Eric Chi , Jan 30, 2000; 08:14 p.m.
Hi,
I used my (old) HP photosmart scanner to scan this family image from a
slide. As you can see from the image, it shows some marks. I don't
know where those marks came from. The higher resolution I set (in the
scanner) the clear these mark. But I cannot see those from the slide.
ANyone know what may cause this? (BTW, I used VueScan to scan.)
Thanks,
Eric.
Rob D , Jan 31, 2000; 12:33 a.m.
Eric
clean the glass of you scanner and everything that reflects the image on to the scanner its probley dirty i know when mine gets dust or espically oil from fingers on glass it does this
Hope this helps
Robert
Brad Hutcheson 
, Jan 31, 2000; 06:47 a.m.
The marks are part of the problem with the scanner. As you know, there is no glass to clean on this scanner, so that isn't it. VueScan is supposed to help, but I doubt any software will be 100%. You have to consider the fact that you got a very good scanner for the money, even if it isn't perfect.
As for a solution, about all I have been able to do is lower the shadow detail on the prescan before I do the full scan. Naturally you have to compromise, but if you make the blacks blacker these scanner induced streaks will go away. HP dropped the ball by not offering firmware upgrades for this scanner. It doesn't show up on every slide, but dark areas cause a problem for it. Losing some or even all of the detail in shadows is about the only solution. You might also want to recalibrate the scanner from time to time, although it doesn't seem to make much difference.
Vadim Makarov , Jan 31, 2000; 01:25 p.m.
Aha! You've discovered that a sub-$10,000 scanner just can't be good to scan slides. I recently tested two different samples of your scanner and came to the conclusion that a bad Master Photo CD, which I was not satisfied with already, was in fact much better in shadows. Then with peace in mind I moved onto a drum scanner that takes six square meters of floor space, powered through a UPS of the size of a small fridge, etc.
I guess the large media transport of Photosmart, which takes small print as well, was an additional compromise that contributed to this problem.
Matei Ciobanu Morogan , Feb 01, 2000; 06:16 a.m.
Thanks Eric from helping me decide which scanner to buy.
It will not be a Photosmart.
I have had a Polaroid Sprintscan, and even if I treated it
with very little respect, it seems I just didn't know how
bad scanners can be. Anybody knows if Minolta Dimage Dual
is any better?
Vadim Makarov , Feb 02, 2000; 12:56 a.m.
I've found a test scan page on HP Photosmart and it says not all samples may have this problem. Though, the two I tested were exactly like yours - with terrible grid in shadows.
Eric Chi , Feb 02, 2000; 01:46 p.m.
The comments about the shadow is correct. I have tried another landscape photo w/ bright blue sky and there is no noise.
Vadim Makarov , Jun 04, 2001; 05:34 a.m.
For those still not sick of dynamic range related scanning artefacts, here is a whole collection.
