[Leica] Scanners - Mark's travails

[mark at whitedogs.co.uk (Mark Pope)]

Mike,

that's very interesting. Thanks. One other thing that had crossed my 
mind was a hardware problem in the scanner, but your experiences tend to 
discount that notion.

All the best


Mark Pope,
Swindon, Wilts
UK

Homepage               http://www.monomagic.co.uk
Blog                   http://www.monomagic.co.uk/blog
Picture a week (2010)  http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2010
Picture a week (2009)  http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2009
                (2008) 
http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2008

On 10/01/2012 23:45, Mike Durling wrote:
> I had trouble with my Scan Dual III just stopping for a long time. I
> decided to get it out again when I became dissatisfied with my flatbed's
> performance. I upgraded to the latest VueScan and walla! It works
> without stopping. If you haven't done so you may want to check for
> updates. I'm on OS-X so your results may vary, but I had the same
> problems under Windows.
>
> Mike D
>
> On 1/10/12 4:51 PM, Mark Pope wrote:
>> This thread has been very well timed as far as I am concerned.
>>
>> I recently our main desktop machine. It now runs 64-bit Windows 7
>> Professional. Unfortunately, this means that my Minolta Scan Dual III
>> won't work :-(
>>
>> I spent most of a frustrating day trying a number of options. Firstly,
>> I tried installing the original Minolta software in Windows XP mode
>> and found that I got an 'unknown error' message.
>>
>> Then, I tried VueScan in native 64-bit Windows 7. I found that it was
>> rather hit and miss and the scanner would just stop. I think after
>> about two hours of switching the scanner on and off, uninstalling and
>> reinstalling the software, I got one scan that worked. A subsequent
>> scan failed, with the application becoming unresponsive. The only way
>> to stop the application was to do so via the task manager.
>>
>> I then tried the original Minolta software under Windows 7 after
>> having found a way of getting the driver to work. All seemed to be
>> going well: prescans worked but full scans would just stop for no
>> reason and there was no way of ejecting the film holder.
>>
>> The new machine has USB3 ports and I'm wondering whether there is some
>> sort of compatibility issue between the scanner (USB2) and the new
>> hardware. I probably have a USB2 PC card somewhere, but whether it's
>> compatible with either the new motherboard or Windows 7 is anybody's
>> guess.
>>
>> So I have now given up on the Minolta working under Windows 7. I may
>> keep my XP machine 'just' for scans and a couple of odd apps, but it's
>> not really practical as it now lives in the garage and I access it
>> when needs be using RDP.
>>
>> I also have an Epson V700 flat bed scanner, which I've used
>> successfully for 5x4 and medium format scans. I decided to give it a
>> go for scanning 35mm film. Colour slides were decidedly soft, so
>> further experimentation is needed, adjusting the height of the slide
>> film holder to see if I can improve the focus.
>> 35mm B&W negatives however, were pretty good: I made a scan at 3200DPI
>> and was able to get a very acceptable A4 print once I had tweaked the
>> settings a touch. An A3 print is probably going to be OK too.
>>
>> I did find that scanning using the Digital ICE facility within the
>> Epson software gave some strange artifacts. Keeping the settings
>> simple gave the best results. 3200 DPI, no USM, some slight level
>> adjustments and that was about it.
>>
>>
>> Mark Pope,
>> Swindon, Wilts
>> UK
>>
>> Homepage http://www.monomagic.co.uk
>> Blog http://www.monomagic.co.uk/blog
>> Picture a week (2010)
>> http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2010
>> Picture a week (2009)
>> http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2009
>> (2008) http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2008
>>
>> On 09/01/2012 00:09, H&ECummer wrote:
>>> If you can't find a LS5000 at an acceptable price the LS4000 might be
>>> an acceptable and cheaper alternative.
>>> I have that model which I control with Silverfast to my Mac and the
>>> results are very good. Here is a sample scan
>>> of an extachrome slide taken in North China in 1976.
>>>
>>> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/China70s/_HeavyIndustw.jpg.html>
>>>
>>>
>>> Black and white scans equally well.
>>> Howard (in cold Hong Kong)
>>>
>>>
>>>> Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2012 15:14:29 -0500
>>>> From: Tina Manley<images at comporium.net>
>>>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Scanners
>>>> To: Leica Users Group<lug at leica-users.org>
>>>>
>>>> I don't think there's anything better for B&W film than the Nikon
>>>> LS5000for
>>>> 35mm or 9000 for medium format unless it's one of the very expensive
>>>> Leaf
>>>> scanners. A dedicated film scanner is going to be much better than a
>>>> flatbed. The software makes a big difference, too, and Silverfast is
>>>> the
>>>> best I've found.
>>>>
>>>> Tina
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
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