Better Light ViewFinder 7 User Manual Download Page 60

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Saving Tone Curves

After creating or modifying a tone curve, you may wish to save the new curve; either as startup

preferences, or as part of a custom setting. Select the

New Setting

option from the

Tone Curve

popup

menu (Windows), or the

Add Setting

button next to the

Tone Curve

popup menu (Mac), at the

bottom of the

Tone

tab panel. Enter the name for the new curve setting in the window that appears

and click the

button. The new setting will now appear in the

Tone Curve

list. The entire list of

tone curves will be saved into the

Preferences

ﬁle when ViewFinder™ is quit (if the

Auto Save Prefer-

ences

option is checked in the

File

menu). The tone curve list will also be recorded in any settings ﬁle

created with the

Save Settings

option from the

File

menu.

If you do make a custom curve, we recommend that you click on

Save Preferences

Save

Settings

in the

File

menu to permanently save your new curve before continuing.

Deleting Tone Curves

Any tone curve in the

Tone Curve

popup list, except

“None 14-bit”

and

Default

, can be deleted

by ﬁrst selecting it as the current setting, then choosing

Delete Current Setting

from the

Tone Curve

popup (Windows). You will be asked to conﬁrm that you really want to delete the curve before it is
removed. On a Macintosh, select the

Delete Setting

button next to the

Tone Curve

popup menu to

delete the current curve.

If you accidentally delete a tone curve, you may be able to restore it. If you have already saved

your tone curve previously by either quitting the program with the

Auto Save Preferences

option

checked in the

File

menu, or by explicitly selecting

Save Settings

from the

File

menu, or by exporting

the tone curve with the

Export Curve

option from the

File

menu, then you can restore the deleted

tone curve. The ﬁrst way to restore the curve is by choosing

Load Settings

from the

File

menu and

selecting the

ViewFinder Prefs

ﬁle as the setting ﬁle. The second restoration method is by unchecking

the

Auto Save Preferences

option from the

File

menu and quitting the program. When ViewFinder™

is restarted, the previous version of the

ViewFinder Prefs

, the one with the accidentally deleted curve,

will be used. The third restoration method is to choose

Import Curve

from the

File

menu, then choose

the ﬁle with the exported curve.

Summary of Contents for ViewFinder 7

Page 1: ...Large Format Digital Scanning Camera System Revision D March 2007 User s Manual featuring Digital Scanning Camera Software ...

Page 2: ...n whole or part be copied photocopied reproduced translated or con verted to any electronic form without written consent of Better Light All product names and trademarks are the property of their registered owners 1200 Industrial Road 17 San Carlos California 94070 4129 650 631 3680 fax 650 631 2915 www betterlight com email info betterlight com 2000 2007 Better Light Inc All rights reserved Print...

Page 3: ...d and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment This equipment gen erates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual may cau...

Page 4: ...4 ...

Page 5: ...t Guide 14 Prescanning 19 Making a Prescan 19 Fast Prescans 20 Cropped Prescans 21 Super View Prescans 22 Saving and Viewing Prescans 23 Cancelling a Prescan 23 Color Managed Prescans 23 Rulers 24 Guides 24 Image Capture Settings 25 Resolution 25 Line Time 27 ISO 28 Exposure Lock 29 Capture Mode 29 Scanning 30 Scanning to the Camera Disk 30 Canceling a Scan 30 Naming the Image 31 ...

Page 6: ...e 36 Histogram 37 Judging Overall and Spot Exposures 37 Static Spot Meter Location Readings 38 Tool Bar 39 Magnify Tool 39 Hand Tool 39 Measure Tool 40 Panorama Tool 40 ToneZones Tool 41 Crop Mask Tool 43 Grid Tool 43 Tab Panels 45 Size Panel 45 Scan Area and Cropping 45 Lock Crop Ratio 47 Lock File Size 48 Locking Both 48 Faster Scans for Free 49 Color Panel 50 Establishing Neutral Color Balance ...

Page 7: ...urve Adjustments 57 Limit Line 58 Spot Meter Reference Points 58 Negative Curves 58 16 bit Tone Curves 58 Tone Curve Histogram 59 Selecting an Output Tone Scale 59 Setting the EV Scale Reference 59 Saving Tone Curves 60 Deleting Tone Curves 60 Focus Panel 61 Large Focus Display 61 Selecting a Focus Site 62 Reading the Focus Displays and Adjusting Focus 63 Audio Focusing Aid 64 Multiple Color Focus...

