Quoting Richard Lewisohn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:

> I've given a client a Nikon LS-20 Coolscan II film scanner.  It's been 
> lying on a shelf for a couple of years but worked fine before that.  He 
> tells me the images are soft.  He's only using it for web-based stuff, 
> so they must be REALLY soft. 

Richard:

I'm going to take a stab, that it's not a software problem, or computer OS 
problem, but simply a mirror that's got a nice layer of dust on it. When the 
scanner was "lying on a shelf" was it covered in a plastic bag, or just laying 
out "naked."?

If the latter, I'll bet that if they scan a slide with a rapid transition from 
black to white they will get something akin to "halation" like you used to see 
in film when you got a bright light source near the edge of a frame. 

I'd written a post a while back about "scanner maintenance" (http://www.mail-
archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg11936.html) that you may 
have missed. It included some links. One to a page that showed what happens 
when a layer of dust settles on the mirror, and another to a page that shows 
how to clean an LS-2000. I don't know if the LS-20 is the same design or not, 
but it they are somewhat mechanically inclined they (or you) may be able to 
perform this bit of maintenance. 

I hope that helps. Let us know how it turns out. 

David
-- 
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David Riecks http://www.riecks.com - http://zillionbucks.com 
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