Shallow scratches seen from Coolscan not seen elsewhere

[gfeucht]

Hello!

I'm trying to lock in a scanning workflow for B/W 35mm and I've had such a love/hate relationship with my Coolscan 5000 and Vuescan. The detail extracted is second to none, but I'm seeing EVERY flaw as well. There are hairline surface scratches that explode on the screen from these scans that are nowhere to be found on a mirrorless camera scan or a darkroom print.

Is this just inherent to the scanning physics? Is it scanning the surface and therefore every film base scratch is seen? Again, if you backlight the negative, all of these tiny scratches are invisible. Hence why they don't show up in camera scans or darkroom prints.

Any ideas?

 

[icebear]

Hello!

... that are nowhere to be found on a mirrorless camera scan or a darkroom print.

Is this just inherent to the scanning physics? Is it scanning the surface and therefore every film base scratch is seen? Again, if you backlight the negative, all of these tiny scratches are invisible. Hence why they don't show up in camera scans or darkroom prints.

Any ideas?

You are scanning a surface as you rightly said. You want to catch every detail, so if the surface of the soft negative is damaged (scratch), these will show up. Compare the file size of your high rez scan and the file size of your digi cam when you photograph your negative. A cool scan is a specialized tool, a digi cam can possibly also used for scanning but it's not made for it.

You will need to find the right software settings to get rid of 90% of dust and scratches, the rest is manual post processing ... if the image is really worth it and you are not into "box scanning" i.e. a couple of hundred sheets of negatives.
Goood luck and patience

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Nikon scanners use an LED light source that tends to bring out any dust and scratches on a film. Like a condenser enlarger head does in the darkroom.

 

[shimokita]

I get my development done by a local mom & pop camera shop. Due to my current living situation home development is not an option. Some b&w negatives are better than others regarding scratches and I have discussed this with the local camera shop staff. They have tried a couple of different labs (nice to have options) with some improvement (i.e. less frequent scratching)... now getting about one scratched frame every couple of rolls... using a Nikon Coolscan V ED and Nikon Scan software - main film is Fuji ACROS Neopan 100 (old stock).

.

 

[majid]

Hello!

Is this just inherent to the scanning physics? Is it scanning the surface and therefore every film base scratch is seen? Again, if you backlight the negative, all of these tiny scratches are invisible. Hence why they don't show up in camera scans or darkroom prints.

It’s inherent to the scanner design because it uses a point light source instead of a diffuse one like the Minolta Dimâge 5400.

 

[gfeucht]

Thanks everyone.

Yeah it's disappointing to see every little imperfection on the film, especially now that I'm shooting mostly b/w film. Maybe it's time to ditch the 5000.