Nikon NX Studio software - Any user comments? (Page 4): Thanks much, Paul. The picture looks much better. What did you do besides the dust cleanup? I'm sure this kind of photo is not...

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

You posted a JPEG with pixel resolution 5000x3432 ... (show quote)

Thanks much, Paul. The picture looks much better. What did you do besides the dust cleanup? I'm sure this kind of photo is not everyone's cup of tea (I don't even know how I would categorize it, "Human Interest"?) but I've always liked it. I like the relationship shown between the two - looking off in different directions, in separate worlds, but gently connected holding hands. I had thought about posting the photo in Gallery to see if I could get a discussion going based on its content. Hence my interest in getting a good edited product. (If anyone is still following this thread and wants to comment please do so!)

Paul, my basic hangup with scanning negatives is what adjustments to do in the scanner and what to leave for post-scanning editing. I posted on this before (https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-598134-1.html). For scans I plan to finish with Affinity, I'm trying to sort out the following and settle on a "standard" approach:

(1) I could scan with automated settings
(2) I could make custom adjustments - exposure, brightness and contrast; croping the image; use manual focus; make tone curve and histogram corrections.
(3) There's lots of stuff in the manual regarding specifying "input and output" parameters. There is a list of "Job" parameters that allows you to automatically load scan settings based on the final use of the image. I'm guessing that all I need, though, is to enter the max resolution of the scanner (3200 dpi)?
(4) I got a suggestion a while back to "Set the scanner to read the film base as a 95% value (effectively black). Then adjust exposure to put the brightest highlight at 5% (effectively white). Finally, tweak gamma (midrange contrast) for the appearance you want." That sounded good but I have no idea how to do this!

I certainly don't expect you to address all this, especially since you're not familiar with the Minolta DiMage scanner. But I would appreciate any helpful thoughts you might have. A PM is fine if you think this thread has gone on too long already!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

srt101fan wrote:

Thanks much, Paul. The picture looks much better. What did you do besides the dust cleanup? I'm sure this kind of photo is not everyone's cup of tea (I don't even know how I would categorize it, "Human Interest"?) but I've always liked it. I like the relationship shown between the two - looking off in different directions, in separate worlds, but gently connected holding hands. I had thought about posting the photo in Gallery to see if I could get a discussion going based on its content. Hence my interest in getting a good edited product. (If anyone is still following this thread and wants to comment please do so!)

Paul, my basic hangup with scanning negatives is what adjustments to do in the scanner and what to leave for post-scanning editing. I posted on this before (https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-598134-1.html). For scans I plan to finish with Affinity, I'm trying to sort out the following and settle on a "standard" approach:

(1) I could scan with automated settings
(2) I could make custom adjustments - exposure, brightness and contrast; croping the image; use manual focus; make tone curve and histogram corrections.
(3) There's lots of stuff in the manual regarding specifying "input and output" parameters. There is a list of "Job" parameters that allows you to automatically load scan settings based on the final use of the image. I'm guessing that all I need, though, is to enter the max resolution of the scanner (3200 dpi)?
(4) I got a suggestion a while back to "Set the scanner to read the film base as a 95% value (effectively black). Then adjust exposure to put the brightest highlight at 5% (effectively white). Finally, tweak gamma (midrange contrast) for the appearance you want." That sounded good but I have no idea how to do this!

I certainly don't expect you to address all this, especially since you're not familiar with the Minolta DiMage scanner. But I would appreciate any helpful thoughts you might have. A PM is fine if you think this thread has gone on too long already!

Thanks much, Paul. The picture looks much better.... (show quote)

After reading / scanning the scanner manual in PDF, you want to set up 35mm film negatives to operate as a batch job. All the digital editor functions are 'great', but mostly unneeded. You have much more control in a dedicated digital editor on the digitized scan than you'll ever accomplish trying to edit the image during the scanning process.

There's a chart of all the default jobs in the back of the manual. I'd start with the parameters that load from 35mm '14-Megapixel image'. I would then adjust this job and save as your own custom 35mmPhoto17MP-Out. Update the pixels for in-size and out-size as: 5035x3339. There's other "input res" and "output res" and "magnification" fields. These will receive default values from loading the job = 14-Megapixel image. Just leave as-is.

For other parameters to configure into your custom job:

Use Auto for Exposure Control for Negatives

Autofocus at Scan

Use JPEGs for the sRGB colorspace, use Low compression for the JPEGs

Name the files automatically, into a custom folder location you specify for "scanning"

Since you're not going to 'edit' in the scanner, set your Index scan priority for Speed, and make the Prescan size = Small.

It seems you can also set-up separate "Image Correction Jobs". I would use in the Auto Dust Brush, maybe bias toward "High", but not all the way to High.

If you still have the negative used for the plane scene above, use that negative as a test case for your Batch Job settings.

