Need HELP! Scanning a Negative

[bvy]

I recently picked up the Canoscan 8600f flatbed scanner, primarily for scanning negatives. I have some color negatives that Target developed for me, and I'm trying to scan them. But damn this software! (It's ArcSoft Photo Studio 5.5.) The preview looks nothing like the final scan. With one frame I've been trying to scan, I was able to get a nicely exposed, color-balanced preview. Then I click Scan, and get a dark, muddy green image.

What am I doing wrong? Are there some settings that will help, things I should always or never set? Currently I have all the settings turned off (auto-tone, USM, etc.) except for Fading Correction, which is set to Medium. But other combinations that gave me a decent looking preview, gave me a very different looking scan. So maybe the only question is, why doesn't the scan look like the preview? Or, how do you get it to?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Brian

[pschwart]

I recently picked up the Canoscan 8600f flatbed scanner, primarily for scanning negatives. I have some color negatives that Target developed for me, and I'm trying to scan them. But damn this software! (It's ArcSoft Photo Studio 5.5.) The preview looks nothing like the final scan. With one frame I've been trying to scan, I was able to get a nicely exposed, color-balanced preview. Then I click Scan, and get a dark, muddy green image.

What am I doing wrong? Are there some settings that will help, things I should always or never set? Currently I have all the settings turned off (auto-tone, USM, etc.) except for Fading Correction, which is set to Medium. But other combinations that gave me a decent looking preview, gave me a very different looking scan. So maybe the only question is, why doesn't the scan look like the preview? Or, how do you get it to?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Brian

Photo Studio gets images from TWAIN-compliant scanners so it's not actually responsible for the scanner configuration. To see what software is actually driving the scanner, look at File->Select Source. The dropdown will probably show a scanner driver provided by Canon; maybe someone else on the list is familiar with this piece of software. And of course, there is always the Canon doc.

[pellicle]

Hi

try my method ... works wonders on the Epson

[bvy]

Photo Studio gets images from TWAIN-compliant scanners so it's not actually responsible for the scanner configuration. To see what software is actually driving the scanner, look at File->Select Source. The dropdown will probably show a scanner driver provided by Canon; maybe someone else on the list is familiar with this piece of software. And of course, there is always the Canon doc.

Software is CanoScan 8600F 12.1 (32-32). I've been through the Canon documentation, but all inidications seem to be that the preview should be a reasonable expectation of what the final scan will look like.

Here are some screenshots:

Settings with Preview
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1.jpg
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1a.jpg

Scanned Result
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem2.jpg

The preview looks relatively decent. The scanned result has no shadow detail and the color balance has shifted. Keep in mind that I'm trying to fix (or just understand) the software, not the picture. I'm sure I can PhotoShop it into something presentable.

Thank you!

[mrred]

Here are some screenshots:

Settings with Preview
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1.jpg
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1a.jpg

Scanned Result
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem2.jpg

One thing I did notice is that you are scanning at 600dpi. This is really low or a 35mm neg. The smallest you should entertain would be 1200dpi. Your peoblem may be the software loosing detail to enlarge it enough for you to see.

I would suggest you up the dpi and try again. Some of your problems may just go away.

[pschwart]

Software is CanoScan 8600F 12.1 (32-32). I've been through the Canon documentation, but all inidications seem to be that the preview should be a reasonable expectation of what the final scan will look like.

Here are some screenshots:

Settings with Preview
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1.jpg
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1a.jpg

Scanned Result
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem2.jpg

The preview looks relatively decent. The scanned result has no shadow detail and the color balance has shifted. Keep in mind that I'm trying to fix (or just understand) the software, not the picture. I'm sure I can PhotoShop it into something presentable.

Thank you!

Sorry, I've never seen this software before. I'd say turn off the "Fading Correction" since it isn't going to do anything you can't do in Photoshop. Also have a look at Preferences->Color Settings and check the gamma and auto tone settings.

[bvy]

One thing I did notice is that you are scanning at 600dpi. This is really low or a 35mm neg. The smallest you should entertain would be 1200dpi. Your peoblem may be the software loosing detail to enlarge it enough for you to see.

I would suggest you up the dpi and try again. Some of your problems may just go away.

Thanks. Actually, I was scanning at 1200dpi (the default), but I lowered it to 600 since I was doing a lot of repeat scanning trying to get it to work. Thanks for looking. Maybe I need to look at some third party software?

[pellicle]

One thing I did notice is that you are scanning at 600dpi. This is really low or a 35mm neg.

you have to be careful here, as many programs report just stupidly. People were I work are always saying we scan our microfilm at 300dpi

what they mean is that we scan microfilm so that the photographed materials can be printed to A4 at 300dpi

people get all munged up about this.

I still think the OP should look at my suggested method.

[pellicle]

Hi

Here are some screenshots:

Settings with Preview
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1.jpg
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem1a.jpg

Scanned Result
http://1259pm.com/temp/scanproblem2.jpg

The preview looks relatively decent.

I think it looks like classic examples of what the "automatic" negative adjustments do.

:-)

[bvy]

Hi



I think it looks like classic examples of what the "automatic" negative adjustments do.

:-)

Well, yes, "relative" was the keyword there. And I need to look more closely at your method of scanning. At a glance, it looks like you've done your homework. I'll also be interested to know how to calibrate the colors to those on the negative. I think there's a color profile card or some such that I need to buy and photograph.

UPDATE: I did finally get my scan to work. There's a function to calibrate the scanner or some such, and voila -- the scan matched the preview.

Thanks all for your help.