Adventures in Nikon LS-2000 land .... Help!

[Barry Watzman]

Been trying to get a working Nikon LS-2000 film scanner. Arrrgh!!

So far I've bought 4 of them on E-Bay (actually, one is an LS-30):

Scanner #1: Paid a lot of money for it ($173 + shipping). Advertised
as "we think it's working but don't have a SCSI card ... we will give a
DOA warranty". Got it last week. Connected it, hey, it's recognized by
the system; device manager says "this device is working properly"
(which, I discovered, has very limited meaning .... the ELECTRONICS is
working). Tried to run Nikon Scan. Get "The Scanner has reported a
Hardware Error. Sense 0X04620000" Opened the scanner (with seller's
permission), turned the stepper motor manually, could not resolve the
issue, did not want to get any more "adventurous". So there is a
problem in the stepper motor mechanism (of which I'm now absolutely sure
after getting unit #3 ... it's not doing a proper power-on cycle).
Returned the scanner. VERY GOOD Seller issued a complete refund,
IMMEDIATELY, no questions, no hassle ... even refunded shipping charges
(I paid the return shipping, so we are both out $12). Seller will get a
Superb rec from me on E-Bay. BTW, item has been relisted by seller
DISCLOSING THE PROBLEM. INCREDIBLY HONEST SELLER (Jaybrokers).

Scanner #2: Similar story; Advertised as "we think it's working but
don't have a SCSI card ... we will give a DOA warranty". Received it on
Tuesday. Unit is even sicker than #1. NOT recognized by the SCSI bus
AND it has stepper mechanism problems also (both the focus and the scan
stepper motors are supposed to do an "exercise" run on power up; the
focus motor does, the scanner motor does not). Looked inside unit,
exercised stepper motor manually, did not help either issue. Contacted
seller, has agreed to take it back. Will ship today or Monday. Can't
say yet if seller will quickly refund or not.

Scanner #3: [Guess what] Advertised as "we think it's working but don't
have a SCSI card ... NO WARRANTY, SOLD AS-IS" [but I got it cheap, $51].
Arrived today. YEE-HA, it seemed to work. Well almost; but there is
a problem, see below. By the way, it came with the 35mm negative strip
adapter only, no slide film adapter.

Scanner #4: This is an LS-30, not an LS-2000 (essentially the same
scanner with some features removed. Not sure if this is just a firmware
issue or the actual unit is significantly different (perhaps only the
electronics). Won it yesterday, REAL cheap ($31), but "As-Is". Don't
have it yet. It comes with the slide film adapter only (no 35mm
negative strip adapter).

So that's where I am right now.

Now, as to scanner #3: Good news, it works (sort of). It is detected
by the SCSI bus, all of it's stepper motor mechanisms work, Nikon scan
sees it and likes it, it scans film.

BUT, there is a problem: It's scanning is off; it doesn't scan the
whole frame, but it does scan across the dividing line between frames.
In Nikon Scan, there is an adjustment for "film strip offset" that is to
adjust this very parameter. I've played with this, and it helps, but
the closest I can get is "full positive" (value of +127) and it's still
scanning across the boundary between images on the negative strip
instead of properly scanning the images.

Also, the colors don't look quite right.

Anyone have any idea what this problem might be? It's not the film
strip adapter, I have two of those here (since I have not yet returned
defective scanner #2, which had a film strip adapter also), and they
behave exactly the same (after I cleared a scrap of paper out of the
film path of the one that came with defective scanner #2).

If anyone knows how to address the matter of the scanner scanning across
the boundary between images, please let me know.

Thanks

 

[Maris V. Lidaka Sr.]

Try Vuescan - perhaps by cropping in Vuescan you can solve the
across-boundary problem.

http://www.hamrick.com/

If it does work for you and you like it, be sure to purchase the
Professional, not the Standard Edition - free upgrades forever plus some
other (to me) important features.

Maris

Been trying to get a working Nikon LS-2000 film scanner. Arrrgh!!

So far I've bought 4 of them on E-Bay (actually, one is an LS-30):

