Nikon Scan 4 settings cache?

[Ian]

Hi All:

I've been having a problem with my Coolscan V ED over the
last few days. I've been trying to improve a scan of an old,
poorly exposed slide, so I've been using lots of adjustments
to get an acceptable result, viewed in the Preview pane.

However, when I then do a full scan, the result is wildly
different from either the "Processed" or unprocessed previews,
as if the main scan is not using the settings set up for the preview.
(The one exception is the ROC, but that feature is unusable for
me as on all settings it provides heavily posterised and garish
colours. One odd thing is that there is virtually no difference
between setting 1 and 10 in ROC.)

I tried resetting preferences to Factory Default, which didn't help,
and I then tried reinstalling Nikonscan 4.0.2. I then noticed that
even after deleting the entire Nikon directory, that prior Preferences,
control settings and even the last preview were unchanged!

That suggests to me that Nikonscan has a cache somewhere "outside"
the Nikon directory. Any suggestions where this might be? I'm
concerned I have some conflict between where the preview and
main scan are getting their settings from. For example, I have 2
copies of DRAGNKL1.dll in different directories reporting the
same version number but with quite different dates (one has a date
4 months prior to when that version was available :-(

Any help would be appreciated, I have also sent this in to Nikon support.

Regards
Ian

 

[Dan]

I've had similar problems scanning very dark, old kodachromes (you can
find the posts here). I ended up setting those slides aside until I can
find an adapter ring for my illumitran. I tried everything, but
couldn't get a good scan, even though the preview pane would look good.

Sorry, that's not much help to you.

Dan

 

[Ivan]

Did you try running a regristry cleaner after you uninstalled the nikon
software?
Ivan

 

[Jumm]

Nikonscan 4 comes with a file in the folder named "Utilities" called
"regsweeper.exe". below is a cut and paste of the readme that
accompanies it.

"
About the registry deletion utility "RegSweeper.exe" for Nikon Scan 4

This program is a tool for deleting registry keys that cannot be deleted
by uninstalling Nikon Scan 4. (Only keys created by Nikon Scan 4 will be
deleted.)

[Usage precautions]

1) Nikon Scan 4 settings

Using this utility will delete all Nikon Scan 4 settings. Save important
settings in a file before using the utility. Save the settings as
follows:

1. Select "Export..." in the "Settings" menu in the Nikon Scan 4
scanning window.

2. Save to a file specified in the "Export Settings" dialog box.

Saved settings files can be imported from the folder where saved by
selecting "Import..." in the "Settings" menu in the

Nikon Scan 4 scanning window after reinstalling Nikon Scan 4.

2) RemKeyList.txt

Do not edit "RemKeyList.txt" in the <Nikon Scan 4\Utilities> folder on
the CD-ROM. "RegSweeper.exe" will not work correctly.

[Preparation for running this utility]

Before running this utility, uninstall Nikon Scan 4 and exit from all
active applications.

[How to run this utility]

Run this utility as follows:

1. Copy the <Nikon Scan 4\Utilities> folder from the CD-ROM onto the
hard disk.

2. Open the <Utilities> folder on the hard disk and run
<RegSweeper.exe>.

3. The "Using this tool..." message dialog box appears. Check that no
applications are running and press "Yes". Registry keys created by Nikon
Scan 4 will be deleted. Press "No" to abort processing"

 

[Don]

Yes, as Ivan pointed out, simply uninstalling NikonScan is not
enough. You also need to run the registry cleaner program afterwards,
as Nikon Support has probably confirmed by now. This utility is called
"RegSweeper".

As to your scanning problems it's hard to tell from here, but a
preview window is just that, a preview. It's a very low resolution
scan and any changes you make are often only simulated there rather
then applied (e.g. Analog Gain). The scan also depends on the values
of all the other settings.

Once the program has been re-installed, don't modify all settings at
once. Instead, change them one by one immediately followed by a scan,
until the problem reoccurs. That way you will be able to narrow it
down.

Don.

 

[AS]

However, when I then do a full scan, the result is wildly
different from either the "Processed" or unprocessed previews,
as if the main scan is not using the settings set up for the preview.

After applying some of the tools you have to click "Redraw" button to see
the effect. The settings are: ROC, Analog gain, ICE, DEE, if I remember
right.

 

[Ian]

I've had similar problems scanning very dark, old kodachromes (you can
find the posts here). I ended up setting those slides aside until I can
find an adapter ring for my illumitran. I tried everything, but
couldn't get a good scan, even though the preview pane would look good.

Sorry, that's not much help to you.

Dan

Thanks for the response, Dan.

The strange thing is that I have managed to scan this particular slide
before, I just wanted to have another go. It isn't particularly dark,
about 1/2 - 1 stop underexposed, but limited histogram range. The
main scan output is now _really_ dark, much darker than even the
unmodified preview.

I got a response from Nikon saying that if the scan is set to 16-bit
then the tweaks would not be applied, suggesting it was just doing "raw"
scan data. I'm not sure I believe that, that would blow away all their
proprietary processing capability.

Regards
Ian

 

[Ian]

Yes, as Ivan pointed out, simply uninstalling NikonScan is not
enough. You also need to run the registry cleaner program afterwards,
as Nikon Support has probably confirmed by now. This utility is called
"RegSweeper".

As to your scanning problems it's hard to tell from here, but a
preview window is just that, a preview. It's a very low resolution
scan and any changes you make are often only simulated there rather
then applied (e.g. Analog Gain). The scan also depends on the values
of all the other settings.

Once the program has been re-installed, don't modify all settings at
once. Instead, change them one by one immediately followed by a scan,
until the problem reoccurs. That way you will be able to narrow it
down.

Don.

Apologies to the group - I'm having major BT problems. I never even saw
Ivan's contribution.I've been "off line" most of today.
I read the manual. It appears that if I were to save in NEF format that,
indeed
it would be saved in a "raw" format, with pointers for the processing
capabilities.
Sigh.
I don't do that - I'm saving in TIFF at 110MB per file.
However.....
It seems that if I try to " fix" any of my problem slides, the main scan
seems
(now) to almost invert the processing. I thought I had managed to fix this,
but.....

Sorry. I don't have a web site (unless BT decide I'm a "real subscriber")
so cannot post the pics. The differences are not subtle, however.

If I get any sense out of Nikon I will post it.

Regards

Ian

Ian