Can Vuescan replace my Nikon Coolscan V ED native software

Hi,

I know this is going to elicit some strong opinions, but here's the situation I'm in and I'm not a professional, just working on a basic level of experience and I'm hoping that Vuescan has the features I need because I already bought it. :/

I've been using my Nikon Coolscan V ED for the past 6 years with the software that came with it (Nikon Scan 4) and I was VERY happy with the BW scans.

In the Nikon software version 4.0.2, In preview mode, you get the preview of the scan and you have two tabs, "Processed" and "Natural" ... It was always amazing to me see how much better the "Processed" image looked than the "Natural" image scan. Clicking on the "Natural" tab a message appeared below with a description: "this gives you a view of the preview with all of the image alterations you have performed removed". Toggling to the "Processed" tab generated a message below saying: this gives you a view of the preview taking into account all of the image alterations you have performed"

So when my Dell turned old and clunky, I moved on to a Mac Mini and discovered Nikon wasn't making software for OS X Mountain Lion and directing people to SilverFast or Vuescan.

Long story short, I downloaded Vuescan last night and paid for the professional version and cannot figure out how to get scans that look like the "Processed" version from the Nikon. There is something that I MUST be doing wrong because all I'm seeing are scans that look like the "Natural" tab view in the Nikon software, thin, weak, watery images.

Am I missing something here? Can Vuescan produce results that look like what I was getting with Nikon?

Please advise any help much appreciated. Thanks.

My detailed settings for the Nikon scanning that I've been quite happy with were:

-Scan as Color Negative
-5,830x3,928
File size: 65.5 MB
-Enable Post Processing Digital ROC and Digital GEM
Analog Gain: Neutral
Digital ICE: Off
Digital DEE Neutral
SIEnhancer: Neutral
Bit Depth: 8

First, I'm surprised no one has responded to your post.

I'm in a similar, but inverse, situation. I'm just now scanning b/w negs that are 40 years old. I have a coolscan V, which I've used to scan slides. But using Nikon Scan 4, I get very variable results. Using the same settings, doing a batch scan, some negatives will scan with a sepia tone and some with correct greyscale (this is off the same strip of negatives scanning in a single batch scan). I can go back and rescan and get the correct "greyscale" tone. I don't know if my issues are software, hardware, or (gasp!) operator error. It doesn't seem related to a lamp warming up, as it will happen in the middle of a strip.

The settings I'm using are:
Neg (mono)
Greyscale
LCH and Curves off
Digital ICE off
No post processing
Bit depth: 14

I find the tool palette very unintuitive. I've read the manual, I can apply the settings and save the settings, but they seem almost to have a mind of their own. Changing back for some frames and not others.

For the heck of it, I tried with the trial version of Vuescan and found it pretty consistent. But I know others successfully use the Nikon s/w so I can only assume the problem is h/w or, more likely, me.

When nikon's software nolonger worked on my mac, it was painful at first to switch to vuescan, but i eventually found it far superior to nikon's software. I don't do post processing in vuescan, nikon, or silverfast, nor have I used scanner film profiles or scanner post processing on imacon's or creo's -- I've tried, but they are never as good as what i have been able to do in software built for image processing (image processing meaning color, density and contrast adjustments). I do create, when available, scanner profiles, but that is not available for the nikon in vuescan that I have been able to find. In vuescan I use 14/16bit color depth, multi exposure, multi sample, fine mode and medium ir cleaning. A 35mm neg tends to be the same pixel size as yours but the file size is in excess of 110mb. Vuescan on the 8000ed requires a a good deal of effort with regard to medium format (6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x8 and 6,9), but I suspect you won't have that issue.

I have used Vuescan for color and B&W negatives and slides, but mostly for B&W of late. Following the instructions in the link below helped me greatly. Ken Lee Gallery - Scanning Tips (with EPSON and VueScan Software)