Page 8: ...ile 73 Edit 74 Display 75 Camera 76 User Preferences 78 Automatically Retrieving Images Saving Files 78 Automatically Save Prescans 79 Auto Naming 79 Appending a File Type Suﬃx 79 Automatic Scan Viewing in an Application Auto File Open 79 Auto rotate Retrieved Files 80 Mask 80 Grid 81 Guides 81 Using Sounds 82 Line Time Synchronization 82 ISO Increment Selection 82 Baseline ISO Setting 82 Time Lap...

Page 9: ...86 Lens Aperture 86 Lighting 87 Appendix C Line Time Settings 88 Appendix D Resolution Selections 89 Appendix E Status Indicators 92 Appendix F Pano WideView Adapter 93 Scene Panorama 93 Hardware Setup 93 Software Operation 93 Rollout Panorama 95 Hardware Setup 95 Software Operation 95 Object Panorama 96 Hardware Setup 96 Software Operation 96 Appendix G Error Messages 97 ...

Page 10: ...0 Parts List 1 Control Unit 1 2 Insert 1 3 Double shielded cable 1 4 USB cable 1 5 Power supply 1 6 Power cord 1 not shown 7 Filters 1 daylight 1 tungsten 8 Focus card 2 9 Viewing overlay 3 10 Holster 1 ...

Page 11: ...11 Connector Identiﬁcation ...

Page 12: ...up settings each time the software is launched You can alter these settings and save new preferences which will then be used on subse quent startups of the software You may also save and reload diﬀerent settings ﬁles which you create each containing a complete set of camera control selections that are customized to your unique camera setups e g client catalog project or lighting system A saved gro...

Page 13: ...window System Requirements Macintosh G3 processor or better Mac OS 10 4 0 or later PC PC version of the software is required Pentium III Processor or better Windows XP or later Common requirements 24 bit color graphics display and video card with 800 x 600 minimum resolution USB 2 Interface built in or plug in card 64 MB available RAM ...

Page 14: ...g or electric power cords or the image data may be compromised NEVER connect anything except the insert to the DB 25 connector on the control unit Do not use cable extenders to create a longer cable as power losses and data corruption will occur In addition to the 5 meter 15 feet cable supplied with the camera an 8 meter 25 feet cable is available from Better Light We recommend that you secure the...

Page 15: ...h goes out the digital camera is ready Also check the LED on the insert next to the cable connector The LED will ﬂash green every few seconds to indicate a good connection with the control unit 5 Turn on the host computer Turn on the host computer While the computer is starting up Steps 6 through 8 can be completed 6 Install the viewing overlay on the camera s ground glass The scanning insert cove...

Page 16: ...d blocking ﬁlter for use with all tungsten lighting and certain HMI applications Blocks about ten times as much infrared as the daylight ﬁlter In cases of extreme infrared contamination reﬂection both ﬁlters can be used together to increase the amount of infrared blocking Without either infrared ﬁlter the digital camera becomes a sensitive near infrared imaging device with a response similar to in...

Page 17: ...r better focus adjustment 9 Put the insert into the camera Slide the insert into the back of the camera as you would do with a ﬁlm holder or Polaroid back The open side of the insert faces toward the lens The insert may be placed into the camera horizontally or vertically depending on the intended orientation of the image and the requirements of your camera 10 Start the ViewFinder software Start t...

Page 18: ...e above the Scan button will begin counting down to 0 14 Transfer the ﬁle to the computer Use the File Manager menu option to transfer the image to your computer The image ﬁle is a TIFF ﬁle compatible with both Macs and PCs The ViewFinder program also can be set to auto matically open the image in Photoshop 15 View the ﬁnal image Use Photoshop or your favorite image processing program to view the ...

Page 19: ... the preview image and a histogram display pro vides an overall indication of the distribution of image data values There are two types of prescans available the normal prescan and the fast prescan Both types of prescans can be initiated by clicking on the button in the main control area The camera will then begin a prescan at the lowest resolution available for your model camera model 4000 series...

Page 20: ... line time button without going below the minimum line time If so these adjustments are made and the conditions are checked again until no further adjustments can be made The overall color balance of the camera is not changed theoretically by this technique since the ratios between colors remain constant However over a large change in ISO slight shifts in color bal ance may occur When an automatic...

Page 21: ...n will be scanned which can greatly reduce the overall prescan time Out side the cropped area the prescan image will remain unchanged Using the crop mask is recommended with a cropped prescan to disguise the area of the preview that has not been updated by subsequent prescans see the section on the crop mask for more details Crop Prescan option ViewFinder control screen with a cropped preview in e...

