The Nikon color management system is supposed to guarantee a consistent color reproduction from scanner through screen display all the way to printed output. If you want to take control yourself, you can deactivate the color management function. When color management is deactivated, the color space is not applied to the image. You get unprocessed RAW data from the scanner. If color management is activated, then a color space transformation will be performed, even when NEF files are used.
Before I go into too much detail, I can assure you that Nikon has integrated a very powerful color management system into the software. Unfortunately, though, they seem to have missed the most important point: namely, that the image color data have to be read accurately by the scanner in the first place.
The input profile used by Nikon Scan depends on the scanner model and the film type. It is automatically selected by Nikon Scan and cannot be overridden. Operator error is thereby eliminated. Apart from selecting a scanner and a film type, there are no other ways to configure input profiles. It is not possible to generate your own ICC profiles and apply them to your own scanner. Nonetheless, Nikon Scan comes with working scanner profiles for all supported scanners. SilverFast and VueScan do not include ready-to-use scanner profiles, but unlike Nikon Scan, they let you use your own ICC profiles.
With the Nikon solution, you cannot use ICC profiles to correct changes in the color characteristics of the scanner, which could be caused by an aging light source or by manufacturing tolerances. This is a shortcoming of the Nikon scanner software.
In Nikon Scan, the suitable ICC monitor profile is set with Prefs ▸ Color Management ▸ Monitor, but only if color management is activated; otherwise, the tab is grayed out. The ICC profiles chosen here affect the display of the image in preview and during image editing in Nikon Scan. Using the proper monitor profile will ensure that you are correcting the color cast of the image, not the color cast of the monitor. The profile affects only the color representation in the image window and scan window of Nikon Scan; other programs remain unaffected. Nikon Scan already includes a number of standard profiles, but using an ICC profile specifically made for the monitor is always preferable.
Selecting the option Use factory default monitor profile adopts the Windows default configuration, thereby making a custom configuration in the scanning software unnecessary - provided that Windows already utilizes a suitable profile.
Nikon Scan supports a number of color spaces that can be set under Preferences ▸ Color Management under the tab RGB. For most applications, Windows users will choose either sRGB or the wider color space Adobe RGB.
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Setting a Monitor Profile as Windows XP Standard By right-clicking on the desktop and selecting from the menu Properties ▸ Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Color Management, Windows lets you define a monitor profile as the default.
Nikon scanners can read more color information than even that represented by the color space Wide Gamut RGB (compensated). That’s why Nikon offers another item on the list with the color space Scanner RGB. This option eliminates conversion to the selected color space, along with its associated color losses. It deals with the entire color range of the scanner’s RAW data.
Unlike the case in which color management is completely disabled, using the profile Scanner RGB offers the possibility to work with the LCH Editor and use the Unsharp Mask function. These functions would otherwise be unavailable when color management is deactivated in Nikon Scan.
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Special Case Photoshop: Nikon Color Management Is Ignored When scanning from inside Photoshop, the Photoshop settings determine the color space assigned to the image file, not the settings in Nikon Scan. The same applies to other image editors that can use Nikon Scan in plug-in mode. It is the setting of the image editor that is important.
There are two preconditions that must be met before a selected color space can be embedded in the image file. First, the chosen file format has to support color profiles, which is the case for TIFF and NEF. Second, Nikon Scan has to run in stand-alone mode. In plug-in mode the TWAIN interface does not allow the transfer of color spaces.
Besides RGB, the color model CMYK is also available. Internally, the Nikon scanners work in RGB mode, but they can convert to CMYK profiles. This function is of little interest for home users, but of great interest for prepress.
The topic of color management in Nikon Scan is discussed in great detail in the guide to Nikon Scan 4 color management. This document is available in PDF format for download from the Nikon website. The guide can also be found in the user manual.
Nikon Scan includes the film profiles Positive, Negative (color), Negative (mono), and Kodachrome. It is not possible to choose profiles for more specific film types or to generate and apply your own profiles. Since every film has its own color characteristics, there is no setting which suits all films equally. VueScan and SilverFast use film profiles to convert negatives to positive image files as true-to-color as possible. These profiles contain color corrections for the individual film types. On the other hand, Nikon relies on a hardware-based conversion; it is supposed to do away with special film profiles. Still, individual color adjustments can be carried out and saved in Tool Palette 1. To do that, the ideal correction for a film is determined from a test image and then applied either directly during the scan or afterwards to the file. This method is more efficient than correcting the colors for each single image.
In practice, the Nikon MAID libraries often deliver better analysis of the original than the preset film profiles included with VueScan and SilverFast. You won’t miss the additional film profiles in Nikon Scan, though.