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Microtek s400 Scanner

U

uwan1

Junior Member
I have an old Microtek s400 scanner and want to scan slides. Some slides scan perfectly (high resolution and correct brightness) but others are very dark even though the slide is not. If several slides are scanned at once some are OK and others are too dark. It seems this means it is not a calibration issue. I am running WinXP and Scanwizard 5.

Any suggestions?
 
I would prefer to use what I have rather than buy another scanner if the Microtek will work. I only have about 200 slides to scan. If it will not work then I will go to option B.
 
I am making some assumptions here so please correct me if I am wrong.

There is a white strip under the cover that I assume is the calibration strip for scanning opaque sheets (i.e. not slides or film). When scanning slides the sensor light source is off as expected because the slides are backlit by the slide holder. I covered the calibration strip with blue tape and the image did not change. This is expected because it is used for opaque sheets and not for slides or film.

There is a small window in the slide holder that is viewable by the sensor. I assume this is the calibration window for slides and film. I tried covering this window with tape but kept getting the error message "Scanner command format error." This implies that the calibration is trying but with tape covering the window the data is outside the range of calibration.

All this implies that the scanner is calibrating but apparently not very accurately for my slides. The option is to adjust the brightness, contrast, color, etc manually either before the scan or post-process the image.
  • Is my understanding of the calibration technique correct?

  • If when scanning slides that are similar in quality (i.e. good brightness, contrast, etc) will I have to adjust the settings for each slide individually or might the settings work for all slides?
  • Using trial and error to determine the corrections seems like a difficult task. Is there an easier way to make these corrections?
  • If I get a newer scanner will I have these same issues?
 
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