Scanner #1: Paid a lot of money for it ($173 + shipping). Advertised
as "we think it's working but don't have a SCSI card ... we will give
a DOA warranty". Got it last week. Connected it, hey, it's
recognized by the system; device manager says "this device is working
properly" (which, I discovered, has very limited meaning .... the
ELECTRONICS is working). Tried to run Nikon Scan. Get "The Scanner
has reported a Hardware Error. Sense 0X04620000" Opened the scanner
(with seller's permission), turned the stepper motor manually, could
not resolve the issue, did not want to get any more "adventurous". So
there is a problem in the stepper motor mechanism (of which I'm
now absolutely sure after getting unit #3 ... it's not doing a proper
power-on cycle). Returned the scanner. VERY GOOD Seller
issued a complete refund, IMMEDIATELY, no questions, no hassle ...
even refunded shipping charges (I paid the return shipping, so we are
both out $12). Seller will get a Superb rec from me on E-Bay. BTW,
item has been relisted by seller DISCLOSING THE PROBLEM. INCREDIBLY
HONEST SELLER (Jaybrokers).
Scanner #2: Similar story; Advertised as "we think it's working but
don't have a SCSI card ... we will give a DOA warranty". Received it
on Tuesday. Unit is even sicker than #1. NOT recognized by the SCSI
bus AND it has stepper mechanism problems also (both the focus and
the scan stepper motors are supposed to do an "exercise" run on power
up; the focus motor does, the scanner motor does not). Looked inside
unit, exercised stepper motor manually, did not help either issue.
Contacted seller, has agreed to take it back. Will ship today or
Monday. Can't say yet if seller will quickly refund or not.

Scanner #3: [Guess what] Advertised as "we think it's working but
don't have a SCSI card ... NO WARRANTY, SOLD AS-IS" [but I got it
cheap, $51]. Arrived today. YEE-HA, it seemed to work. Well
almost; but there is a problem, see below. By the way, it came with the
35mm negative
strip adapter only, no slide film adapter.

Scanner #4: This is an LS-30, not an LS-2000 (essentially the same
scanner with some features removed. Not sure if this is just a
firmware issue or the actual unit is significantly different (perhaps
only the electronics). Won it yesterday, REAL cheap ($31), but
"As-Is". Don't have it yet. It comes with the slide film adapter
only (no 35mm negative strip adapter).

So that's where I am right now.

Now, as to scanner #3: Good news, it works (sort of). It is detected
by the SCSI bus, all of it's stepper motor mechanisms work, Nikon scan
sees it and likes it, it scans film.

BUT, there is a problem: It's scanning is off; it doesn't scan the
whole frame, but it does scan across the dividing line between frames.
In Nikon Scan, there is an adjustment for "film strip offset" that is
to adjust this very parameter. I've played with this, and it helps,
but the closest I can get is "full positive" (value of +127) and it's
still scanning across the boundary between images on the negative
strip instead of properly scanning the images.

Also, the colors don't look quite right.

Anyone have any idea what this problem might be? It's not the film
strip adapter, I have two of those here (since I have not yet returned
defective scanner #2, which had a film strip adapter also), and they
behave exactly the same (after I cleared a scrap of paper out of the
film path of the one that came with defective scanner #2).

If anyone knows how to address the matter of the scanner scanning
across the boundary between images, please let me know.

Thanks

 

[thomas.c.monego]

Been trying to get a working Nikon LS-2000 film scanner. Arrrgh!!

So far I've bought 4 of them on E-Bay (actually, one is an LS-30):

Scanner #1: Paid a lot of money for it ($173 + shipping). Advertised
as "we think it's working but don't have a SCSI card ... we will give a
DOA warranty". Got it last week. Connected it, hey, it's recognized by
the system; device manager says "this device is working properly"
(which, I discovered, has very limited meaning .... the ELECTRONICS is
working). Tried to run Nikon Scan. Get "The Scanner has reported a
Hardware Error. Sense 0X04620000" Opened the scanner (with seller's
permission), turned the stepper motor manually, could not resolve the
issue, did not want to get any more "adventurous". So there is a
problem in the stepper motor mechanism (of which I'm now absolutely sure
after getting unit #3 ... it's not doing a proper power-on cycle).
Returned the scanner. VERY GOOD Seller issued a complete refund,
IMMEDIATELY, no questions, no hassle ... even refunded shipping charges
(I paid the return shipping, so we are both out $12). Seller will get a
Superb rec from me on E-Bay. BTW, item has been relisted by seller
DISCLOSING THE PROBLEM. INCREDIBLY HONEST SELLER (Jaybrokers).

Scanner #2: Similar story; Advertised as "we think it's working but
don't have a SCSI card ... we will give a DOA warranty". Received it on
Tuesday. Unit is even sicker than #1. NOT recognized by the SCSI bus
AND it has stepper mechanism problems also (both the focus and the scan
stepper motors are supposed to do an "exercise" run on power up; the
focus motor does, the scanner motor does not). Looked inside unit,
exercised stepper motor manually, did not help either issue. Contacted
seller, has agreed to take it back. Will ship today or Monday. Can't
say yet if seller will quickly refund or not.

Scanner #3: [Guess what] Advertised as "we think it's working but don't
have a SCSI card ... NO WARRANTY, SOLD AS-IS" [but I got it cheap, $51].
Arrived today. YEE-HA, it seemed to work. Well almost; but there is
a problem, see below. By the way, it came with the 35mm negative strip
adapter only, no slide film adapter.

