Optimal scan strategy for Coolscan V ED?

[Robert]

Yesterday I ordered a Nikon Coolscan V ED and next weekend I plan to
start scanning my slide archive. My computer is a 2GHz PC with 512 MB
RAM and USB2 & Firewire.

To stay within an acceptable timeframe regarding my archive of 7000
slides, I am looking for the optimal scanning strategy. This has raised
the following questions:

1) How many slides can be processed with the Coolscan V ED per hour, if
all corrections are activated (autofocus, exposure control and ICE), as
long as no further manual actions are taken?

2) Are there configuration options, which can accelerate the throughput
without significant disadvantages (according to the rule, that the last
5 percent of quality do require 95 percent of the performance)?

3) Makes the permanent activation of ICE sense, or is it sufficient to
activate it in the case of clearly visual scratches and dust?

4) Would a RAM upgrade of the PC from 512 to 1024 MB cause a significant
shorter total time (>> 5 % of the whole process)?

5) Is a „post-scan“ batch processing of the images possible with the
NikonScan-software (as known from VueScan) and can this save
significantly hands-on-time?

6) As I understood from several sources, scanning software has to be
configured exactly for the film to be processed. Unfortunately I used
many different film types for the slides of my achieve and because of
the slide frames I can not determine them now. What is the best way to
get in spite of that lack of information the best possible results?

Looking forward for helpful answers
Robert

 

[Kennedy McEwen]

Yesterday I ordered a Nikon Coolscan V ED and next weekend I plan to
start scanning my slide archive. My computer is a 2GHz PC with 512 MB
RAM and USB2 & Firewire.

To stay within an acceptable timeframe regarding my archive of 7000
slides, I am looking for the optimal scanning strategy. This has raised
the following questions:

1) How many slides can be processed with the Coolscan V ED per hour, if
all corrections are activated (autofocus, exposure control and ICE), as
long as no further manual actions are taken?

The manual states that with these options enabled, each scan takes 1min
13secs with a 3.06GHz machine. A slower 2GHz machine will mean that ICE
takes longer to process, and since this is responsible for a 35sec
overhead on the test machine, it is probably closer to 55sec on yours,
giving a total scan time closer to 1min 33sec. Since the CS-V only has
a single slide feeder, you can allow 15secs or so to write each file to
disk and change the slide. That gives a rate of about 33 slides an hour
flat out, assuming that no preview of each slide is performed.

2) Are there configuration options, which can accelerate the throughput
without significant disadvantages (according to the rule, that the last
5 percent of quality do require 95 percent of the performance)?

Not really - unless you want to switch off ICE, which may be necessary
if you are using Kodachrome in any case. In that situation, you should
be able to get about 80 or so scans an hour if you are prepared to sweat
over a hot scanner that long tending its every beep for new material. In
practice, I doubt you will get much more than 50-60.

3) Makes the permanent activation of ICE sense, or is it sufficient to
activate it in the case of clearly visual scratches and dust?

ICE is a time saver, not a time waster. If you are not scanning
Kodachrome then leave ICE on all the time - it will save hours of post
scan processing with *every* slide, even those you think are pretty
clean already.

Kodachrome is a bit variable with ICE depending on the film and
processing batch. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, so you
might need to redo a few slides on that media if ICE is on.

4) Would a RAM upgrade of the PC from 512 to 1024 MB cause a
significant shorter total time (>> 5 % of the whole process)?

If you intend to process the slides after each is scanned, eg in
Photoshop, then definitely. If you intend to scan them all then process
them all, or just scan them all as per Q1 above, then it probably won't
make much difference at all.

5) Is a „post-scan“ batch processing of the images possible with
the NikonScan-software (as known from VueScan) and can this save
significantly hands-on-time?

No, it is not possible.

What you can do, however, is set predetermined adjustments that will be
applied to all of your scans. For example, if the colour is a little
faded, you can increase the contrast and saturation and then save this
as a setting for that particular deficiency or film type. Next time you
scan, just select that "type" and go. If you have a lot of slides with
the same defect then just set the user setting after pulling up the
setting and all subsequent scans will have those adjustments applied
until you next reset or change the user type - even after Nikonscan is
closed and restarted.

6) As I understood from several sources, scanning software has to be
configured exactly for the film to be processed. Unfortunately I used
many different film types for the slides of my achieve and because of
the slide frames I can not determine them now. What is the best way to
get in spite of that lack of information the best possible results?

Identify the Kodachrome slides from their mounts and scan those
separately using the default Kodachrome setting in NikonScan. Most
other film types can usually be scanned to your 95% acceptable threshold
with a single setting. For older films where the emulsion has seriously
deteriorated (eg. Ektachrome blacks are now blue) you can enable ROC to
clean the slide but, personally, I don't find the results as acceptable
as manual adjustment.