Vuescan: Scans fine... then applies wonky color cast.

[kiss-o-matic]

I'm scanning E100VS w/ a Plustek 8100. I've messed around w/ the color settings in VueScan, but it's not making sense... much the same way Silverfast didn't (and hence, I shelled out $80 for this).

Basically it scans, and looks great in the preview pain... then it applies some filtering (even w/ Color Balance is set to "none"). Am I missing something here? I can easily fix it in Photoshop. But I don't want to.

 

[brbo]

If there is a large discrepancy between the image that is displayed during the scanning and final image in the scan window and you have 'Color | Color balance' set to "None" you should check the 'Color | Scanner color space' and 'Color | Output color space' settings. Try setting them to 'built-in' and 'Device RGB' respectively. I also think (not sure, though - getting solid information about Vuescan's inner workings is, well, a challenge) that image displayed during scanning is actually raw data displayed with a 'Color balance' set to "Neutral".

Btw, it's great that the image displayed during the scanning "looks great" (this means that you should be able to get that as an output when you've sorted out your settings), but still, scanning slide film really needs a scanner with a profile.

 

[philipus]

I am usually able to obtain good scans of slide film using Vuescan. I believe I just use the default settings. Wolf Faust sells IT8 targets though for not very much money - targets.coloraid.de.

I can easily fix it in Photoshop. But I don't want to.

Here I disagree, though. I use Vuescan only to obtain as much image info as possible which I then adjust in Photoshop (often using the excellent ColorPerfect plugin to tweak the colour balance).

There's an independent Vuescan guide (here) which I have used over the years to further understand the settings. Perhaps it will help you too.

 

[DRDDR]

It's probably worth checking that you have the very latest drivers for the scanner from Plustek's site. I recently had a similar issue in Silverfast, where the preview looked great but higher resolution scans changed the colours (often dramatically). Apparently there was a bug in the Plustek drivers that caused this. An update seemed to fix my problem.

 

[cabbiinc]

If there is a large discrepancy between the image that is displayed during the scanning and final image in the scan window and you have 'Color | Color balance' set to "None" you should check the 'Color | Scanner color space' and 'Color | Output color space' settings. Try setting them to 'built-in' and 'Device RGB' respectively. I also think (not sure, though - getting solid information about Vuescan's inner workings is, well, a challenge) that image displayed during scanning is actually raw data displayed with a 'Color balance' set to "Neutral".

Btw, it's great that the image displayed during the scanning "looks great" (this means that you should be able to get that as an output when you've sorted out your settings), but still, scanning slide film really needs a scanner with a profile.

I agree, this is how I've gone to setting things up for myself (Canon FS4000US and Nikon LS-2000). You can change the output color space back and forth after a scan and see the difference. The next step is to then send things through PhotoShop or another editor to get the color space where you need it. Either sRGB for web (and many other uses) or a fuller RGB for editing.

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Thanks for the input.
I actually did mess around w/ the color spaces, and I *think* that got it. Well, for the most part though. I guess my most irksome peeve is that if I set the Color to "None", it looks pretty underexposed. Setting it to Whitebalance or a couple of others seems to fix this. It's livable, but just seems off to me.

Will mess around some more I guess w/ subsequent rolls.

Wolf Faust sells IT8 targets though for not very much money - targets.coloraid.de.

Might do these. Can someone kindly explain how the 'targets' thing works?

 

[biomed]

I have found the Vuescan Bible to be helpful in sorting out issues with Vuescan. It won't solve all issues, but it is much better than the fumbling about I did when I first used the software.

Mike

 

[Denverdad]

Do you do anything with exposure settings? The default RGB exposure value (a value of "1" I think) is usually on the low side for what is actually needed. One semi-standard operation is to check "lock exposure" button after you perform a preview and set the crop to what you want. That action causes Vuescan to set the exposure to a (usually higher) value that tends to fill the histogram. You can check the histogram directly after any preview or scan and see where the exposure falls, and if you like you can manaully adjust the exposure value to fine tune it.

Having said all that, even with the exposure value bumped up you may find that the scan tends to still be somewhat flat looking and/or underexposed. That is basically normal with color correction set to "none", and nothing to worry about if your workflow involves post processing the scan.

... I guess my most irksome peeve is that if I set the Color to "None", it looks pretty underexposed. Setting it to Whitebalance or a couple of others seems to fix this. It's livable, but just seems off to me.
...

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Do you do anything with exposure settings? The default RGB exposure value (a value of "1" I think) is usually on the low side for what is actually needed. One semi-standard operation is to check "lock exposure" button after you perform a preview and set the crop to what you want. That action causes Vuescan to set the exposure to a (usually higher) value that tends to fill the histogram. You can check the histogram directly after any preview or scan and see where the exposure falls, and if you like you can manaully adjust the exposure value to fine tune it.

Having said all that, even with the exposure value bumped up you may find that the scan tends to still be somewhat flat looking and/or underexposed. That is basically normal with color correction set to "none", and nothing to worry about if your workflow involves post processing the scan.

By the exposure setting, do you meant the "Brightness" part on the Color tab? If so, I leave it at one. I had to change the Red value a lot w/ the aforementioned problem w/ E100VS. I've been having better luck w/ the current roll (B&W) but as per before, I'm needing to set Color Balance to Neutral or White Balance to get a good exposure. I guess raising Brightness and leaving it at None would work, but I guess the programmer in me said that 1 is the default, and should be somewhat constant. 😱

 

[cabbiinc]

By the exposure setting, do you meant the "Brightness" part on the Color tab?

I believe they are talking about
Input tab:
Lock Exposure: Checked
then RGB Exposure and Infrared Exposure sliders appear and you can adjust the actual time that every pixel exposes for in the scanner. It's a hardware adjustment much like shutter speed. You need to do a preview unchecked to get the value that Vuescan calculates, then check it and see what it shows. You can then do another preview and it should do the preview at the value that's set. If that's too low you can manually adjust that.

But I'm pretty sure if you go to the Color tab and look at Output Color Space it will be something other than Device RGB. That's why when you set the Color Balance to None it still adjusts something after the scan. Try setting that to Device RGB and see if that gives you a consistent image from preview to scan.

If that's not it, please take some screenshots of your settings and show them to us. Input tab, Filter tab, Color tab, and Output tab.

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Groovy... I will play w/ that, just not sure if I can squeeze it in as the work avalanche just fell on my head. I guess that's what thread bumping is for.

 

[Ronald M]

My KM5400 from 2004 has been attached to many computers and they no longer provide software compatible with new OS. I have tried Silver fast and hate it. A bunch of Icons I have to learn. Vuescan never got me what I needed as it seemed toy like to me. So far I have been able to move the software from one OS to another. The disk is no good at all.

The KM software works best for me. I get a good histogram and close color balance and it generally is very close. Save those settings and use from there on with that film. Everything else I fix in photoshop.

You are probably changing color space somewhere, scanner, computer, or photoshop.
The monitor probably needs profiling. Also Microsoft APS are not color managed so what you see in there can be way off.

 

[steveyork]

I had to start using Vuescan last year because Nikon Scan wouldn't work on my new computer. I really troubled getting good results, then I purchased colorperfect software (a photo shop plug in). Now I get much better results with no or little adjustment.