Page 22: ... will appear in the prescan image The Prescan button name is changed to Super View Drag the red Super View rectangle to the area of interest then click the Super View button A prescan will be made of this area and will replace the current preview image Check ing the View checkbox allows switching between the Super View preview and the normal preview The focus tool is available in a Super View pres...

Page 23: ... a large thumbnail image for image cataloging software Canceling a Prescan Once the prescan is started it may be canceled at any time prior to completion by holding down the Command key Control key in Windows and pressing the period key It may take several seconds for the scanning process to halt depending primarily on the prescan line time Canceling a prescan will cause the refreshing of the prev...

Page 24: ...ate a guide line Clicking on the horizontal ruler will create a horizontal guide and a vertical guide is created by clicking and dragging from the vertical ruler A guide line can be deleted by clicking on it and dragging it back to it s origi nal ruler or all guide lines can be deleted by selecting Clear Guides from the Display menu A guide line may be repositioned by moving the mouse over the gui...

Page 25: ...ill remain constant This setting eﬀectively changes the size of each pixel in the image area which in turn changes the amount of information captured for a given scan area The number of resolution settings is depen dent on the model of camera insert model 4000E HS ﬁve steps 100 80 60 40 20 model 6000 HS 6000E HS eight steps 100 87 75 62 50 37 25 13 model Super 6K HS twelve steps 150 137 125 112 10...

Page 26: ...nce the scan direction long dimension is always giving real pixels the result is more accurate than techniques that interpo late in both directions and results in sharper images In the worst case 3 pixels are made from 2 real pixels If an exact image output size cannot be obtained at one of the available resolution selec tions it is usually better to select a resolution that produces a ﬁle larger ...

Page 27: ...ayed Exact mode or line times that are multiples of the local AC power line half period the time per half cycle of the local AC power when 60 Hz or 50 Hz are selected in Preferences By using line times that are precise multiples of the AC power half period 60 Hz 50 Hz options any minor variations in image highlight intensity caused by AC line frequency ﬂicker can be substantially reduced or elimin...

Page 28: ...e from scan line to scan line at the fastest mechanical speed but will electronically capture a line of pixels at the higher speed The maximum electronic shutter speed is 1 3000 second The higher capture speeds allow you to use larger apertures without burning out the image highlights or to allow use of the optimally sharp aperture for your lens without overexpos ing the image ISO This set of up d...

Page 29: ...play only the selected channel but all prescans are still captured in RGB color When a single channel capture is selected the histogram display will change to the color of the selected channel The histogram display will be presented in black for an RGB mode Capturing an image with a single channel is similar to capturing an image with panchromatic black and white ﬁlm through a deep red green or bl...

Page 30: ...o the camera s disk drive and use the computer for other non camera related tasks for example reviewing or editing a previously retrieved image in Photoshop Click the desk top to exit the program without aﬀecting the scan in progress While a Scan is in progress any attempts to access the camera s disk drive e g from the control software File Manager will produce a camera busy error message which c...

Page 31: ... time scan area color balance and related information is automatically recorded with each image All saved images retain this information in the TIFF header where it can be viewed and edited later e g under Photoshop s File Info menu item This information can be viewed by clicking the Info button next to the ﬁle name Automatically Naming Images Scans may be automatically named with the settings in ...

Page 32: ...ugh the computer s menus are disabled the standard Macin tosh text editing keyboard shortcuts for Copy Cut and Paste are usable for quickly inserting delet ing or changing these notes the Copy Cut and Paste commands are not currently available on the Windows version of ViewFinder All the User Notes information will be automatically re entered into the notes ﬁeld of sub sequent images during the cu...

Page 33: ...gram The information is continually updated as the cursor is moved to various locations within the image Above the histogram window the individual red green and blue output data values are dis played with a range of zero minimum brightness or maximum print density to 255 maximum brightness or minimum print density The average of the red green and blue values is displayed as the RGB value In additi...

Page 34: ...t area where detail must be maintained to determine this region s RGB data values which are aﬀected by exposure and processing changes If this region does not have the desired values consider changing any of the exposure conditions Also meter an important high light area where detail must be maintained if this region does not exhibit the desired values exposure adjustments may also be required Vie...

Page 35: ...on select the spot meter tool from the tool bar above the prescan image then simply click the mouse button when the spot meter is directly over the region of interest and a marker will be displayed there Up to twelve locations can be marked in the preview image A line with the same color code as the marker also appears in the histogram display to indicate the relative position of this data point i...

