Vuescan Tips & Tricks

[PaulN]

Hi folks,
In another thread, I mentioned an idea of creating a sticky post dedicated to tips/tricks/workflows for using Vuescan. There is a bunch of good information floating around in posts and I don't want to see it disappear.

To kick things off, here is the vuescan settings that I use for B&W settings. This is coming from PeterS in the following thread: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14263

Vuescan
I honestly do not recall the source of this information, would not be surprised if it is from a fellow RFF member; I apologize for not being able to give credit to the author


Here goes:

First off, it is better to scan your black and white, or color negs, as slides. The scanner and Vuescan will utilize every ounce of their potential when in this mode. It makes a difference! Set to "slide film" as apposed to "image".

Set the optical resolution/pixels to the highest the scanner is rated for optically, as apposed to having it interpolate the data. Set it for the highest bit depth available, but you will not benefit from the RGBI setting (though I don't think the Dimage has an infrared channel, so that option wouldn't likely appear). You can leave the preview res on auto. I'd leave the number of passes at one, and not use the long pass option. You may benefit slightly from them on a poor (very poor) exposure, but they are generally not needed, and can cause softening of the image.

This is where it gets important! Go down and set the "Lock Exposure" option. After doing so, the box below "RGB exposure" will have a value in it. If it isn't "1", you'll need to set it to that value. This will give you more options and control. "Exposure clipping" I always keep at zero, which is probably best. Down below that, you'll want to check "Lock film base color", and "Lock image color", so you'll have more control over the histogram and within the color options tab.

After setting these options, you should be fine to do the preview scan. Once complete, go to the "Preview Hist." view, and the color tab. From there, set the film base color for all three, red, green, and blue, to zero. From there you can use your mouse to move the three colored triangles for both the white and dark points. I never bother to use this for the actual white and black point, but rather to get the scan as nuetral as possible. You can do this by aligning all three channels to meet directly where they touch the bottom of the scale. Do this for both the right and left sides of the histogram, and the image will scan almost perfectly grayscale.

This method is the best for insuring you get the most possible information from the neg and into the computer, where I assume you'll be further editing it. I always hit channel mixer in PS and check the monochrome box and hit okay. That removes the slight color casts that you will always have. Next, I use curves to flop the image into a positive; just pull the top right corner down to the bottom, and the bottom left up to the top, and you're in business. You can complete other edits as you normally would.

 

[peter_n]

Very . Thanks Paul. I'm a Viewscan newbie so I'm bookmarking this thread.

 

[Peter S]

Guys,

The Vuescan workflow was not mine (and I never claimed it as such). It was something I found on the net and saved. It turned out to be published by one of our RFF fellow members: Schmoozit.

Happy experimenting.

Peter

 

[kaiyen]

Keep in mind that workflow will be different for different scanner brands and models. For instance, it is not necessay to scan as a positive with Nikon scanners. In fact, it has a detrimental impact on the middle tones in some cases. Also, with many scans, using it in slide mode will clip off your highlights or shadows. It tends to move the histogram dramatically in one direction or another. I have found that I can get more of the tonal range by staying in negative mode with one of the Kodak tmax film profiles. This means that I am getting basically a grayscle RGB file.

So a rough overview of what I do is...

-scan as color negative
-48 bit RGB TIFF, sometimes also RAW if I want to play with output options
-max resolution (of course)
-4 pass (I may change this to single pass soon, based on my earlier thread)
-no long exposure (I have not found this beneficial even for very dense negs)
-lock exposure (1,1,1)*
-set film profile to TMAX 400, D76 CI=.55
-set color tab to auto levels
-adjust levels manually from there to get full histogram^

* - I go back/forth on locking the film base color. I usually lock it anyway, but I don't adjust them to all 0 or whatever so I guess there is no point. I haven't tested whether this is sound yet. Guess that's my next test...

^ - I actually don't have to change vuescan's levels very much. Unlike NikonScan and EpsonScan, Vuescan goes for a much less contrasty output. Vuescan very rarely clips anything off, even in auto levels. If I"m worried, I could leave it at Manual and adjust it from there.

allan

 

[kaiyen]

Oh yeah - one other reason to use one of the B&W film profiles is that it gives you a bit more wiggle room with 35mm exposure and development. Getting a good EI and dev time for the scene contrast (a la zone system) is very doable with either slide or negative mode. However, if I am off in my development (too much or too little) which is very easy to do with 35mm, since you can't customize development per image, I can use the CI=.50 or .70 to compensate somewhat.

allan

 

[Peter S]

I also have changed to scanning like Kaiyen does. The B&W negative scans out of Vuescan with my Nikon IVED come out nicely. I only scan the negatives 3 times though, but always in RAW. Currently I am working on my Photoshop skills (a lot to learn there) and I came across following link. You may not like what some people achieve, but it is interesting to see what they manage to get out of a file.


http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=24784 (probably need to cut and paste to get the link working)

Cheers

Peter

 

[schmoozit]

Hiya!

Well, yeah, all scanners are different, and they produce different quality scans based on the software used to drive it. I'm using a Canon FS4000US and find that, without a doubt, I get more shadow detail when using the method in the original post (though very slightly refined since originally posted).

Even if I am able to keep all the levels within the range of the scanner while in either b&W neg or color neg mode, there is a very real difference in the shadow detail of the file. Simply, using my FS4000 with VS (Vuescan), I get better results scanning b&w negs in slide film mode. I've heard of others with the same experience, using different scanners and software. I've come to a general conclusion based on that, that it is almost always going to be the case.

As they say, however, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades. Therefore, YMMV! Do your own tests and see what works best with the setup you have. I certainly don't scan the way I do for my health; it's much more work than it would be to do it the "normal" way.

Happy Scans and Merry New Year!