Backlight? Software? Or Neither?

[ChristopherCoy]

Ok. I received the $50 V500 that I bought on eBay. I found an ac adapter that worked, and bought a USB cable. Today I put all the parts together. The scanner powers up, and I can get a few scans, but then it gives me an error and the light starts blinking orange sporadically. In addition, at one point it added a deep yellow color and a prominent red line down one half of the scan. This red line and yellow area appeared down the entire scan path, over the negative and blank space on the glass as well.

I contacted the seller and he refunded my full payment including shipping. So now I'm only into this thing for about $54 - the cost of the ac adapter and the USB cable.

My question is - are V500's prone to error messages, and is this red line half yellow scan problem a backlight issue or software issue? My second question is, is it worth sending it in for repair, or do I just shell out the $150 to B&H for a new one?

This is what I'm considering a 'good' scan that I tweaked very quickly in CS5. Its a cleaned FP100c negative.


Cheyenne by ChristopherCoy, on Flickr

This is the original of the above. Scanned at 300dpi, backlight correction at medium, and .tiff format.


Origscan by ChristopherCoy, on Flickr


This is the same type negative, that scanned with the yellow and red line. IT IS NOT THE NEGATIVE.


BadScan by ChristopherCoy, on Flickr


For information, I am on an iMac 21.5" circa 2010 model, I DID NOT download the epson driver/utility software - it worked when I plugged it in, I used the apple>system preferences>printers>open scanner options to grab the scan, and then saved as .jpg in CS5.

 

[David Hatton]

Check the area at the leading edge of the scanner glass. This is where the scanner calibrates itself. If there is dirt or other kinds of foreign objects in this area it will effect the calibration and hence the scan.

David

 

[gmikol]

A couple of points:

First, I believe the "Backlight Correction" in Epson Scan is designed to correct the image for backlit *subjects*. i.e. it's designed to lift the shadows and tame the hightlights. It has nothing to do, per se with scanning transparent media. Your image might appear less washed-out if you un-check it.

Second, to embellish David's response, there is about a 1/2" to 3/4" area at the "top" of the scanner glass (towards the back of the unit) that the scanner uses to calibrate the CCD array and to "white balance" itself. This helps correct for color shift as the lamp ages. If anything is in this area, the scanner will attempt to correct for it, e.g. if you were to draw a line on the glass in that area with a blue sharpie, you'd get a yellow line down the scan. I've put ND filter gels in this area to force longer scan times with an older scanner (1640 Photo) for dense transparencies. It's possible you had the negative too close to the calibration area on that last one.

It's tough to say if the other problems you were seeing were because the scanner thought there was a problem (due to something being in the calibration area), or if the yellow and red in the dog scan are indicative of some problem with the scanner. I hope that distinction is clear.

Good luck--

Greg

 

[Alan Klein]

I cropped out the borders and ran it through my Auto Levels in Elements 8. I think your problem might be that you left the borders in. Before you scan, crop out the border leaving only the picture. Than adjust scanner to Auto but no back light sharpening or any other setting. Do those in post. Let us know how you made put. Alan

Try this link. I was trying to upload the picture but it wouldn't let me. Can anyone tell me how to do that?
http://flickr.com/gp/alanklein2000/qM9odQ

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Nice Alan. The photo above was a quick adjustment. It's still sporadically acting up though. I can't pin it to anything yet. And do you mean trim my negatives? Physically cut them?

Greg, by "backlight" I mean the light on the cover. Not the actual backlight setting.

 

[gmikol]

Nope...I was referring to your first post where you wrote:

This is the original of the above. Scanned at 300dpi, backlight correction at medium, and .tiff format.

To cover all the bases:
I doubt the issues your seeing with the bad scan relate to the lamp. Since the transparency lamp is behind a diffuser, any defects in the lamp would not be as "sharp" as that red line is, i.e. it would be blurred by the diffusion panel. Best to make sure there are no marks on the diffuser that might cause that, especially up near the calibration area, if you haven't already.

And I think Alan means to exclude the border areas when you select the scan area, only select the image area itself. The borders might throw off how the software corrects the negative image, but again this won't cause the defect you saw in the dog scan.

Any chance you've got a bad USB cable (or a bad USB port?). Did you order an Epson power supply, or just a generic one?

--Greg

 

[Alan Klein]

As Greg said do not cut the negatives. There is a selection tool that allows you to select the portion of the negative to scan. Just exclude the black borders so not to fool the automatic controls into think that's your black point. You'll get better color balance. Greg's also right about the line. That's something else. Alan