Page 36: ...er size e g 5x5 pixels whenever possible especially for critical image data measurements such as color balancing Enlarge the preview image to accurately place the spot meter Averaging multiple pixels together will greatly reduce the noise and other statistical uncertainties of reading a single pixel value yielding smoother more accurate readings Averaging also will tend to obscure the actual value...

Page 37: ... to exactly the full vertical scale and all remaining data values are adjusted accordingly This mode more accurately represents the distribution within dominant peaks but may make large portions of the less populous data range too small to dis play To switch normalization on or oﬀ select Normalize Histogram from the Display menu or use the Command N keyboard Control N in Windows shortcut A checkma...

Page 38: ...as of the image to speciﬁc regions in the histogram Static Spot Meter Location Readings Whenever a spot meter location is saved a set of circles in the preview image marks the location and a color coded line in the histogram display marks the relative data value for this location The circles are static and will remain in the same locations for sub sequent prescans until the meter is cleared Howeve...

Page 39: ...r of the Magnify tool icon changes to a minus sign to indicate the reduction function Holding down the Command key Control key in Windows and pressing the minus key will also zoom out the prescan to the next lower factor As the prescan is zoomed either in or out the current magniﬁcation percentage will be displayed in the status bar under the prescan frame area The minimum magniﬁcation is 1 and th...

Page 40: ...rement value will update automatically The measurement line will disappear when you click on another tool Panorama Tool Panoramic images may be captured when this tool is selected This button will only appear after the Enable Pano Mode option is checked in the Preferences Clicking the Pano button on the toolbar will cause the program to jump automatically to the Pano tab panel This option requires...

Page 41: ...hite the portions of the preview image with those tone values will be shown normally Clicking once again in the zone s color bar region will turn that zone on and those sections of the preview image with the values for that zone will be replaced with the zone s speciﬁed color To change a zone s range click and hold the mouse button on the vertical bar at either end of the zone and move the bar to ...

Page 42: ...t will also be recorded in any settings ﬁle created with the Save Settings option from the File menu ToneZones settings can be used to quickly locate highlight and shadow white and black points of the image for speciﬁc output reproduction speciﬁcations It can also be used to set speciﬁc target densities for a series of photos in catalog production or to check for light evenness on a copy setup To ...

Page 43: ...ool from the top set of buttons or by pressing and holding the Command key Control key in Windows and pressing and releasing the apostrophe key The color and default spacing of the grid are determined by settings in the Preferences window The positioning of the grid may be changed by moving the mouse into the preview image and pressing and holding the Control key and moving the mouse The cursor wi...

Page 44: ...ain the grid values will be those active when the program was previously quit if the Auto Save Preferences option is checked in the File menu The same controls from the Grid section of the Preferences window can be accessed by holding the Control button and double clicking double right click in Windows on a grid line in the preview image A dialog box will appear to set the grid preferences ...

Page 45: ...st scan area 100 or the Scan Area Decrease button to move to the smallest scan area 1 To use manual cropping select the Crop Tool from the tools located above the preview window The crop rectangle will appear in the preview window with a handle in the center of each edge and a handle in each corner When the mouse cursor is moved over one of the handles the cursor will change to a or to indicate th...

Page 46: ...n set the reso lution you need and the software will calculate the size of the ﬁle in megabytes The number of pixels per dimension unit e g reso lution of 300 pixels inch is typed into the edit ﬁeld below the dimension ﬁelds and the pixels per unit is selected from a popup menu as shown in Figure B If the Resolution is changed the crop area may change unless the Lock File Size button is selected I...

Page 47: ...ent setting to include the current values in the Size panel without changing the name Use this menu to store common crop dimensions or speciﬁc layout windows used in your work or special formats for diﬀerent camera uses e g Mamiya RB 67 adapter or copy stand On a Macintosh select the Delete Setting button next to the Size popup menu to delete the current setting Lock Crop Ratio To set a speciﬁc sh...

Page 48: ...er e g ppi to alter the ﬁle size while Lock File Size is activated Only the relative size of the output shown in size dimensions will be changed Crop size and position Resolution Scan Area and MB ﬁle size all remain constant Use the Lock File Size function when you wish to compare sizes of output of a given ﬁle size when resolution e g ppi needs are changed Example a 40 x 30 inch output at 100 pix...

Page 49: ...tation from either the right or left side Adjust the crop rectangle for the horizontal subject and reset the insert direction menu to have the proper viewing direction of the preview image By placing the shorter image dimension parallel to the scan direction fewer lines need to be scanned resulting in shorter overall scan times For a typical 4 5 aspect ratio image this sideways technique can reduc...