If your custom job name doesn't become default, and you instead have to pick from a list every time to use, give it a name that sorts your custom job to the top of the sort list, like AA-xxxx.

I don't see a benefit of the grain dissolver nor pixel polish nor unmask sharpening.

It looks like Multi-Sampling adds time to the scanning process, but giving a better output. Here I used a clock / stopwatch and use the test image as a final round of testing. Test with OFF and options 2, 4 and 16. Note the duration time these settings make. It may just take too much time to be worth using, even at 2. But, I can't say without testing.

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

After reading / scanning the scanner manual in PDF, you want to set up 35mm film negatives to operate as a batch job. All the digital editor functions are 'great', but mostly unneeded. You have much more control in a dedicated digital editor on the digitized scan than you'll ever accomplish trying to edit the image during the scanning process.

There's a chart of all the default jobs in the back of the manual. I'd start with the parameters that load from 35mm '14-Megapixel image'. I would then adjust this job and save as your own custom 35mmPhoto17MP-Out. Update the pixels for in-size and out-size as: 5035x3339. There's other "input res" and "output res" and "magnification" fields. These will receive default values from loading the job = 14-Megapixel image. Just leave as-is.

For other parameters to configure into your custom job:

Use Auto for Exposure Control for Negatives

Autofocus at Scan

Use JPEGs for the sRGB colorspace, use Low compression for the JPEGs

Name the files automatically, into a custom folder location you specify for "scanning"

Since you're not going to 'edit' in the scanner, set your Index scan priority for Speed, and make the Prescan size = Small.

It seems you can also set-up separate "Image Correction Jobs". I would use in the Auto Dust Brush, maybe bias toward "High", but not all the way to High.

If you still have the negative used for the plane scene above, use that negative as a test case for your Batch Job settings.

If your custom job name doesn't become default, and you instead have to pick from a list every time to use, give it a name that sorts your custom job to the top of the sort list, like AA-xxxx.

I don't see a benefit of the grain dissolver nor pixel polish nor unmask sharpening.

It looks like Multi-Sampling adds time to the scanning process, but giving a better output. Here I used a clock / stopwatch and use the test image as a final round of testing. Test with OFF and options 2, 4 and 16. Note the duration time these settings make. It may just take too much time to be worth using, even at 2. But, I can't say without testing.

After reading / scanning the scanner manual in PDF... (show quote)

WOW, Paul, you did a lot of work here and I sure appreciate it! This is what I've been looking for, settings for minimum fiddling at the scanning stage, just enough to give me a good base for subsequent editing. Thank you!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

srt101fan wrote:

WOW, Paul, you did a lot of work here and I sure appreciate it! This is what I've been looking for, settings for minimum fiddling at the scanning stage, just enough to give me a good base for subsequent editing. Thank you!

Post some results, here or the other thread, where I added a watch. If you have a tool that can open a DNG, I can send you the edits above via the DNG.

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

Post some results, here or the other thread, where I added a watch. If you have a tool that can open a DNG, I can send you the edits above via the DNG.

Turns out that Affinity Photo can open DNGs; please send the file. I'm working through your scanner suggestions. Once I understand it all it will be a big step forward in my scanning/post-editing ability. Given your high standards I'm confident your approach is the way to go.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

srt101fan wrote:

Turns out that Affinity Photo can open DNGs; please send the file. I'm working through your scanner suggestions. Once I understand it all it will be a big step forward in my scanning/post-editing ability. Given your high standards I'm confident your approach is the way to go.

See if this file communicates all the editing settings.

Attached file:
(Download)

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

See if this file communicates all the editing settings.

Thanks, Paul. Affinity Photo says they can open DNGs but when I tried to open yours I got "The file type is not supported". I can open it in IrfanView but haven't found a way to see the edits. Oh, well, I will study your edited version and play around with Affinity to see if I can duplicate it. But first, back to setting up my scanner based on your suggestions....

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

After reading / scanning the scanner manual in PDF, you want to set up 35mm film negatives to operate as a batch job. All the digital editor functions are 'great', but mostly unneeded. You have much more control in a dedicated digital editor on the digitized scan than you'll ever accomplish trying to edit the image during the scanning process.

There's a chart of all the default jobs in the back of the manual. I'd start with the parameters that load from 35mm '14-Megapixel image'. I would then adjust this job and save as your own custom 35mmPhoto17MP-Out. Update the pixels for in-size and out-size as: 5035x3339. There's other "input res" and "output res" and "magnification" fields. These will receive default values from loading the job = 14-Megapixel image. Just leave as-is.

For other parameters to configure into your custom job:

Use Auto for Exposure Control for Negatives

Autofocus at Scan

Use JPEGs for the sRGB colorspace, use Low compression for the JPEGs

Name the files automatically, into a custom folder location you specify for "scanning"

Since you're not going to 'edit' in the scanner, set your Index scan priority for Speed, and make the Prescan size = Small.

