Vuescan vs Nikonscan

[Daniel Masse]

Hello !

Today, I scanned a slide with Vuescan, and I noticed that details were lost
in light areas. I then tried Nikonscan on the same slide, and the details
came out clear !

I thought Vuescan gave better results than Nikonscan 4, so I must have done
something wrong. But what ?

Settings I used on Vuescan :
Media = Image
Bits per pixel = 24
Scan resolution = 2900 (I have a Nikon IV scanner)
IC filter : medium
Color : white balance

Thanks !

 

[Daniel Masse]

I believe I found the answer : reduce White Point to .1 or even 0 : it was
set at 1 % by default

 

[ThomasH]

I believe I found the answer : reduce White Point to .1 or even 0 : it was
set at 1 % by default

Yes, its an old complaint of mine. This setting may
have adverse effect on highlights in many images.

Ed prefers to preset WP to 1% and BP to 0%. I find both
not adequate for most situations.

Thomas

 

[Kennedy McEwen]

I thought Vuescan gave better results than Nikonscan 4, so I must have
done something wrong. But what ?

Thinking that. ;-)

 

[Don]

Thinking that. ;-)

Ooh... Dangerous territory... With statements like that "the sect"
will be after you next! ;o)

Don.

 

[Julian Vrieslander]

I believe I found the answer : reduce White Point to .1 or even 0 : it was
set at 1 % by default

Yes, its an old complaint of mine. This setting may
have adverse effect on highlights in many images.

Ed prefers to preset WP to 1% and BP to 0%. I find both
not adequate for most situations.[/QUOTE]

The default 1% WP setting often produces featureless highlights, but it
gives a contrasty result that is closer to what many people are used to
seeing in prints from the corner drugstore. If the default was 0% WP,
there would be a lot of newbies sending Ed Hamrick complaints that their
scans were dull and lifeless. Or, if they were trying the demo, they
would not buy it.

Once you understand the functions of the WP/BP and histograms, you can
adjust settings to suit your needs. I usually leave BP at 0, WP at a
small value (0.1% or less), and then make contrast and tonality
adjustments using the curve tools in Photoshop.

 

[Mendel Leisk]

I believe I found the answer : reduce White Point to .1 or even 0 : it was
set at 1 % by default

Yeah, I usually set both white and black points to .02~.05 in Vuescan,
regardless of film type. Or Color balance "none", which results in no
expansion of the histogram, and adjust levels (similarly) in
Photoshop, usually with the "AutoColor" option in levels and "snap
neutral Midtones".

 

[ThomasH]

I believe I found the answer : reduce White Point to .1 or even 0 : it was
set at 1 % by default

Yes, its an old complaint of mine. This setting may
have adverse effect on highlights in many images.

Ed prefers to preset WP to 1% and BP to 0%. I find both
not adequate for most situations.

The default 1% WP setting often produces featureless highlights, but it
gives a contrasty result that is closer to what many people are used to
seeing in prints from the corner drugstore. If the default was 0% WP,
there would be a lot of newbies sending Ed Hamrick complaints that their
scans were dull and lifeless. Or, if they were trying the demo, they
would not buy it.

Once you understand the functions of the WP/BP and histograms, you can
adjust settings to suit your needs. I usually leave BP at 0, WP at a
small value (0.1% or less), and then make contrast and tonality
adjustments using the curve tools in Photoshop.[/QUOTE]

Same here. And since we have the histograms, I usually
as a heuristics set the points where the luminance has
it max/min values and go from there. In such a setting
WP is usually around 0.05 to 0.3 %

Thomas