Raw in vuescan/Minolta Multipro

[Rangefinder 35]

Recently I started using Minolta Multipro with VueScan software. I'm interested in scanning into RAW, then correcting scans in Photoshop. However, the RAW scans seem to be pretty dark. I do understand that gamma in RAW scans is 1, so that would explain low contrast. Density is another matter, though. Is it normal for the RAW scans to be dark, or is the problem with my scanner's lamp output? anybody?

 

[venchka]

Educated guess based on my scanning experience: Adjust the histogram, black point, white point, gamma & output range prior to scanning. Practice until you get a file that requires little to know post scanning adjustment. I use Lightroom. When I nail the negative during processing and nail the scan, the TIFF file needs very little help in Lightroom.
Does Vuescan output a file type called RAW? My scanner ouput is 16 bit B&W 48 bit color TIFF files. Theoretically, RAW files are TIFF files just a little smaller. Curious about what Vuesacn does.

Wayne

 

[Rangefinder 35]

RAW files

RAW files

Thanks for suggestion. Actually RAW file in VueScan is pure scan data without any adjustments. if you save it in 64bit RGB, you can worki all the adjustments later either in VueScan, or some other image-editing software. all curve or histogram adjustments don't work during scanning itself.

Educated guess based on my scanning experience: Adjust the histogram, black point, white point, gamma & output range prior to scanning. Practice until you get a file that requires little to know post scanning adjustment. I use Lightroom. When I nail the negative during processing and nail the scan, the TIFF file needs very little help in Lightroom.
Does Vuescan output a file type called RAW? My scanner ouput is 16 bit B&W 48 bit color TIFF files. Theoretically, RAW files are TIFF files just a little smaller. Curious about what Vuesacn does.

Wayne

 

[kanzlr]

have you tried this?

http://www.colorneg.com/scanning_slides_and_negatives/scans/Hamrick_Software/VueScan/

 

[cabbiinc]

http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/html/vuesc19.htm#topic16

If you set the RAW file to save at the time of Scan then it bypasses all color corrections. It's saved as if it were just sent to the memory buffer. You'll probably get better results by setting the output color space (Color Tab in Vuescan) to what Photoshop uses. I assume that's AdobeRGB but I could be wrong on that.

One thing that Vuescan would do to the file if you let it process in Vuescan is adjust for the color of the film base. I don't believe there's a way natively to do this in Photoshop. There is a plug-in that you can purchase that's designed to get around this, but I'm not exactly certain that it is. Anyways here's a tutorial with links to the plug-in in case you feel like giving it a try (trial is free with watermarks of course). http://benneh.net/blog/2010/09/25/vuescan-colorperfect-a-guide/?goal=yes
edit: same plugin as kanzlr refers to.

I'm getting ahead of myself here though. There's a few settings that you should consider:
1. If you have scan from preview set (Input tab) turn that off. The preview is what lets the program see the density of the film and adjust the exposure accordingly. Taking that away is like shooting everything at a sunny 16 setting on your camera.
2. Try increasing your preview resolution. With the preview being the only basis on what to adjust anything to, you may need to give the program more pixels to calculate from.
3. On the Crop tab set the Buffer% to 15% or above. I've found that 5% get's too much of the vignetting that occurs to most lenses.
4. Color tab, Scanner color space set to Adobe RGB.
5. Color Balance, typical settings (by typical I mean usually works but sometimes not) would be Auto Levels for outdoor daylight scenes, White Balance or manually selecting a white balance spot for indoor or flash lit scenes, Neutral for most scenic (non portrait) scenes like cityscapes and landscapes, and Night or None for most night time cityscapes. None is also what I use for Multi-Exposure (on scanners capable of it). Multi-Exposure is usually reserved for underexposed slides or overexposed negatives. It helps, but is no magic bullet.

Again, if you're outputting a raw file most of this is skipped completely. Raw files were intended to delay the processing and get on with creating proper basic (raw) scans in a timely manner.

Gamma is something I've yet to come to grips with. It's briefly talked about at http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/html/vuesc23.htm#topic20 but when I look elsewhere on the web via google or where ever I'm not sure that Gamma is the same as how Ed is referring to it.

 

[Rangefinder 35]

have you tried this?

http://www.colorneg.com/scanning_slides_and_negatives/scans/Hamrick_Software/VueScan/

Great. Thanks for the link. I'm still trying to digest that info. I'd still like to know if the RAW scans on someone else's Multipro look dark,or just flat.

 

[JPSuisse]

Hi there

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with the scanner. It's all about the settings in VueScan.

I use a V750 and a Nikon 5000. The trick is to set the ccd exposure optimally. There are 2 procedures to do this locking the exposure and then the film base color. If I do this, then I get brilliant scans on either scanner. If I screw this up, the scans are off.

See this link:
http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/html/vuesc15.htm#topic12

Cheers,

JP

 

[venchka]

I have never used Vuescan. I use Epson Scan. I use Ken Lee's Scanning Tips to make my scans. He has added help with Vuescan. I suggest you try his methods.
As I said earlier, a good negative & a good scan requires very little work after scanning. I don't use Photoshop. I haven't found a need for it.

Black & White settings:

Wayne

 

[brbo]

Forget about ANY setting in Color/Filter tab of Vuescan as they are all ignored if you scan to RAW.

Why don't you show how dark your raw scans are?

 

[Rangefinder 35]

Thank you all for your reply. I bought The Vuescan Bible (forgot the author's name) and it's all (mostly) explained in it. Now I'm just scanning away

 

[DrTebi]

You may save yourself a lot of time by doing just straight raw scans with Vuescan and then converting the raw files with the ColorPerfect plugin for photoshop.

I recently tried it out and was really impressed in how good it converts the raw scans. It worked especially good for slides. I posted an example here.