Updated November 2026: I now use separate workflows for negative and slide film. Originally published January 2026.
Why I use more than one system to scan film
I have spent a lot of time trying different methods of film scanning to find what works for me, and my needs aren't always the same. Sometimes I want to scan a large number of images quickly at acceptable quality, and for that I use camera scanning. Other times I want the best possible image quality with the least amount of time spent cleaning up dust. That's where the Coolscan comes in. (For my other high-end option, see Scanning Film with the Creo IQsmart3.)
Choosing a scanner for medium format
6 × 9 Portra 160
There are plenty of dedicated film scanners with excellent image quality and strong dust removal, but as the film gets bigger, the options quickly disappear. One of my main requirements was scanning film up to 6x17 cm. That led me to the Nikon Coolscan series and, eventually, to a local Facebook listing.
On paper, the Coolscan 9000 checks all the right boxes: 4000 dpi, best-in-class dust removal, and a large scan area. In practice, there is a major problem with the standard film holder.
The problem with the FH-869S film holder
The FH-869S 120 strip holder is effectively unusable. It fails at its most basic job: holding the film flat. I struggled to get even 6x4.5 frames, the smallest medium-format size, in focus across the whole image. The holder relies on tension to flatten the film but only supports it along two edges, and that simply doesn't work.
Heavy crop of a 645 frame. Notice how the right side of the image has visible grain while the life side looks soft.
The flatness problem was bad enough that I seriously considered reselling the scanner. Nikon's glass strip holder exists, but it's prohibitively expensive and wasn't a realistic option for me.
Stephan Scharf film holders
After reading more about the issue, I decided to take a chance on a custom 3D-printed film holder developed by Stephan Scharf. I ordered masks and components for 6 × 4.5, 6 × 9, 6 × 12, and 6 × 17. The total cost ended up being quite high, but if it could keep the film flat, it would solve the core problem.
The holders from Stephan turned out to be well worth the cost.
How good is Nikon Scan's ICE?
ICE can feel like magic: put in a negative covered in dust, lint, or whatever else, and get a clean scan back. On my Epson V850, ICE would find the dust and try to remove it, but it left visible artifacts behind. Those artifacts were harder to spot than the dust they replaced and still had to be cloned out, so I eventually gave up on the feature on that scanner.
ICE on the Coolscan with Nikon Scan is nearly flawless. In the example below, dust of all shapes and sizes is erased from the scan. With larger negatives, this saves a huge amount of time cleaning up files before a big print. One caveat: ICE uses infrared, so it doesn't work on traditional black-and-white film or Kodachrome.
ICE Disabled
ICE Enabled
Resolution by film size
With these holders, I get roughly these effective resolutions:
6x4.5: about 56 megapixels
6x9: about 112 megapixels
6x12: about 160 megapixels
6x17: about 240 megapixels
Two scans to capture an entire 6 × 12 frame.
100% crop of the above image with my normal sharpening applied
6 × 17 Ektar Scan
he Coolscan 9000 can only scan about 9 cm of film in a single pass, so anything longer takes multiple scans that get stitched together. It's a small inconvenience that is easily worked around, as long as every section is scanned with exactly the same settings.
Nikon Scan setup
The Coolscan also works with SilverFast and VueScan, but I prefer Nikon Scan because it's free and, more importantly, has the best ICE implementation. My desktop runs Windows 11, and I connect the scanner through a PCIe card that adds a FireWire port.
In Nikon Scan's preferences, turn off autofocus for both single and batch scans. Any change in focus between sections makes stitching much harder and can ruin the result. Exposure depends on the film type, below.
My two workflows
I now scan negatives and slides completely differently. Negatives get a flat, linear scan that I convert afterward. Slides get scanned to look as close to the final image as possible, since the slide already is the final image.
Negative film
Film type: Color positive
Nikon Color Management: Off
Gamma: 1.0
Analog gain: Master +1.45, Red -0.35, Green +0.95, Blue +1.8
Inversion and conversion: NegPy
I scan negatives as positives so Nikon Scan doesn't do its own inversion; NegPy handles all of that. Scanning at a gamma of 1.0 gives a linear file, which is what a conversion tool wants to work from. The analog gain settings deal with the orange mask on color negative film. Without them, the red channel comes in much brighter than the green and blue, and the blue channel in particular is starved of data. Lowering red and raising green and blue evens the channels out before the scan instead of stretching them afterward. Those numbers work for my scanner and the films I shoot; if you try them, use them as a starting point and check the histogram so nothing clips.
I then stitch the sections and invert and convert the stitched file in NegPy.
Slide film
Nikon Color Management: On
Gamma: 2.2
Exposure: Autoexposure for single frames. For panoramas, autoexposure off and the master analog gain set by hand.
For a single frame, Nikon Scan's autoexposure does a good job. For a panorama, every section has to match, so I turn autoexposure off, adjust the master gain until the slide looks right, and use that same value for every section of the panorama.
Settings for every scan
ICE: Normal
Super Fine Scan: On
Bit depth: 16-bit
No curve adjustments
Step by step: scanning a panorama
Set up two preview windows, both set to color positive. That goes for negatives too; they get inverted later in NegPy.
Autofocus on one area of the image, then copy the resulting manual focus value into both previews so they use exactly the same focus.
Set exposure for the film type as above and leave it alone for every section.
For the first scan, use the position adjuster to place the preview so the film holder takes up as little of the frame as possible. That leaves enough overlap between sections for stitching.
Reposition the second preview to cover the next part of the image, again with some overlap, and scan it.
Repeat until the whole image is captured.
Stitching and processing
Once all the sections are scanned, I stitch them together before doing any processing, usually in Microsoft Image Composite Editor. Negatives then go to NegPy to be inverted and converted. Slides usually need only small adjustments to exposure and endpoints.
What I used to do: a custom ICC profile for slide film
I no longer use this, but I'm leaving it here for anyone considering it. Before I switched to Nikon Color Management for slides, I made a custom profile for the scanner. Using an IT8.7 target and the free CoCa software, I created an ICM profile that got scans very close to a final result, needing only exposure and endpoint adjustments for most images. Below are the same scans with the same settings; the only difference is that the profile is applied to one. In the end, Nikon Color Management with a gamma of 2.2 gets me to a good result with less effort, so that's what I use now.
Is it worth it?
Yes. Spending a little more time setting up a scan and waiting a bit longer for a high-resolution file that doesn't need 30 minutes of cloning out dust is well worth it for me. Whether $1,700 for the scanner and another $400 for usable holders is worth it will depend on your budget and goals, but the results won't disappoint.
Related: Scanning Film with the Creo IQsmart3 · See the work these scans are for: Seattle
