Thanks. I bought the V ED because I couldn't justify nearly double the
price for the 5000. Although discountinued, I was lucky to find a store
with a new one. I know that I'm limited to one scan at a time, with no
automation. I bought the optional film handler as well.
I've only started to play with Nikonscan. I've also tended to do all the
alterations post-scan in Photoshop. I've only tried a few old slides
(Kodochrome 64, Agfa Gaevert) some very old B&W negatives (1964), as
well as a couple of FP4 and Portra NC negatives. So, I'm still a rank
beginner.
I found that the default settings seem to work quite well (comparing to
Costco/photo lab scans of the same negatives. ICE works very well. Not
working with conventional B&W means a lot of pos-processing to get rid
of dust and scratches (especially on the old negs). Such is life.
I did buy Noise Ninja which helps with some scans, not with others.
Again very limited experience.
I suspect that I'll buy Vuescan at some point regardless.
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Norton [mailto:ken@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 1:11 PM
To: Olympus Camera Discussion
Subject: Re: [OM] Nikon V-ED scanner and software test
>
> Nevertheless, I would be interested in your assessment of Vuescan and
> its output relative to Nikonscan.
>
NikonScan is actually a very good program. It does an amazing job. In
fact, when using strips of film (or entire rolls with the 4000/5000
models), it does a near perfect job of identifying the frames without
skewing. VueScan is quite finicky about that. Loading the scanner is a
breeze--just insert the end of the roll into the slot and just stand
back and watch. If you are scanning a 36-exposure roll in the
4000/5000, go do something else for a while.
I prefer NikonScan for most scans, (especially of negative films), but
rely on VueScan for the really unusual scan that just doesn't want to
work right or is of a grainy film where I can do the multi-pass or
multi-exposure scans.
My Coolscan V-ED does not natively support multi-sampling (same as
multi-pass, except it does the multiple exposures in one pass keeping
the image sharper), but the Coolscan 4000 and 5000 does. To make up for
this deficiency in the V-ED, VueScan gives us the multi-pass function
and combines the image in computer, whereas the 4000 and 5000 may do the
combination in-scanner (with NikonScan).
The noise-removal algorithms are different. I prefer NikonScan most of
the time, but occasionally VueScan will do it better--depending on the
fault.
NikonScan does scratches better, VueScan does dust-specs about the same.
What I really like about NikonScan is that I can scan and process the
image within the software for curves, saturation, noise removal (GEM is
actually quite good--depending on the film) and sharpening. I can
output directly to the finished JPEGs if I want with absolutely no need
to open the files up in an editor.
The bigger question is which model of Nikon Coolscan to get? Unless
your needs are for 120/220 roll film, the choices should be limited to
the 4000, 5000 and V-ED. The 4000 and V-ED are the same speed, but the
V-ED includes
ICE4 whereas the 4000 is ICE3. The 4000 and 5000 take entire rolls of
35mm film by passing the film through a slot in the back of the unit. It
uses the same roll feeder as the V-ED, but the V-ED limits the strip
length to 6-frames. The 5000 is the fastest of the bunch (at least 2x
faster than the
V-ED) and has slightly better imaging performance. Slightly. The 4000
and 5000 also take the accessory slide-stack adaptor. Load up a stack
of slides and let er rip--and hope it doesn't jam while you are asleep.
I bought the V-ED because it seemed like it offered the best
performance/price out there and for that I have no doubts. However, I
personally should have purchased the 5000 because I've gotten to
shooting negatives so much and the speed issue is just that--an issue
for me. Whether or not it was worth the extra $500 was something I
couldn't justify at the time, but definitely could now.
AG
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