Page 50: ...phic gray scale which can behave inconsistently under diﬀerent light ing conditions The neutral object should be evenly illuminated by the primary lighting on the set as all lights may not have exactly the same color especially if modiﬁers are used on some lights The Default setting or a previously determined color balance setting for a similar type of lighting can be selected from the popup menu ...

Page 51: ...n improve the accuracy of the balance Due to manu facturing tolerances lighting variations and other factors the R G and B values for any individual gray patch may not be equal indicating a neutral patch By using several patches these variations can be averaged out For a more complete representation of the entire tonal range select a dark gray patch a midtone gray and a light gray for the neutral ...

Page 52: ...n A dialog box will appear to conﬁrm your deletion choice If you accidentally delete a setting you may be able to restore it If you have already saved your setting previously by either quitting the program with the Auto Save Preferences option checked in the File menu or by explicitly selecting Save Settings from the File menu then you can restore the deleted setting The ﬁrst way to restore the se...

Page 53: ...t the bottom of the Color panel the TIFF ﬁle for the image will have an ICC proﬁle embedded into the image ﬁle Initially there are no proﬁles loaded in the popup menu Use the Add Proﬁle button next to the Proﬁle popup to select a proﬁle to add to the menu Since proﬁles can be added at any time a proﬁle can be created and added to the popup menu with out stopping the ViewFinder program When the Add...

Page 54: ...heir overall contrast ranging from a straight function that spans the entire dynamic range of the camera relatively uniformly to functions that approximate the response curves of transparency ﬁlms to functions for speciﬁc applica tions such as copy work Most of the tone curves are named with their primary function followed by the approximate f stop range for the curve for example Chrome 6 stops a ...

Page 55: ...lated through appro priate curves or tables e g in an image processing application such as Photoshop before being useful for most purposes Images captured in this mode always utilize the entire dynamic range of the digital camera whether or not it is required only exposure and color balance adjustments aﬀect this data since a tone curve is not used To save raw 48 bit image data select None 14 bit ...

Page 56: ...r exposure values shift toward the darker end of the curve Since the Increase and Decrease Brightness buttons do not change the slope of the curve there is no change in contrast These buttons may be used to push or pull any of the standard curves If the brightness is increased or decreased to it s limit it will gray out to indicate that no fur ther adjustments may be made for the current curve The...

Page 57: ...arge mouse movement This allows for very precise control point positioning If a radical bump or sharp bend occurs in the curve adjust the surrounding handles to maintain a smooth curve and minimize any chance of posterization The three buttons at the bottom of the tone graph control the range of manual adjustment allowed for the curve control points The button restricts each control point to horiz...

Page 58: ...istinguish them from the round control points with their respective color coding The RGB values for the spot meters are displayed on the left side of the tone curve graph to aid in the curve adjustments As brightness or contrast changes are made to the tone curve the static meter reference points will automatically move along the curve to reﬂect their new positions and the RGB values will update T...

Page 59: ...nce The zero position on the EV scale can be set to any position within the range of the camera This is accomplished by clicking and dragging the zero point on the scale to any position left or right within the graph This new position will be the reference point for the EV readout in the tone graph and the live spot meter display above the histogram in the main window Once the zero position has be...

Page 60: ...d by ﬁrst selecting it as the current setting then choosing Delete Current Setting from the Tone Curve popup Windows You will be asked to conﬁrm that you really want to delete the curve before it is removed On a Macintosh select the Delete Setting button next to the Tone Curve popup menu to delete the current curve If you accidentally delete a tone curve you may be able to restore it If you have a...

Page 61: ... in the preview image area A small rectangle will appear as a marker at the selected location this marker can be repositioned as necessary by simply clicking in the new location After a location has been marked click the button in the Focus tab panel This will position the CCD at the indicated location and begin displaying focus information Focus data is displayed in both graphic and numeric form ...

Page 62: ...ining multiple planes of focus the focus number and bar graph may indi cate several distinct focus peaks as camera focus is adjusted across each plane of focus or a single broader peak may be observed that may not accu rately represent any single plane of focus Again it may be helpful to slightly reposition the focus rectangle to eliminate ambiguous readings zooming the focus magniﬁcation in or ou...

Page 63: ...tion settings to achieve diﬀerent spans of coverage The largest sampling area 4X magniﬁcation uses one of the lowest resolution settings which combines many CCD pixels into each output pixel The highest magniﬁcation and smallest sampling area 32X uses one of the highest resolution settings so few CCD pixels are combined into each output pixel The CCD is not moving during the focus operation instea...

