Re: Nikon Super CoolScan 4000 ED Manual Focusing

["Dave King" <kingphoto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The technique that has worked well for me with an LS-8000 is to perform a
forced autofocus just before the actual scan selecting a high contrast area
as near the film center as possible.  Default behavior is to autofocus the
center of the frame before the preview, and not again.  Since focus is so
critical with this scanner there's two potential problems here:  one, focus
may drift or film may shift due to heating (?) if significant time elapses
between preview and final scan, and two, the default focus point may or may
not be on a high contrast area.

The problem is limited DOF, and remounting using Gepe glass or Quickpoint
glassless mounts may be helpful too.  Quickpoint mounts use adhesive strips
to hold film edges and stretch flat (available from www.reel3d.com).  Or one
could have a slide mount size piece of anodized black aluminum with an
oversized cutout made by a machine shop, and the unmounted slide taped into
place.

Dave

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Reader" <photographer@richreader.com>
To: <scan@leben.com>
Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 4:23 PM
Subject: Nikon Super CoolScan 4000 ED Manual Focusing


> I have recently acquired and deployed the Super CoolScan 4000 ED
> with v.3.1.2 software.  The autofocus function gets close, but rarely
> succeeds in focusing as well as it should.  I have thought about
> selecting a small area of the preview frame for multiple focusing
> samples from which to select the best focus for the whole frame.
>
> I'd like to know what other users of this hardware and software are
> doing about this problem.


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