I've used the SS4000 and LS-4000, and I'd agree that the Polaroid shows less dust than the LS-4000. The common wisdom is that this is due to highly collimated light source in the Nikon scanner - it shows up every last speck, where the gentler light source of the Polaroid doesn't. It's kind of like a condenser enlarger head vs. a diffusion head. The scans are equally detailed from both.
Switch on IR cleaning in the Nikon, and the problem goes away, though you do trade off spotting time for longer scan times. I use Vuescan with my LS-4000, and can see no appreciable softening of the image from the operation of cleaning algorithm, so I too use it all the time. Paul -----Original Message----- From: Alex Z [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 4:55 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: filmscanners: Best scanner software Thanks for the answer. The SS4000 doesn't offer IR based ICE feature, so did you mean *always* using IR cleaning when scanning with your LS30 ? BTW, I'm confused a bit by your claim of dust/scratches being less obvious with higher resolution. My opinion was exactly opposite: more resolution picks up more dust, due to smaller pixels being used to achieve bigger resolution on similar physical area. Am I wrong ? Regards, Alex -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Rob Geraghty Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 01:10 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: filmscanners: Best scanner software "Alex Z" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > BTW, do you think 2800-2900 dpi is good enough for quality A3 sized print > (about 260-270 dpi and that size) or 4000 dpi would gain quality noticeably ? I've made nice A3 prints on my Epson 1160 using scans at 2700dpi with a Nikon LS30. Scans on a SS4000 look bigger, but I'm not convinced that there's a lot more detail in them. I generally scan with Vuescan, and *always* use Infra-red cleaning. Infra-red cleaning saves hours of spotting. Dust and scratches are less obvious in SS4000 scans, so there's less spotting anyway. Rob