Page 64: ...selection The objective is to maximize the numeric value If during focusing the displays appear erratic or inconsistent the cause may be due to specular highlights and or sharp edges moving in or out of the selected viewing segment This can often be conﬁrmed by observing the waveform display which may show signiﬁcant sudden spikes or steps as these features appear usually accompanied by a big jump...

Page 65: ... to the user s experience Infrared Focus The focus of a lens varies according to the wavelength of light Modern lenses have a variety of special coatings to focus the full spectrum of visible light at the same point However for infrared light the focal point is diﬀerent than visible light On some lenses a small red dot marks the adjusted position for the lens focus for infrared Using the digital f...

Page 66: ... the host computer as will be described in subsequent pages Image data scanned to the digital camera s internal disk drive places minimal requirements on the host computer during the scan and allows most of the computer s RAM to be allocated to other applications such as Photoshop The computer can even be used for other tasks during such scans which can be useful when longer scans are required Suc...

Page 67: ...to any desired position in the list The name of the last ﬁle scanned will be highlighted to facilitate quick retrieval of the image Images are saved on the disk and listed in the ﬁrst available space large enough to hold the ﬁle Selecting ﬁles A single item in the list can be selected by pointing to its name and clicking Multiple adjacent items can be selected by holding down the Shift key while c...

Page 68: ...item list to select the original camera order Sorting the ﬁle list aﬀects the list only it does not sort the ﬁles on the controller hard drive Adding more Notes to Your Pictures The image notes saved with each ﬁle can be edited or augmented after the scan is completed from within the File Manager First select highlight the image whose notes are to be edited then click the Info button to enter the ...

Page 69: ...File Manager window When unchecked the retrieval process will begin with a Save ﬁle dialog so you can specify the location and name of the ﬁle prior to its transfer Automatically Opening the Image When the Automatically open retrieved ﬁles option is selected then the application selected in the Preferences will be used to open the image ﬁles after they have been transferred to the host computer Th...

Page 70: ...iven folder on the host computer During the folder and name designation process a warning dialog will be displayed if an image to be saved has the same name as an existing ﬁle already in the chosen folder oﬀering the option to overwrite the existing ﬁle or rename the new one However no warning dialog will appear if multiple ﬁles are retrieved and one or more of the ﬁles being retrieved has the sam...

Page 71: ...olor original the 8 Bits button will be selected You may change this setting by clicking on the desired number of bits per color button 8 Bits or 16 Bits before clicking the Retrieve button From tone panel The image is retrieved and the tone curve currently in eﬀect in the Tone panel is applied The default setting will be 8 Bits or 16 Bits per color depending on the setting of the 16 Bits button o...

Page 72: ...e disk When a ﬁle is deleted any unused available space on either side of the ﬁle is combined with the deleted ﬁle s space to make a single larger available space This occurs immediately within the camera when the ﬁle is deleted and the File Manager list will update to show the adjacent unused spaces have been combined into one unused space It is impossible to fragment the camera s disk drive as e...

Page 73: ...name the ﬁle and select a drive and folder for storage Save Preferences Saves the currently active settings to the ViewFinder Prefs ﬁle When you make custom tone curves or custom menu settings it is wise to Save Preferences so these new changes are not lost if the program quits Auto Save Preferences Sets the program to automatically save the active settings to the ViewFinder Prefs ﬁle when the pro...

Page 74: ... Mac only Delete the selected text from the edit ﬁeld Select All A Mac only Select all the text in an edit ﬁeld Copy Curve Mac only Copy a tone curve to the Clipboard Paste Curve Mac only Paste the tone curve from the Clipboard to the Image Size I Control I in Windows Selects the Size panel Color Balance B Control B in Windows Selects the Color panel Tone Curve G Control G in Windows Selects the T...

Page 75: ...red channel is displayed 1 Control 1 in Windows G only the green channel is displayed 2 Control 2 in Windows B only the blue channel is displayed 3 Control 3 in Windows Monochrome the RGB average for each pixel 4 Control 4 in Windows Luminance the NTSC luminance for each pixel 5 Control 5 in Windows Clear Meter M Control M in Windows Clears all the static spot meters Zoom In Control in Windows Zoo...

