Problems with Olympus ES-10

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To make my entry in the digital photo I decided to buy a film scanner and opted for a Olympus ES-10. I am completely new to digital photo and scanners, so I started scanning with default settings. The results is, to say the least, unacepttable. My first thought was that since I have bought a cheap scanner, I got bad results. Searching the Internet I found your site and your review of the scanner, and by your comments and the test photos, I could see it is a very good product, so I tried to work on exposure and color control. The results improved a lot, but are far from what I could see in your site. My questions are: 1) Why my results are worst than your results using default settings? 2) What kind of literature do you suggest me to try to improve my work?(everything I found regards to flatbed scanners) 3) In your review you show a specific selection for a Kodak Gold film, and in my software it doesnt exist. In Olympus site I could not find any new software for the scanner. Is the difference because you used the Mcintosh version?

Any comments and/or suggestions from ES-10 owners are very welcome.

Thank you very much and congratulations for your site.

Luiz Ferreira

P.S.: PC Configuration is 200MHZ MMX Pentium, 32 MB memory, S3 Trio based Video Board with 2MB memory configured for 800x600 and 16.7 million colors.

-- Luiz Fernando R. Ferreira (lregino@unisys.com.br), December 02, 1998

Answers

Luiz-

I don't know whether there's a difference between PC and Mac versions of the software, relative to film types supported. You didn't state the exact nature of the problems you're having, so I'll just throw out a few general suggestions. First, try different film types, even if they aren't the same as the film you're scanning: You may find a better match, more to your liking. One thing that helps a lot in scanning is to watch what's happening to white and black points in the picture. The ES-10 software doesn't support explicit white/black point setting, but does give you an RGB readout by which you can see what effect your adjustments are having on the picture. Try to adjust the black point so the darkest part of the image is pure black (0,0,0), and the white point so the lightest part is pure white (255,255,255). Actually, if you can just get close to these numbers, so that the tonal range of the image approximately matches the full range available, you'll get much improved results.

A good scanning resource on the web (that we really need to add to our much-neglected "other resources" page) is Wayne's Scanning tips. I don't have the URL offhand, but Microtek has a link to it off their home page, at www.microtek.com. This is focused mainly on film scanners, but all his examples are built around the Microtek unit, which is both more expensive, and has much different software. His general comments and suggestions are excellent though, so this should be helpful to you.

Good Luck!

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), December 09, 1998.


Although I do not own your particular scanner it sounds like you need to improve your image quality by increasing the dpi...try 300dpi or greater. Hope this helps

Rob Cohen

-- Robert Cohen (rcfilm@viconet.com), December 03, 1998.


I've got the Olympus scanner too but not here in my office but at home, so the explanation are given by memory. There are maybe two thinks you haven't done. The first one is to adjust the focus by hand. The scanner is not an auto focus one even if the PC will help you to tell if the resukt is better or not. To do this, first go on preview. Then, you have to click on a small picture on the bottom and on the right of the preview image. After, you have to choose a line for the focus. Choose preferently a ligne which intercept different color (big gradient with black seems to be the best. Then a bar graph will apear on the window and you have to adjust the focus with the button on the scanner to increase the performance (see the bar graph moves to the right side. The second thing is to calibrate the withe source. Before to go on preview, there is on the menu option something as calibrating the white source Just click and wait. I hope these comment can help you.

-- ROUSSET (rousset@drfmc.ceng.cea.fr), December 28, 1998.

I have tried everything: I checked the focus, I executed the white balance adjust I tried all film options and possible regulations, I used all range of resolution available, I tried 3 different computers, but I always got the same result.

It is difficult to explain the problem without showing the picture, but it is like not having all the color to show the tonal range. For example as scanning something with a computer configured for only 16 colors.

To make sure the problem has nothing to do with the computer configurations, I used in the same computer an old Logitech Scanman Color. The results of this old hand held scanner were pretty much better.

Thanks for all suggestions and comments.

Luiz Ferreira

-- Luiz Fernando R. Ferreira (lregino@unisys.com.br), January 18, 1999.


Luiz- Very strange-sounding problem. Do you notice the color problem in the ES-10 application itself, or only when you bring the images into another program? If you're seeing it in the ES-10 software directly, you should probably contact Olympus, as it sounds like a scanner problem. If ok in the ES-10 software, but not in other programs, it would be a file-format issue. Good luck!

-- Dave Etchells (hotnews@imaging-resource.com), January 24, 1999.


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