Soft pictures.

[Bruggen112]

Hi this is my first post hope somebody can help me. I recently bought a
Microtek Artixscan 4000t film scanner secondhand,which doesn't seem to be
working properly. I am scanning 35mm slides at 4000 res at 100%, then when I open them into photoshop 6 I get soft pictures. Has anybody got any idea
as to why this is occuring, as I am new to all this and dont have a clue.
Thanks Phil.

[Duv]

I'm not sure if this helps at all, but this was posted at www.cameras-scanners-flaar.org

Cheers
Duv


Discussion of the Microtek ArtixScan 4000t for 35mm slides and negatives.
Perhaps a year ago the claim was sort of okay: Microtek claims: "At 3.4 Dmax, the ArtixScan 4000t easily captures the level of detail and sharpness required by the most discriminating imaging professionals." II doubt many imaging professionals would use a scanner of this low D-Max, and surely not if they were discriminating.

The other tidbit is that Microtek claims this captures "over twice as many pixels as its competitors" That just ain't so. First of all, a main competitor is Polaroid, and it's 4000 dpi scanner is reportedly manufactured by Microtek, so how can the Microtek version be twice as good as the virtually identical Polaroid.

Next problem, Nikon has a scanner that is the same number of pixels but at vastly superior D-Max rating (even if the Nikon specs are a bit over enthusiastic the Nikon still looks like the better scanner).

Which should you buy, Artix or Polaroid? If you get SilverFast, chose that option. But myself I would prefer any of the newer Nikon scanners.

Microtek is not a bad scanner, it's just that others are better. Besides, the Microtek ads are potentially misleading, lulling a naive buyer into thinking that professional prepress people would tend to select a Microtek. Probably some low-budget places do, but successful prepress companies would not take these scanners seriously.

If you just want a low-cost scanner for your family use, to scan for using at 72 dpi on the Internet or to send small inkjet prints to grandmother, a Microtek is okay, but a Nikon may be better. Depends on whether you buy for price or for quality of the resulting image.

[sdubose99]

Phil, it's hard to tell from a 72dpi version whether it's sharp or not. What leads you to believe the scans are soft? Do you have a friend with a better scanner that gets better results? Your shots may benefit from a little unsharp mask...

Scott

[Bruggen112]

Soft pics

Hi Scott thanks for the time,I post photos on aircraft websites and don't
seem to get the quality that i should from a 4000 dpi scanner. Other
people's pics from less res scanners are sharper.Can you tell me if there
is something in my photoshop settings that might be wrong?.
Thanks Phil.

[Flora]

Hi Phil,

You've probably tried all of this already .... if not ....

• Have you tried to open your scanned picture with other programs instead of Photoshop?

If yes ... does it look sharper?

• Does your scanner software allow you to make 'Exposure' , 'Color' , 'Sharpness' or 'Black and White Treshold' adjustments?

If yes, have you tried to correct one or more of these values?

I'm posting a Before&After of your picture where I only did a "Curves" adjustment .... (I work with Photoshop 7.01 which is no different than version 6 for what I did...)...

Is this how you would like your scanned picture to look?

[Bruggen112]

Soft pics

Hi Flora.
So what your saying is that i do that before i send to photoshop.
Iv'e just scanned them streight to photoshop and worked from
there.
Thanks Phil.

[Flora]

Hi Phil,

...Yes, that is exactly it!

Just try to correct 'Exposure' and/or 'Color' and/or 'Sharpness' and/or 'Black and White Treshold' before sending the scanning to Photoshop ....

I do hope this can help....

[Duv]

Hi Phil

I think Flora is right. Your particular scanner should have SilverFast AI software installed. I'm assuming now that by Soft you mean Flat (lacking in contrast). The software that I think you have should have a built in Densitometer. I suspect the previous owner has adjusted the settings to give the results you see. Play with it and you should see the snap back in your pictures.

Cheers
Duv