Page 76: ...tions ViewFinder s controls on the top side of the window Controls on Left Positions ViewFinder s controls on the left side of the window Controls on Bottom Positions ViewFinder s controls on the bottom side of the window Hide Show Rulers R Control R in Windows Hides or shows the rulers and guides Clear Guides Clears the guide lines Camera Menu Prescan P Control P in Windows Starts a camera presca...

Page 77: ...e green channel is imaged Blue only the blue channel is imaged Note this menu option is linked to the popup menu on the main ViewFinder window and duplicates its functionality Clean Park Opens the Clean Park window to expose the CCD for cleaning Diagnostics Opens a Diagnostics window This is reserved for Better Light internal use only ...

Page 78: ...nd begins the retrieval procedure to the designated location If no folder has been speciﬁed as a destination folder a Save File dialog window will appear so you can rename the image and select a folder The Preferences dialog allows the selection of any folder in the host computer s environment to be designated as the destination for any saved Prescans and automatically retrieved Scans Click the Sc...

Page 79: ...e named with the preﬁx speciﬁed in the File Name ﬁeld followed by an underscore _ and a numeric suﬃx consisting of a speciﬁed number of digits The beginning value for the numeric suﬃx is speciﬁed in the Start ing number ﬁeld The next scan will have the same File Name with the starting number plus Step by value This continues with the Step by value being added to the previous numeric suﬃx until the...

Page 80: ...mage ﬁles that will signal Photoshop to rotate the image to the correct viewing orientation This option only works with Photoshop CS2 or later Earlier versions will ignore this option Mask Adjustments for the color and transparency for the Crop Mask tool are located in the Preferences section marked Mask Windows or Appearance Macintosh When the Color button is clicked the System Color Picker windo...

Page 81: ...pacing of 500 pixels the default is set to a 50 x 50 pixel grid spacing The grid spacing may also be set by clicking on the up and down arrow buttons next to the Width and Height ﬁelds Each click will add or subtract 1 pixel from the respective spacing value If the grid spacings are changed manually Option Shift drag the manual spacing will overwrite the settings in the Preferences Guides Guides a...

Page 82: ...election The default size of the step for increasing or decreasing the ISO value can be selected with the two radio buttons in the ISO Increment section The ISO can be changed in either 1 10 or 1 3 stop steps When the ISO is changed the gain values displayed in the Color tab panel will change by 3 units for a 1 10 stop and 10 units for a 1 3 stop change Baseline ISO Setting The reference ISO for t...

Page 83: ...nsert direction is changed If this option is not checked the vertical and horizontal dimen sions of the crop region do not change when the insert direction is changed Pano Settings Checking the Enable Pano Mode checkbox will allow ViewFinder to make panoramic images if the Better Light Pano WideView adapter is installed When this option is checked the Panorama tool button becomes visible on the Vi...

Page 84: ...nd leave water spots when used 2 Tuck the untouched end of the e wipe under the insert opening at one end of the CCD Lay your thumb sideways across the pad as shown 3 In a single continuous motion wipe the pad along the length of the CCD cover glass Use the side of the thumb to apply very gentle pressure on the pad as the cover glass is wiped 4 Using one continuous J stroke motion slide the pad si...

Page 85: ...trolled digitally the shutter in the lens stays open during the entire imaging process All three color channels of the CCD are controlled simultaneously by exposure time changes In addition to exposure time the photographer now has the ability to independently adjust the eﬀective sensitivity of each color channel of the CCD its ISO rating over a continuous range of more than four EV f stops on a s...

Page 86: ...one Curves Controls the translation of raw digital data values into ﬁnished output data values For expo sure purposes a given Tone Curve can often be shifted horizontally to increase or decrease the eﬀec tive sensitivity of the system Use the Brightness buttons in the Tone tab panel to quickly shift the entire curve in the desired direction The Decrease Brightness button moves the curve to the rig...

Page 87: ...This can be especially helpful with close ups of small prod ucts such as jewelry A shorter bellows extension also makes the camera more stable and reduces the possibility of any camera shake artifacts in your images Lighting Lighting is the basis of all photography of course and is not a digital camera adjustment Light ing is usually set up for a desired mood and emphasis sometimes without much re...

Page 88: ...sec 8 33 msec 1 100 sec 10 00 msec 10 00 msec 10 00 msec 1 80 sec 12 33 msec 12 33 msec 12 33 msec 1 60 sec 16 67 msec 16 67 msec 16 67 msec 1 50 sec 20 00 msec 20 00 msec 20 00 msec 1 40 sec 25 00 msec 25 00 msec 25 00 msec 1 30 sec 33 33 msec 33 33 msec 30 00 msec 1 25 sec 40 00 msec 41 67 msec 40 00 msec 1 20 sec 50 00 msec 50 00 msec 50 00 msec 1 15 sec 66 67 msec 66 67 msec 60 00 msec 1 12 se...

