Minolta 5400 and latest Vuescan settings...

[MVCG]

Hi all,
My 5400 doesn't seem to want to play well anymore and for the life of me, I can't understand why? I am running MacOS Lion and the latest version of Vuescan (9.083 X64).

I only scan B&W negs but when I load these and preview on Vuescan, the preview is all over the place, shows banding and speccing and one can barely make out the actual image. Secondly, the ini file I created when the scanner was working properly doesn't seem to correct anything which is very odd and had taken me quite a while to perfect. I have tried numerous configuration settings to no avail... 🙁

I had a look inside the scanner (via the slide input window) and the mirror seems to be quite dusty which I'm sure doesn't help matters.

Has anyone got some sorted Vuescan / Minolta 5400 settings they can send me which are proven to work with B&W neg workflows or experience at opening one of these guys up and giving it a good clean? I admit Im a little scarred with the later and think this is mostly a software / OS issue but it wouldn't hurt to give it a good clean...

Also, my scanner is not IT8 calibrated as I only do B&W negs and its worked ok in the past although I am now thinking maybe I should also purchase an IT8 target although always thought this was mostly a color management thing and perhaps less useful for B&W???

Sorry for all the questions but I'm stuck 🙁

 

[I Love Film]

Delete the Vuescan prefs, download a fresh copy of Vuescan, reboot, and try again.

Unplug the cables and power cord and replug them.

I carefully opened my Minolta 5400 II, blew out the dust, and cleaned it, and put it back together. You have to be careful not to rip any ribbon cables.

 

[cabbiinc]

You shouldn't need to reinstall. Just set the program back to defaults (File> Default Options) and do a preview. If that does the trick then try to reconfigure your settings, although I've found that when film ages or with slightly different development you'll get enough variation that a preset is less useful than you'd think.

I only scan B&W negs but when I load these and preview on Vuescan, the preview is all over the place, shows banding and speccing and one can barely make out the actual image.

Are you using a USB cable? USB can be touchy at times generally speaking.

 

[MVCG]

thanks very much guys for your responses. I have been able to get the scanner working properly again by deleting the ini file and re-installing it. Works great again! Love this scanner!