Vuescan Win 7 64bit and Polaroid Sprintscan 45 Ultra

[roscolo]

I have a Sprintscan 45 Ultra (two, in fact). I just built a Win 7 64bit workstation, and was pleased to find Vuescan has 64 bit version for the Sprintscan. Problem is, with Vuescan I have lines in the highlights that I thus far thought meant Vuescan was worthless, as I get good scans (no lines) using the old Polacolor Insight software on Win XP 32bit. Then I found info. in the following thread that points out Vuescan does not take into account calibration the way the original Polaroid software does, resulting in the lines:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?64085-Polaroid-Sprintscan-45-Ultra/page2

(a few posts down, by Thilo Schmid, whom I have messaged as well)

So, the source of the lines was great to learn. It's a problem with Vuescan. Obviously I can continue to use my scanner (excellent scans) with Win XP 32bit, but in the thread above, Thilo Schmid makes note of making a Photoshop mask by scanning a blank piece of film that can be used to eliminate the lines? Anyone ever done this? Doesn't seem like it would completely eliminate the lines without losing some info. from the scan, but that's why I'm looking for help. Anyone know how to do this? Scan a piece of clear neg film? A solid black trans? Then what?

Would be great if Vuescan would address this issue of lines in highlights on the Sprintscan 45 Ultra, as if they do not, they really should remove the Polaroid Sprintscan 45 Ultra from the Vuescan supported scanners list, as the lines in highlights make Vuescan worthless for use with the Sprintscan 45 Ultra for now.

And advice on scanning the blank film to make a mask is appreciated. A lot of my scans are repro of artwork, so it can't be "close," the method has to be completely seamless eliminating the lines or I will just have to stick with dual-booting into XP 32bit when I need to scan. Not the end of the world, but if I can make Vuescan workable with this scanner without too much trouble, I would like to give it a shot.

Thnx

[Peter Mounier]

Can you post an example of the lines you're getting in the highlights?

Peter

[Kirk Gittings]

Have you contacted Ed Hamrick about this? He is very accessible. It would be far more productive to simply contact him about problems with the software than post here.

[roscolo]

Have you contacted Ed Hamrick about this? He is very accessible. It would be far more productive to simply contact him about problems with the software than post here.

Yes, I'm going to send Hamrick an email. But now that I know the cause of the issue, it has existed from day one with Vuescan and the Sprintscan 45 Ultra. If he wasn't motivated to address the issue in the previous 8 years, I don't think my email is going to be the deciding factor. REALLY would like for him to add this info. to his website by the Sprintscan 45 Ultra, though, so people know why so many scans, particularly of 4x5 film featuring lots of bright highlight detail, have lines when using Vuescan (again, no lines when using Polacolor Insight). Probably not a lot of people using the Sprintscan Ultras, although maybe we could all pool our money to get the fix. :) I received a PM here and what was recommended was Topaz Denoise or the procedure here:

http://filmadvance.com/2011/10/how-to-eliminate-banding-from-your-scans/

I'm going to give the Denoise a try.

Otherwise looks like it makes sense to dump the worthless Vuescan and just boot into XP 32bit to do my scanning. Or I could throw together some parts and just have a dedicated scanning workstation. Just really impressed with all other aspects of Vuescan except for the lines in the highlights. Glad I finally stumbled across the thread here and now know the cause. I've been puzzled by the lines for years.

[cabbiinc]

Well things change and so can Ed's workflow, attitude, knowledge of the situation and what to do about it, etc... If Ed gets enough emails he may spend more time on it, but if he gets a single email from one person he may just chalk it up to a single scanner's problem. Not saying that it's right, but it's not going to hurt to email him.

Can you post an example from Vuescan?

[Kirk Gittings]

exactly and his email may be the one that finally pushes him to action.

[rdenney]

When I had a calibration issue with my Minolta Multi scanner back in the day, Ed provided me with a specific procedure for running a calibration that solved the problem for Vuescan in subsequent usage. It seems that this problem is related to a calibration sequence, so Ed may have a workaround for it if you ask him.

Rick "suggesting, however, that words like 'worthless' and might lead to little enthusiasm to provide help" Denney

[roscolo]

Well, tried the trial of Topaz Denoise. Problem is, the maximum value you can apply to banding correction is 35 pixels. So, if I reduce the size of my 4x5 film scan down to 300dpi, it works great. Completely eliminates the banding. Unfortunately, I have to reduce my scans to unworkable sizes to do this. Unfortunately, applying the Topaz Denoise to a full res 2571 dpi scan, it has zero effect on the banding because of the 35 pixel limit. Why they limit what could be a useful plug-in by only allowing corrections to bands that are 35 pixels in width or less is anyone's guess.

