Digital BW, The Print

Frank and everyone,

I am scanning on a Minolta Multi-Pro also (which I bought in 
November), and am very pleased with it overall, including for 
color negative/ conversion to B&W. I'm using a Mac G4, OS 9.1, 
1.12 gigs of ram, B&W output with Cone software and inks on an 
Epson 1160. 

I'm using Fuji Superia 200 and 400, the 4-layer Reala-based 
"amateur" film, dip and dunk processed. I'm glad to hear the 
Portra works also; I can't say which is better, not having used the 
Portra. I've also heard that Kodak Supra is supposed to be 
optimized for scanning. I have scanned some older Fuji NPH 
film, and I agree that it doesn't seem to scan very well with the 
Minolta software...it's sharp but grainy, and seems to come out 
better with Vuescan software. 

For scanning silver-based B&W film, I've found the Minolta 
software, when using the B&W settings, to also be very grainy 
looking (when I look at it at 100%, it looks like flecks of black & 
silver-grey, and very clumpy). However, I've found that if I scan 
silver-based B&W films using the Color Negative setting on the 
Minolta software, and then select only for the green channel, I get 
excellent results. 

I've also used Vuescan, and the newly completed 7.5 version 
does scan well (stay away from the 7.5 betas and 7.4 versions of 
VS with the Multi-Pro) - and gives perhaps an even sharper scan 
than Minolta's software. On another site, I recently posted 
suggested directions for using the firewire Multi Pro (and Minolta 
Elite II) with VS 7.5 and Mac OS9.1 - though it is complicated.

The Minolta scanner/Firewire/Vuescan 7.5 combination works 
fine for me. 

Minolta's software is very intuitive and Vuescan is not; I've 
needed to do a lot of experimenting to really make VS work for 
me. However, I think Minolta's software can be very troublesome 
in one area; selection of Black and White end-points on the scan 
exposure; a problem than VS does not have. There is a way to at 
least partially correct for this in Minolta's software, but it is not 
obvious, and is buried in the help files.

I am posting the Minolta Auto-Exposure workarounds, and my 
recommendations for using VS 7.5/Minolta firewire scanner/Mac 
OS 9.1, below:

      A.  Message about controlling exposure functions with Minolta 
software.

I too have a Minolta Multi-Pro (MMP) and I have loved it since I 
bought it in early November. It functions beautifully with both the 
Minolta software, and with the new Vuescan 7.5 (non-beta; the 
beta versions should be avoided for the MMP). The Minolta 
software is very intuitive, but there are two tricks to optimizing it: 
1. After Prescan, do a manual focus before final scan (I get 
considerably sharper scans with manual than auto focus). 
2. With some scans, after the prescan, you can potentially 
improve your scan by selecting a specific area of the image to 
determine the final exposure. This is not so obvious, and 
requires using the AE AREA LOCK and AE LOCK buttons, which 
are on the prescan tab. The instructions are under the Minolta 
help menu (under Auto Exposure). I've clipped & pasted the 
instructions:

AE AREA LOCK
The AE area in auto exposure adjusting mode can be changed 
and the exposure of that area is adjusted automatically with this 
function.
  <How To>
     1.	Press the Shift key. The AE area is indicated in line instead 
of the cropping area indicated in dashed line.
     2.	While pressing down the Shift key, change the AE area. The 
operation is the same as that of changing the cropping area 
except that the Shift key should be used.

   AE LOCK
   AE settings for the current prescan are saved and applied to 
subsequent prescan.
  <How To>
     1.	When a prescan scan is made, the AEL button becomes 
available.
     2.	Click on the AEL button.



     B.  Message about Vuescan 7.5/Minolta Firewire Scanner/Mac 
OS 9.1:

For everyone with a Multi Pro wishing to use Vuescan (VS)on a 
Mac with OS 9.1. The real VS 7.5 (non-beta) now works and it 
works fine (though with occasional crashes; Hamrick may refine 
it a little more in future) with the Multi-Pro (and also for the Scan 
Elite II). (But don't even try to use any of the beta versions of 7.5, 
or 7.4 for that matter; you'll only frustrate yourself and waste a lot 
of time.)

However, there are some tricks to using VS with the Minolta 
firewire scanners....

1. All the Minolta files must be removed from the 
Systems/Extensions folder. I've made a folder to hold them. 
These are:
DS Elite Library
MCM Library
MFSBaseLib2887
MFSFWDriver
MFSFWExpLoader
MFSFWFamily
MFSLib2887

2. If you use Photoshop, the Minolta Plug-In must be removed 
from Photoshop's plug-in folder.

3. Then reboot your computer (because you have removed 
extensions). 

Note: You will not be able to use Minolta's proprietary scanning 
software once the extensions and plug-in it requires are 
removed, until you have re-installed them and re-booted again.
 
4. When scanning with Vuescan, I highly recommend that you 
close all other programs and devices, including modem, 
photoshop, word processor(especially the word processor!), etc.

5. I often find that I have to open and close Vuescan several 
times until it recognizes the scanner.

6. Assign lots of ram/memory to VS - I give it 250 megs.

Vuescan does work great with the Multi-Pro, once you get it up 
and running, and once you learn to use VS effectively (it is not 
intuitively easy to use like Minolta's software is). VS does seem 
to still have a bug in the cropping function that can make it hard 
to select crop areas; I found I had to experiment for awhile before 
I could get it to work for me.

Good luck, and best wishes,
James Lerager







--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "culturalvisions" 
<frank@c...> wrote:
> Photolunch crashed while I was uploading my test scans.  My 
> server changed the proceedure and did not tell me.  I wiped out 
> most of the site and have to rebuild it.  I will send you my scan 
> tests if you email me directly.
> 
> I have discovered a lot of info on line.  Unfortunately, my 
> bookmarks are spread out amongst 3 computers so I can't 
give 
> you easy links to the multitude of sites I have found.  One off 
the 
> top of my head is
> 
> http://www.robgalbraith.com
> 
> Go to forums>scanners
> 
> I have seen comparison tests done with slides that show the 
> Minolta to be superior to Nikon or Polaroid.  The Minolta looks 
> sharper and very clean in the shadows.  
> 
> Unfortunately for Minolta, on this list, we are interested in B+W.  
> My tests with C-41 negative film shows the Nikon to come out 
> much cleaner in the shadows and less blown out in the 
> highlights.  But, the Minolta is sharper.
>