B+W import problem

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stenp

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I have 1'''' b+w photos scanned from negative film with a Nikon Coolscan V and the problem is that LR reports that "the file apperas to be unsupported or damaged" and is not displayed a either thumbnail or full size. The files are perfectly usable in all other photo handling applications I haved tried so what can the problem be. Does anyone know any limitations in LR for B+W jpegs ?
 
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Welcome to the forum!

If you open them in Photoshop, what colour mode are they in (i.e. grayscale, duotone, rgb, cmyk etc)?

How big are they?

What file format are they?

What happens if you try resaving them in Photoshop and then importing them? That might explain the problem.
 
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I recall that Nikon scanners generate a NEF file that really isn't a NEF file like those that come out Nikon cameras. LR might be getting confused by this if you are producing "NEF" files out of the scanner (you didn't specify, so this is a guess). If so, try producing TIFFs out of the scanner. Of course, if you've scanned 1',''' of them that isn't really practical, so look for some batch conversion in the scanner software to go from the scanned "NEF" file to TIF.

EDIT: Sorry, I just noticed the word "jpegs" at the end of your post. I assume then that your files out of the scanner are jpegs (didn't know it could do that, and if it does I would likely avoid jpeg output in favor of TIFF for quality reasons).
 
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Someone mentioned an issue with progressive rather than baseline Jpegs. I've not tested this, but it may be an issue. I'm happy to do a test import if you want here: sean at seanmcfoto dot com.
 
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Wondered why you had them saved as JPEGs? Since that is a lossy format.

Are you sure they are not saved as NEFs? This is Nikon's Raw format, but they also use it for scans. But the scanned ones are not proper Raw files and are not supported by Lightroom.
 
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Thanks for all kind answers.

JPEG: Yes they are all jpegs. I have made a very careful testing of the file format and compression level and found that the jpeg at this compression level is my optimal choice of guality agains space. I notice a very small difference compared to the TIFF or NEF version of same negative. Of course there is a loss of information in the jpeg and it may not be regarded as a true "digital original" version of the scanned negative but it is not really an issue for me.

Progressive or baseline: Good point! I am not sure about that specific setting when scanning. It was a while ago I made my choice but I will look it up soon and report back. Do anyone know a tool that is reliable to show picture file format information without having to open in a editor.

Color mode: Grayscale.
File format: Jpeg bitmap, gray level. 8 bit. 48''x48'' DPI.
Size: between 5 and 16 MB
Dimensions: approx. 67''x5''' pixels.

Photoshop resave: I'd rather not do that on all of them but I will try one and see if it helps.

Again, thanks all.
Sten
 
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OS?

It would help if you put your OS, System and Gear in your Signature. If on a MAC you can use something like Lemke's GraphicConverter (Shareware) to batch convert huge piles of images. It can do just file conversions as well as many other things. YOu can run it as a trial version.

Don
 
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Of course, OS i essential. I'm running on Win XP and Lightroom 1.3.1.

I updated my signature to make communication easier in the future.

Sten
 
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Well done Sten, signature helps!

If the Photoshop resave works, a batch resave would definitely be a possibility.
 
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stenp said:
Color mode: Grayscale.
File format: Jpeg bitmap, gray level. 8 bit.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing your problem is that they're not RGB. I didn't realize you could do grayscale jpegs until I looked it up just now.

According to one site, saving them as grayscale over RGB only saves you about 2'%.

Anyway, if this is the case, it shouldn't be too tough to batch convert them - maybe via a droplet?
 
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I double checked recently, and it'll import Grayscale ok. Duotone it won't.
 
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Sorry, I mislead you all. The failing scans was made in Epson Perfection 24'' Photo scanner and when I open in PS I get the error message "Invalid ICC Profile" and that made me investigate a little. When scanning with Nikon Coolscan they all import successfully as grayscale jpeg with a color profile named "mntrGRAYXYZ".

However, the failing jpegs still have to take a roundtrip into PS as that solution works fine. I tried to resave them in ACDSee and FastStone but no success.

So there is a solution. Thanks everyone for your much appreciated help. Best forum ever !

Sten
 
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Glad that's worked out ok Sten!
 
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