Is this normal for a Coolscan?

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pioneer31

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I've been scanning 110 film on both an Epson V750 and a Nikon Coolscan V.

I have noticed for some time now that the Coolscan is looking rather grainy. In fact I don't want to zoom up at all, as it starts to look unpleasant. Having said that, zoomed out, it is producing sharper images than the V750 (as expected).

I have mainly used it to scan 35mm and did notice that an old scan (from around 2009 when I bought it) is less grainy than a recent scan of the same slide. Also, a recent scan is a tad less sharp (when zoomed right up to an insane degree)

I had it apart a couple of years ago to clean the mirror, it wasn't really dusty to my surprise, so I've ruled that out.

I have always used the default settings on both units.

Should I be expecting this with age?

At present, I am leaning towards the V750 scans because although they are less sharp, they don't look like a clump of coloured dots.

Top image is Epson. Bottom is Nikon.
 

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How do the look at final use? 110 was never much good over 6x4 and even that was pushing it! Looking at an enlargement to even laptop screen size won't be helping the graininess.
 
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Are you using the same scan software?

Modern software has got better at dealing with grain and other stuff. Could it be that the V750 has newer software running it than the Nikon and is doing a better job at processing the grain in the scan before delivering the results? Do you get similar results with other sized negatives?
 
Harlequin565 said:
Are you using the same scan software?

Modern software has got better at dealing with grain and other stuff. Could it be that the V750 has newer software running it than the Nikon and is doing a better job at processing the grain in the scan before delivering the results? Do you get similar results with other sized negatives?
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Yes, using the original software that came with both. I bought them around the same time, in 2009.

I do wonder if something else is going on, with the Nikon. Old scans that I did over 10 years ago (35mm) don't look as grainy as ones that I have done recently.
 
Nikon Scan 4? And you've set the resolution to it's maximum (4000ppi)? And unsharp mask is off? Just checking.
 
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110. Film was always poor quality when enlarged.
 
Here's a scan of the 4x5 print. It's sharper and free of grain/dots

I don't compute. It too, has been enlarged from the negative.
 

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I don't know if this is relevant but scans from 35mm film always look terrible , even using the best scanners (eg the Coolscan ED5000). But when printed they don't look anywhere near as bad. I find that modern noise reduction software can reduce the grain on a 35mm scan quite considerably.
 
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