Coolscan 9000 Questions

[Nicholas Whitman]

I’ve been working with a Super Coolscan 9000ed for several years and I must say it continues to confound me. I’ve searched this site and the www and haven’t found the information I seek – but if I’ve missed it could someone kindly point me in the right direction?

I have 25 years worth of medium format and 35mm film, which occasionally needs digitization. In addition to the 9000 I have an Epson 4870.

I am running Nikon Scan 4 software. Some films are handled pretty well. Slides in their mounts run in the stockholder, for example. But no unmounted film stock seems to sit acceptably flat to get uniform focus so I shelled out for the glass carrier. Medium format in this carrier focuses and crops acceptably – until you get to negatives longer than 6x9. This issue has been covered on the site already. But for 35mm stripfilm I can’t figure out how to make the glass carrier configure properly. The scanner insists on seeing it as 120 film. I've made masks to seat in the glass carrier but to no avail.

I also find with any format or film stock the highlights beyond a certain density cannot be penetrated. These are not excessive densities. They are easily printed conventionally or scanned in the 4870.

Nikon scan 4 is a pretty annoying program too. It is constantly defaulting back to settings I don’t use and I don’t see how I can retain working settings. I know a solution here might be Silverfast, but it shouldn’t be necessary and I’m not inclined to shell out more for software if the scanner itself is incapable of reading highlights.

I keep thinking I must be missing some pretty obvious functions. For being such a well-regarded scanner it can’t be this quirky. Oh and it has been in to Nikon repair - twice now. Just got it back last week after it died and was revived for $400-.

My Epson works wonderfully and there is a 750 in my future. Just seems flat beds aren’t the best bet for 35mm.

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Nick
http://nwphoto.com

[Sascha Welter]

I hear that VueScan works with the Coolscan 9000... but if you find out the scanner still doesn't work for you, I'd gladly help to "recycle" it :-)

[Oren Grad]

I have a 9000 with the rotating glass carrier. With that carrier, at least, the pattern of holes in the interchangeable plastic format masks is a code that tells the scanner which format is being scanned. There's no mask or hole pattern for regular 35mm, though there is one for panoramic 35. If I wanted to try scanning 35mm in the glass carrier, I'd use one of the larger masks, add further masking material to minimize flare from extraneous light coming through the larger-than-35 opening, and resign myself to having to crop blank area around every scan.

I gave up on Nikon Scan early on. I've been using SilverFast Ai, which provides extensive controls for tailoring the range of the scan and has no problem recording the full density range of any of my negatives, even the bullet-proof ones.

[Jim Bradley]

I've only had my 9000 for a couple of months as I bought one of the last ones in Canada.
My impression of Nikon Scan 4 is that in the area of selecting the scan area it is far to restrictive. Epson Scan (I have the 3200) allows you to select any area within the scan region. I was hoping that Nikon Scan had similar functionality (esp for 6x17) but it forces you done a very predefined path. I'll probably try Vuescan in the coming months.

Jim

[Nicholas Whitman]

OK this is progress.

Let's assume with Silverfast or Vuescan highlights can be brought into useful range. Any preference out there between these two programs?

How about working with 35mm strip film - cut in in 5s?

I don't see a 35mm dedicated glass carriers offered. I can make the 120 glass carrier work - sort of - set for 6x8 crop, scan - reposition the film crop scan. OK for ones-e-twosies but really what a waist of time!

There has to be a way to run 35mm.

Using the stock non glass holder even with flat film won't focus perfectly through out. Never has. Just back from Nikon - still doesn't. How can this be? This is a pricy precision instrument. How can it not work at this basic level??

[Oren Grad]

You'll hear different views re VueScan vs SilverFast, based on personal preference. I have both, but I've never been able to figure out how to fully control the scan density range in VueScan, so I prefer SilverFast. Perhaps I'm missing something in VueScan. FWIW, SilverFast also has settings for different color negative films that IMO make it easier to get color in the ballpark.

There is no dedicated 35mm glass carrier from Nikon, and I'm not aware of any from a third party. The coding system with the plastic masks appears to be a scanner rather than a scan software function, so I'm not sure a third party could make an auto-coding 35 glass carrier even if they wanted to.

The stock Nikon plastic strip film holder doesn't hold my curled 35mm negatives flat. It's adequate for web scans, but if I wanted to do serious printing from my scans I'd fuss with the glass carrier and masking/cropping.

Holding film flat is not a trivial problem. In the darkroom, if you want the best and most consistent quality you need to use a glass carrier. It shouldn't be a surprise that the same is true for a scanner.

[Justin Cormack]

You'll hear different views re VueScan vs SilverFast, based on personal preference. I have both, but I've never been able to figure out how to fully control the scan density range in VueScan, so I prefer SilverFast.

Conversely I never figured out Silverfast, but find VueScan very easy. You can set the analogue gain on the scanner, and then just scan for the whole range. I havent had a 9000 for ages (I have a 35mm one now), so I can't remember how the selection for long negatives is. The author of ViewScan seems pretty responsive though if you need changes...

[Nicholas Whitman]

Nikon scan does a decent job with color negative film and the clean up with "ice" really saves a lot of work. Ice doesn't work with Kodachrome or b&w. All I want out of the scanner software is a scan with all it's parts so I can put it right in Lightroom or Photoshop.

Guess the only solution with 35mm is to cut them to individual frames and set them in a mask with the spacing of 6x6 format. Boy I really hate to cut them up!

[Oren Grad]

You should be able to get it done without cutting the strips. In my glass carrier I'd lay the strip on the lower glass and then lay the mask on top of it before closing the "sandwich". All but the frame being scanned would sit underneath the mask, but that shouldn't be a problem.

[brianam]

I have both a Nikon V 35mm scanner and a CS8000 for MF. I did a test not long ago, and found that the V does a better job with 35mm. (as it should, I guess.) It was a bit sharper, with slightly better extremes (shadows/highlights). And of course it's WAY faster.
This was comparing the V's motor drive to the 8000's glass-less plastic 35mm strip holder.

With the 35mm unit I sometimes use Nikon Scan for convenience, but find that Vuescan tends to create less grain exaggeration.
With the 8000 I use Vuescan exclusively. NikonScan seems hopeless at determining the image size with the double-sided glass holder.

Takeaway: if you're really serious about the 35mm stuff, get the dedicated Nikon unit. The CS5000 would be the ultimate, but there's crazy price-gouging on them now. (plug: my V is for sale at a more reasonable asking. Am not shooting that format any more.)

Otherwise, using your 9000 and Vuescan should be good enough for those little frames.