scanning slides with the nikon coolscan 9000

[aizan]

has anyone had trouble scanning slides with the nikon coolscan 9000? i'm getting seriously blocked up shadows on regular, well-exposed frames, and weird color casts in the shadows, e.g., people in white t-shirts end up with blue t-shirts. curves aren't doing the trick, so there must be something else i can do.

 

[philipus]

It would help to know what software you use and the settings.

 

[aizan]

i'm using nikon scan 4.

since yesterday, i've sort of figured out how to deal with the shadows:

digital DEE: shadow adjustment = 50, threshold = 20-40 higher than brightest shadows, so around 90-130.
analog gain: master = .0-.2


DEE brings up more detail in the shadows, though it's still pretty muddy and doesn't match what i can see on the light table.

still working on what to do about the white shirts turning blue under shade.

 

[wizofz2k]

Try using the "grey" colour dropper (middle dropper in the first graphic from the top on NS4).
I use that to pick a grey or dark-grey spot in the image and it balances all colours and curves automatically. Usually after that only a touch of extra green is needed, depending on the film condition.
Only after that do I add DEE, with a top max of 30.
I don't use the grain reduction - Neat Image takes care of that in post-processing with a batch run.
Some slide film like Astia needs further colour balancing using the analog gain for green. But the above by itself takes care of both all other slide film I use - mostly Provia 100F - and colour negative - Fuji Xtra400, Kodak Ektar, Fuji Xtra800.

 

[judsonzhao]

First of all, check the colorspace of the software, moat time it's default and should be fine

2nd, try scan a photo without any adjustment rayher than ICE. With that being said, just X all the options.

You may want to poat some samples for us better helping you?

 

[J enea]

I have gotten much better results using vuescan. scan as a raw file first then run a second pass to do dust removal. you can try vuescan for free and see if it makes a difference. It did for me and I have not used the nikon software in 5 years.

 

[Timmyjoe]

If you are using the Coolscan 9000 with a Mac, the way I've always handled the issue you describe is by trashing the Nikon scan preferences and rebooting Nikonscan. Years ago a Nikon tech told me about this. When the scanners are used for a period of time, the scan preferences can get corrupted. So you need to trash them, and if it's really bad, repair disk permissions, restart the computer, and relaunch Nikon Scan. Then I usually Calibrate the scanner again. This has always fixed issues like the one you describe.

To do this on a Mac, go to Users/UserName/Library/Preferences and open the folder titled Nikon. In that folder you should find a file titled Nikon Scan 4 Prefs. Put that file in the trash, empty the trash, and for safe measure, Repair Disk Permissions in the Disk Utility app. And finally, to be really safe, re-start your computer. Although I usually just delete the Nikon Scan 4 Pref file and restart Nikon Scan.

Then make sure to Calibrate the scanner after doing this and you should be good to go.

Best,
-Tim