Auto workflow: Vuescan, Nikon Coolscan 8000 and MF 6X6?

[JWMster]

New to me Nikon Coolscan 8000 makes some very fine negatives come to life. So far, I've only used it for B&W negatives and done one-at-a-time. But I'm wondering if there's a way - using Vuescan for Windows and the latest version of each - to automate this somewhat? Though it doesn't look like it with 120 6X6, it might with a 35mm double neg strip tray? I'm just wondering even with a 3-up 6X6 120 strip whether ti's possible. Ditto for the 2 strips of 35mm film tray. As I remember using the batch mode on a Plustek with this, the Vuescan Batch mode doesn't automate the tray advance, but simply speeds the incrementation of the frame number in the file name. Hope there's something I'm missing. If anyone can point me to a youtube or online article that addresses this, that'd be great, and maybe the whole of this is simpler than it looks so far. Thanks!

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Vuescan does automate the tray advance for batch scanning. Here's how to set it up:

http://crawfordphotoschool.com/digital/vuescan-batch.php

 

[JWMster]

Chris: Very helpful, thanks! While I'm still learning this thing, I've noted that for Previews in manual mode, I spec the frame # (1 to 3 for 120 6X6), and then it seems to require an offset of -25 for frame # 2 and -50 for frame # 3 in preview. Am I doing something wrong or is this pretty normal in order for the previewed negative image to show (in positive) more or less in full in the center of the screen? I figure I'm doing something wrong, but the whole of it with a Nikon is new to me. Thanks for your help here.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

If you're scanning 120, the scanner is supposed to auto-detect the frame edges, but the system isn't perfect and often requires the manual offsets.

 

[JWMster]

Great! Thanks! That gives me something to work on.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Great! Thanks! That gives me something to work on.

Glad I could help

 

[philipus]

I've never managed to get Vuescan to recognise the frames of 120 films with any reliability, whether using the included holder or the Image Mechanics wet mount tray. But it is very easy to set the frame spacing and offset which speeds up the workflow. For 135 film it's only a matter of selecting On for the scanner to go through all 12 frames in one go.
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Philip