Page 89: ... 19 3 38 6 40 1500 2000 8 6 17 2 20 750 1000 2 1 4 3 preview 750 1000 2 1 4 3 model 6000 HS 6000E HS ﬁle size MB resolution pixels lines 24 bits 48 bits 100 6000 8000 137 3 274 7 87 5250 7000 105 1 210 3 75 4500 6000 77 2 154 5 62 3750 5000 53 6 107 3 50 3000 4000 34 3 68 7 37 2250 3000 19 3 38 6 25 1500 2000 8 6 17 2 13 750 1000 2 1 4 3 preview 750 1000 2 1 4 3 ...

Page 90: ...0 137 8250 11000 259 6 519 3 125 7500 10000 214 6 429 2 112 6750 9000 173 8 347 6 100 6000 8000 137 3 274 7 87 5250 7000 105 1 210 3 75 4500 6000 77 2 154 5 62 3750 5000 53 6 107 3 50 3000 4000 34 3 68 7 37 2250 3000 19 3 38 6 25 1500 2000 8 6 17 2 13 750 1000 2 1 4 3 preview 750 1000 2 1 4 3 ...

Page 91: ...1 2 762 5 117 9333 12436 332 1 664 1 108 8666 11548 286 3 572 6 100 8000 10660 244 0 488 0 92 7333 9771 205 0 410 0 83 6666 8883 169 4 338 8 75 6000 7995 137 2 274 5 67 5333 7106 108 4 216 8 58 4666 6218 83 0 166 0 50 4000 5330 61 0 122 0 42 3333 4441 42 3 84 7 33 2666 3553 27 1 54 2 25 2000 2665 15 2 30 5 17 1333 1776 6 8 13 6 8 666 888 1 7 3 4 preview 666 888 1 7 3 4 ...

Page 92: ...n and status During prescans the LED will be a solid red color as the prescan image is transfered at high speed to the host computer When both the green and red portions of this LED are on the LED will appear yellow Controller Status LED Color Meaning Oﬀ Camera is idle Solid green with yellow ﬂashes Internal disk drive activity Solid red External USB interface activity Insert The camera insert has...

Page 93: ... sideways to the armature making certain the lowered camera front will clear the motor as the armature is moved around Select the rotation direction with the small toggle switch next to the connector on the panoramic motor stage If the insert protrudes from the left side of the camera the switch handle should point to the left If the insert protrudes from the right side of the camera the switch ha...

Page 94: ...sed inter nally in ViewFinder It is usually recommended to click this button once at the beginning of a pan oramic session It is not usually necessary to click it again unless the POV value is consistently a large non zero number when the camera is returned to the start position The ﬁve manual motion buttons at the bottom of the tab panel are used to position the camera once it has been locked dow...

Page 95: ...r the appropriate values into the Object Height and Object Diam eter ﬁelds This method depends on the object ﬁlling the vertical ﬁeld of view exactly If the object does not completely ﬁll the ﬁeld of view then a way to specify the vertical image height must be used This can be accom plished by using the crop tool to set a cropped region whose height exactly corresponds to the height of the object ...

Page 96: ...f the total requested degrees For example if 180 degrees and 3 images are selected 60 degrees between images the images will be taken at 0 60 and 120 degrees for a total of 3 images An image at 180 degrees will not be taken If a ﬁnal image is needed then after the degrees between images is calculated add that number to the previous total and enter it into the Degrees ﬁeld and add one to the number...

Page 97: ...uiring this disk drive will return a not ready error The condition might be corrected by quitting the camera software restarting the camera and waiting until the camera is ready before launching the camera software Camera reported error No Room This error message is returned when the camera s internal disk drive does not contain a single available space large enough to hold the desired scan The ca...

Page 98: ...connectors are seated properly in their sockets and that the cables are not frayed or damaged may eliminate this error Also check to see that there are no other devices on the SCSI chain with the camera s id i e 6 Other Errors Unknown Error The camera controller has reported an error with an unrecognized error number This message should never be encountered in normal operation The camera disk is f...

Page 99: ...age ﬁle Deleting ﬁles from the destination volume or switching to another volume with enough free space should solve the problem Camera Timed Out The camera did not respond to a request within the amount of time expected The time is usually very short less than a second but in some cases could be as long as a minute This usually means the camera controller is hung and needs to be restarted Additio...

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