I'll probably stick with scanning with the Sprintscan 45 Ultra in XP 32bit and the Polacolor software. Hopefully other 4x5 Sprintscan Ultra users will find this thread and know that they aren't going crazy - In it's current iteration that doesn't account for that initial scanner calibration step, Vuescan is not compatible with the Sprintscan 45 Ultra. Man, the countless hours I've wasted trying to get it to work on multiple computers, OS's, etc. thinking I had some computer problem, etc!

Here's what I'm talking about. This is from an old 4x5 trans. of a painting. I've darkened it more than the painting and exaggerated the levels to draw attention to the vertical lines, evenly spaced, across the image:

69340

and here is the same film scanned with Polacolor Insight with no lines:

69341

[rdenney]

With all due respect, you'll never know if you are wasting hours in vain until you break down and communicate with Ed Hamrick, instead of thinking of reasons not to.

Rick "wondering what the reluctance is to take advantage of a level of support far beyond what is normally provided with under-$100 software" Denney

[roscolo]

When I had a calibration issue with my Minolta Multi scanner back in the day, Ed provided me with a specific procedure for running a calibration that solved the problem for Vuescan in subsequent usage. It seems that this problem is related to a calibration sequence, so Ed may have a workaround for it if you ask him.


Thanks. I'm going to contact him. Not being critical of the program, everyone knows it's a great tool, but the lines do render the program pretty much useless with this scanner. And, no, I don't expect him to make a special version of Vuescan for a scanner that, while a fantastic film scanner, let's face it, has been abandoned by the maker long ago and I doubt more than a few thousand people are using it today. The most obvious workaround is the one I'm using: skip Vuescan and just use the more than adequate Polacolor software. Don't lose those files...I don't see it available for download from Polaroid anymore!

Workaround or no, would just like to at least see him update the supported scanners list, and either remove the Polaroid Sprintscan 45 Ultra, or put a note that some film will feature annoying lines due to the calibration issue. A web search confirms I'm not the only one who has been befuddled by the lines...anyone using Vuescan with a Sprintscan 45 Ultra will get the lines. I have two Sprintscan 45 Ultra scanners and I see lines from Vuescan with both scanners.

I never saw the point in bothering Hamrick because I always thought it was something with my old workstation. Just finished building my new workstation and hooked up the scanner and...blam...there were the same old lines! That's what got me digging around, found the post here from Thilo Schmid (THANK YOU!) and here I am. Glad to know I'm not crazy, the issue wasn't my workstation, and to finally know it was a Vuescan problem with the calibration issue.

Thanks to all for the help and advice.

[Worker 11811]

... it has existed from day one with Vuescan and the Sprintscan 45 Ultra. If he wasn't motivated to address the issue in the previous 8 years...

VueScan is compatible with more than 1,800 different scanners. Assuming that Ed Hamrick spent one day testing each one, he would have spent over five years just testing scanners and doing no other work. There are a lot of different scanners and there are a lot of different problems that can occur with any given scanner. It would take several people working full-time for decades to solve every possible problem that could occur with every scanner.

While you have the right to expect the software to work the way you need it to work, I think you're being a bit rigid. You need to look at the bigger picture.

Send Ed Hamrick an e-mail. Explain the problem. He will fix it if he can.

Go here to see the FAQ page: http://www.hamrick.com/sup.html#q

There you will find suggestions on what he wants to know when you report a problem. Follow those suggestions. (Be sure to attach the log file.)
If you do, Ed will answer you in a short time. If there is a bug in the software he will push out an update.

The last time I had a problem, he fixed the problem in less than two days.

[cabbiinc]

Try pressing Scanner> Calibrate and see if that gives you anything better.
http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/html/vuesc26.htm#scannercalibrate

Another thing I'd try if that didn't work.
Press Preview, set the crop box to smaller than maximum, just big enough to cover your negative.
Go to the Crop tab, set the Preview Area to crop box. Press Preview again.
Click Image> Release Memory, press Preview again.
Does this still show the stripes?

That's about the only thing I can think of. When you email ed be sure to include the Vuescan log.

[roscolo]

Try pressing Scanner> Calibrate and see if that gives you anything better.
http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/html/vuesc26.htm#scannercalibrate

Another thing I'd try if that didn't work.
Press Preview, set the crop box to smaller than maximum, just big enough to cover your negative.
Go to the Crop tab, set the Preview Area to crop box. Press Preview again.
Click Image> Release Memory, press Preview again.
Does this still show the stripes?



Still shows the stripes, and Vuescan Calibrate doesn't work with this scanner model. That seems to be the source of the problem that renders Vuescan incompatible with Polaroid Sprintscan 45 Ultra. Thanks for the suggestions, though.