[cak]

I know it's ancient, but its what I have.

Is there any body out there that is familiar with this relic who might be able to advise how to obtain decent results with this old dedicated film scanner?

I have recently started developing my own film again and just looking at the negatives I feel I could obtain respectable results if I had the space and funds to set up a traditional wet darkroom. (space is my key limitation) However the scans seem to start out flat, and post processing for wider tonal range just isn't quite doing it for me.

I'm expecting the problem(s) are mostly user error. Attempting to learn how to use the film scanner, the vuescan software, Lightroom 2, CS4 all at once is making for a very large learning curve. But I'd like to start at the begging: Am I scanning my negatives properly to begin with, and can I improve my results much without having to spend a grand + on a coolscan 5000?

I posted a couple of samples in my "Salutations from San Diego" thread in the "welcomes and introductions" forum.

Thanks for any advice that might be available,
Christopher A. Kirk