Scanner #4: This is an LS-30, not an LS-2000 (essentially the same
scanner with some features removed. Not sure if this is just a firmware
issue or the actual unit is significantly different (perhaps only the
electronics). Won it yesterday, REAL cheap ($31), but "As-Is". Don't
have it yet. It comes with the slide film adapter only (no 35mm
negative strip adapter).

So that's where I am right now.

Now, as to scanner #3: Good news, it works (sort of). It is detected
by the SCSI bus, all of it's stepper motor mechanisms work, Nikon scan
sees it and likes it, it scans film.

BUT, there is a problem: It's scanning is off; it doesn't scan the
whole frame, but it does scan across the dividing line between frames.
In Nikon Scan, there is an adjustment for "film strip offset" that is to
adjust this very parameter. I've played with this, and it helps, but
the closest I can get is "full positive" (value of +127) and it's still
scanning across the boundary between images on the negative strip
instead of properly scanning the images.

Also, the colors don't look quite right.

Anyone have any idea what this problem might be? It's not the film
strip adapter, I have two of those here (since I have not yet returned
defective scanner #2, which had a film strip adapter also), and they
behave exactly the same (after I cleared a scrap of paper out of the
film path of the one that came with defective scanner #2).

If anyone knows how to address the matter of the scanner scanning across
the boundary between images, please let me know.

Thanks

I have only done slides with mine, never had a centering problem with
the LS2000. But using auto framing with other scanners has always been
frustrating, see if you can manually frame the negs, this has always
worked with several scanners I have used.

Tom

 

[Ralf R. Radermacher]

Scanner #4: This is an LS-30, not an LS-2000 (essentially the same
scanner with some features removed. Not sure if this is just a firmware
issue or the actual unit is significantly different (perhaps only the
electronics).

The hardware of the LS30 and LS2000 is exactly the same. Only the
firmware is different. I've had my LS30 running as a 2000 for years but
the scanner is gone and I've lost the files required for flashing the
filrmware, long ago. Just ask around or search the web.

Ralf

 

[Barry Watzman]

The problem is generally fixed by not having significant excess film
beyond the end images. (excess is more than about 1-2 mm). Mounting
almost 2,000 images in frames is out of the question.

 

[Barry Watzman]

Are you saying that by flashing an LS-30 with LS-2000 firmware, the
LS-30 becomes an LS-2000? Granted that the flashing program probably
has to be "hacked" to allow such an "upgrade".

 

[Ralf R. Radermacher]

Are you saying that by flashing an LS-30 with LS-2000 firmware, the
LS-30 becomes an LS-2000?

Absolutely. 16 bit A/D conversion, multi-sampling, and all.

Granted that the flashing program probably
has to be "hacked" to allow such an "upgrade".

Yep. The software checks if the correct scanner is attached. The trick
is to tell the firmware updater to look for he other model.

Ralf

 

[Barry Watzman]

Cool; I wonder if the chip containing the firmware is socketed?
[Actually, while I had my LS-2000 apart for total cleaning of the
optics, I took detailed photos of everything including the circuit board.]

One minor point of correction, I'm pretty sure that the LS-2000 is only
12 bits per color, not 16. And if you get your output in JPEG, it drops
to 8 bits (if you select 12 bits, it forces TIFF output).

 

[Ralf R. Radermacher]

One minor point of correction, I'm pretty sure that the LS-2000 is only
12 bits per color, not 16. And if you get your output in JPEG, it drops
to 8 bits (if you select 12 bits, it forces TIFF output).

Yep. It's 10 bit with the LS-30 and 12 with the LS-2000.

Ralf

 

[Kennedy McEwen]

One minor point of correction, I'm pretty sure that the LS-2000 is only
12 bits per color, not 16. And if you get your output in JPEG, it
drops to 8 bits (if you select 12 bits, it forces TIFF output).

That is irrelevant really, since you can't output raw linear data in
jpeg anyway, which is about the only time you can actually access the
full 12-bits.

Once you are outputting your data in a conventional format (ie. with the
correct gamma for viewing and printing) even the 12-bits of linear
information isn't enough to yield an 8-bit gamma compensated range.

At the black end of the scale, the change from 0 to 1 on the 12-bit
scale represents about 1/4000th of the peak white level. Converting
that to a gamma 2.2 range for viewing is (1/4000)^(1/2.2), which works
out at 1/45, or around 6 on the 8-bit gamma compensated output. Hence
visual shadow posterisation or crushing, depending on the toe of the
curve used to map that linear input to the final output.

That is why later scanners increased their capability to 14 and 16-bits
ADC and still provided multisampling. To fully occupy an 8-bit gamma
2.2 image you need more than 17-bits of linear data.

Even when you are producing JPEG images from your LS-2000 you still use
the entire 12-bits, and you don't get any more effective bit depth by
going to TIFF.