Mark wrote:
I have used Vuescan, but honestly the only thing that really impressed me
was the customer service of the guy running the place. The software not so
much.
I liked the ability to do multipass scans (as many overpasses as you like
pretty much) with scanners that never provided that option in the original
manufacturers software.
I also liked that it is software for many scanners, one interface.
ICE is just a proprietry infrared scan -dust , same as Canon's FARE - if the
scanner has IR LEDs fitted and can do such a scan, then Vuescan's dust
removal (minus dust scan overlay) is as good as any other named IR dust
removal tool in my experience. (I used to hear Nikon users complain Canon
scanners didn't have ICE ! Not so much Canon users complaining Nikon
scanners didn't have FARE, but it did happen)
Polaroid also made a standalone free dust removal program (Polaroid Dust and
Scratch Removal) that was actually a pretty clever little program given it
used algorithms as it didn't have a IR scan of blocked light to work with.
http://benneh.net/blog/2008/04/21/better-colour-neg-scanning-with-vuescan/
"Hamrick Software’s VueScan is perhaps the most flexible and powerful piece
of scanning software available to photographers today. Many people fall foul
of its myriad features and options – it can be quite daunting when you first
start the software and begin to explore the different option pages.."
from that same page, another comment I'll agree with completely: "Film
profiles suck ..
VueScan comes with some pre-configured film profiles, you may think that
these are just great, but in reality they aren’t – they just take control
away from you, and will more than likely deliver a scan that just does not
come up to scratch. Why? Because each and every roll of negative film you
shoot has it’s very own slight variations in both manufacturing tolerance,
exposure, film fogging (heaven forbid), and most importantly development.
All of these combine to change the film’s base colour density – so by
choosing a preset you are using a ‘best guess’. "
this has ALWAYS been the case. When we as photographers made prints from
neg film , we never refered to a chart on the wall for colour filtration
settings, you made a test strip - every batch of film was slightly
different! The ONLY time I got lazy with printing (scanning) was when I
knew all the film was the same batch, processed at the same place on the
same day and was shot under one set of lighting conditions.. then and only
then could you hope to have repeatable results with the same enlarger colour
filtration.
Scanning = same. I used a frame from the unexposed film base of any given
roll to make my own 'film profile' for the scanning I planned to do for that
roll. When that scanned neutral, I had my base colour settings.
again from the page above: "Now that you’ve optimised VueScan for your
current roll of film, you’ll want to go ahead and scan some photos"..
As to focus, I haven't scanned anything for quite some time but a couple of
points:
1. from memory I always made sure the emulsion was facing toward the scanner
lens -
2. manual focus seemed to work better than autofocus for me
3. Not all scanners have 'prefect' flat field lenses, this makes things
frustrating.. and some scanners can compensate for their flaws (as cameras
do) with their firmware. In this case the OEM software can invent sharpness
where aftermarket software cannot.
4. glass film carriers *can* be made by a suitably experienced person to
hold film perfectly flat.
Finally from Hamricks site:
"I'm Ed Hamrick, the author of VueScan, and I personally read and respond to
all support e-mail.
I get almost 100 e-mails every day, so please be brief.
Your question should be less than 3 or 4 lines of text.
If you've lost your serial number, you can get a new serial number online.
Short e-mails with vuescan.log attached are usually answered in a day or so.
Long e-mails or e-mails without vuescan.log attached are often not
answered - I just get too much e-mail nowdays.
My e-mail address is edhamrick@xxxxxxx (phone support is not available). "
he's always been one of the most supportive people you'll ever find when it
comes to a software product.
