. I was asking about the usage of a DNG container (vs. TIF format). DNG might or might not have (I don't know as I never tried) the ability to save IR channel data...



... but since you are trying to output "raw" data with IR correction already applied this is moot. It is possible to have that in Vuescan and it's very easy.

In the output tab set the 'Raw output with' option to 'Save'. Check that in the Input tab you are scanning with 64bits per pixel and that you have 'Infrared clean' enabled in the 'Filter' tab.

With that Vuescan will scan the film, apply IR correction to raw and then save that to your desired output format/container.

I think that's what I'm hoping for, I'll have to try it out. Thanks!

Sounds like VueScan will be worth the price.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I never wondered about his motive behind outputting to RAW. I was asking about the usage of a DNG container (vs. TIF format). DNG might or might not have (I don't know as I never tried) the ability to save IR channel data...



... but since you are trying to output "raw" data with IR correction already applied this is moot. It is possible to have that in Vuescan and it's very easy.

In the output tab set the 'Raw output with' option to 'Save'. Check that in the Input tab you are scanning with 64bits per pixel and that you have 'Infrared clean' enabled in the 'Filter' tab.

With that Vuescan will scan the film, apply IR correction to raw and then save that to your desired output format/container.

Interesting, I didn't know how to save a raw file with the IR clean info. If you open the file in another editor, like Lightroom, does the image appear with the dust removed, or do you have to open the RAW in Vuescan and resave as a TIFF or JPEG?

 

[brbo]

Interesting, I didn't know how to save a raw file with the IR clean info. If you open the file in another editor, like Lightroom, does the image appear with the dust removed, or do you have to open the RAW in Vuescan and resave as a TIFF or JPEG?

The file is then cleaned of dust/scratches*. Doesn't matter where you open it.


* meaning that Vuescan had a go at it (results are far from perfect**)
** if you have Photoshop and you save IR channel within the raw tiff file you can use it to clean the file much much better than any ICE implementation in any scanning software

 

[andrewnelles]

The file is then cleaned of dust/scratches*. Doesn't matter where you open it.


* meaning that Vuescan had a go at it (results are far from perfect**)
** if you have Photoshop and you save IR channel within the raw tiff file you can use it to clean the file much much better than any ICE implementation in any scanning software

Now I'm really curious, how do you utilize the saved IR channel in Photoshop?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Now I'm really curious, how do you utilize the saved IR channel in Photoshop?

Yeah, me too!

 

[brbo]

Now I'm really curious, how do you utilize the saved IR channel in Photoshop?

I use the IR channel as a selection mask and then run content-aware fill on the selection.

I'm at work now and can do a short step-by-step guide with correct descriptions of PS functions/tools used later, but basically it goes like this:

- select IR (alpha) channel and do a threshold on it so you get rid of greys and only have blacks where the defects are and white everywhere else
- do a color selection on this so you have selected all the black areas on IR layer; expand the selections a few pixels so the content-aware fill tool will have a bit of surrounding area to work with
- deselect IR channel and select normal rgb channels
- optionally create new layer so the changes will be non-destructible
- run content-aware fill on the duplicated layer


I'm sure somebody can come up with even better workflow, my PS skill are VERY basic.

 

[marekvesely]

- select IR (alpha) channel and do a threshold on it so you get rid of greys and only have blacks where the defects are and white everywhere else
- do a color selection on this so you have selected all the black areas on IR layer; expand the selections a few pixels so the content-aware fill tool will have a bit of surrounding area to work with
- deselect IR channel and select normal rgb channels
- optionally create new layer so the changes will be non-destructible
- run content-aware fill on the duplicated layer

This is super-interesting info! I wasn't able to use the IR channel within PS as of now. Could you explain how exactly do you perform the threshold correction (the 1st step)? Also how do you import the RAW tiff from Vuescan into Photoshop (without deleting the alpha channel)? Do you go through CameraRAW without a problem? Thank you!

 

[philipus]

I have the Vuescan Bible too and while it is interesting I didn't find that it offered much more info than what's on the internet. For instance, there is this guide which is a good starting point.

I used Nikon Scan a long time ago and also have an installation on a Snow Leopard volume but I virtually never use it. What I like about Vuescan is that it is so easy to create profiles. So once set up as you want it, it's a matter of loading the profile for the film you use and all settings are there.

I think my 9000 gives less pronounced grain than my V ED but I have not really done a comparison. Grain is also affected by many other things, like how old the film stock is and how well exposed the frame is. Another tip for reducing the impression of grain is to scan at a very high DPI and down-size. Some say using fine mode or multi-passes helps but I haven't seen that in practice. And I wet mount my 120 films too so that reduces grain some too.

The suggestion of using the IR channel as a mask and then a content-aware fill is very creative. I'll have to try it out. So far I am just using the save raw output with feature to get rid of dust. It works well enough for me.

I don't used DNG but save as TIFF, "linear" ones for C41 which I then "develop" in ColorPerfect, and non-linear ones for slides and b&w film. I don't do colour corrections in Vuescan at all. Rather I used Adobe Camera Raw for all colour and edits (though I do spot the TIFFs in Photoshop and save a "clean original" before opening in ACR).

br
Philip