It seems you can also set-up separate "Image Correction Jobs". I would use in the Auto Dust Brush, maybe bias toward "High", but not all the way to High.

If you still have the negative used for the plane scene above, use that negative as a test case for your Batch Job settings.

If your custom job name doesn't become default, and you instead have to pick from a list every time to use, give it a name that sorts your custom job to the top of the sort list, like AA-xxxx.

I don't see a benefit of the grain dissolver nor pixel polish nor unmask sharpening.

It looks like Multi-Sampling adds time to the scanning process, but giving a better output. Here I used a clock / stopwatch and use the test image as a final round of testing. Test with OFF and options 2, 4 and 16. Note the duration time these settings make. It may just take too much time to be worth using, even at 2. But, I can't say without testing.

After reading / scanning the scanner manual in PDF... (show quote)

Progress report: Paul, your guidance is outstanding and extremely helpful! I have not rescanned the negative yet but have been concentrating on re-reading the manual in light of your comments, and writing a detailed summary of the scanning process incorporating your suggested settings. Much that I didn't understand before is becoming clearer because of your help. After I get done scanning my B&W negatives I plan to tackle slides, a job that should also be easier because of what I've learned from you - Many thanks!

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

After reading / scanning the scanner manual in PDF, you want to set up 35mm film negatives to operate as a batch job. All the digital editor functions are 'great', but mostly unneeded. You have much more control in a dedicated digital editor on the digitized scan than you'll ever accomplish trying to edit the image during the scanning process.

There's a chart of all the default jobs in the back of the manual. I'd start with the parameters that load from 35mm '14-Megapixel image'. I would then adjust this job and save as your own custom 35mmPhoto17MP-Out. Update the pixels for in-size and out-size as: 5035x3339. There's other "input res" and "output res" and "magnification" fields. These will receive default values from loading the job = 14-Megapixel image. Just leave as-is.

For other parameters to configure into your custom job:

Use Auto for Exposure Control for Negatives

Autofocus at Scan

Use JPEGs for the sRGB colorspace, use Low compression for the JPEGs

Name the files automatically, into a custom folder location you specify for "scanning"

Since you're not going to 'edit' in the scanner, set your Index scan priority for Speed, and make the Prescan size = Small.

It seems you can also set-up separate "Image Correction Jobs". I would use in the Auto Dust Brush, maybe bias toward "High", but not all the way to High.

If you still have the negative used for the plane scene above, use that negative as a test case for your Batch Job settings.

If your custom job name doesn't become default, and you instead have to pick from a list every time to use, give it a name that sorts your custom job to the top of the sort list, like AA-xxxx.

I don't see a benefit of the grain dissolver nor pixel polish nor unmask sharpening.

It looks like Multi-Sampling adds time to the scanning process, but giving a better output. Here I used a clock / stopwatch and use the test image as a final round of testing. Test with OFF and options 2, 4 and 16. Note the duration time these settings make. It may just take too much time to be worth using, even at 2. But, I can't say without testing.

After reading / scanning the scanner manual in PDF... (show quote)

Paul, I'm finalizing my Batch Scan setup but am still ignorant and/or confused on a few points:

(1) You suggested using the scanner settings in one of the Jobs in the manual as a starting point to set up a custom Job. Specifically, you suggested changing the Input/Output sizes from 4680 W / 3120 H to 5035 W / 3339 H. It wouldn't let me change the numbers. And then I noticed that the manual says "Input-size cannot be entered if pixel is selected in the unit list box"! So I'm going to go with the 14-MP Job. That should be OK, right?

(2) I'm confused about what role, if any, color space plays in B&W scanning and I can't find anything on this online. The issue comes up in the Preference settings where "color matching" can be turned on or off. Should this be "On" with "sRGB" selected?

(3) In Preferences, should I select 8 or 16-bit for the color depth?

Would very much appreciate your comments on this. But I can understand if you're getting tired of trying to correct my ignorance....

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

srt101fan wrote:

Paul, I'm finalizing my Batch Scan setup but am st... (show quote)

A 14MP scan should be fine. Simply look at the properties of the resulting files and confirm the pixel resolution. A 4K TV uses a pixel-wide sizing of 3048-pixels. You'll likely get even larger image files (pixel resolution) from the 14MP default job settings.

Even for B&W scans, use your preferred colorspace. I stand by my sRGB recommendation.

For the 8-bit vs 16-bit, I stand by my 8-bit suggestion. I based this recommendation on an personal assessment of (a) the resulting file sizes and (b) what is the long-term usefulness of larger scanned image files?

You should still be in the experiment stage. Try both settings to collect relevant test data, again against the same 6- to 12-images, using both settings so you have relevant versions to compare.

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

A 14MP scan should be fine. Simply look at the pro... (show quote)

Thank you, Paul! I'm ready and eager to scan now!!!