Noritsu Hs-1800 Scanner Question

[irivlin]

I have a Noritsu HS-1800 (actually a converted S4, for USB TWAIN connection). I hope some member of this forum can help me with a few problems.

 

1) The scans are very grainy. I've tried to set the grain reduction in the PJP/DSA module to reduce the grain but I can't set it to more than "10" under any circumstances (it is supposed to allow up to "50") and if I set any other parameters, such as contrast, highlights or shadows, I can't select even "1" on the grain reduction. Using "10" on the grain reduction hardly reduces the grain at all and I'm forced to use Imageonics Noiseware or Topaz DeNoise, which does a good job but is time consuming. 

 

2) I have a spare slide film carrier. It's not quite the right model for my scanner but I bought it for the mechanical spares, as one day they will probably needed. In this slide carrier (which fits perfectly into the HS-1800, BTW) I note that it has a diffuser over the light entry. The 135/240MMC-ll for the HS-1800 doesn't. From my film days, a diffused light source gave a softer and less grainy image than a condenser light source. Might a diffused light source do the same with mine?

 

I've tried with and without Digital ICE and with and without the emulsion side dust removal software. The Digital ICE appears to be working, the Emulsion Side Dust Removal doesn't offer much benefit.

 

I'm not sure whether I'm using the latest TWAIN driver or not (I can't seem to find any way of finding out which version I have). I can't get any information from any Noritsu outlet (USA/Canada/UK, Australia etc). They all want me to be on a service contract before they'll even speak to me and as this machine is only for amateur use, a service contract would be impossibly expensive.

 

As a matter of interest, is the grain reduction on the Noritsu sophisticated or does it just smooth out the image after the scan? - It could be that it's not worth using anyway. I never know with scanner software whether they all do exactly the same scan, irrespective of a dark or light negative and then try and resuscitate the image afterwards. Or do the DSA settings actually change the parameters at the scanning stage?

 

Any help or advice appreciated.

 

Ian