Scans of Color Negatives Result in Images with Muddy Blacks and Strange Mid-Tones

This is most evident in the histogram, which will show the shadows beginning at about 30.  If the user specifies an analog gain setting in an attempt to shift the distribution leftwards, the values will instead begin to clip at that value.  This was a "feature" of the LS-40, LS-4000, and LS-8000 generation of scanners.

Additional Description and Remedy: NikonScan's Color Negative Mode

Cause: The negative scan mode does not use the full spectrum of tone values and requires correction of mid-tones. 

Comment: Respondents have told me problem also occurs on the LS-40 and LS-4000 but not on the previous generation of scanners, e.g. the LS-2000.  That this is fixed in NikonScan 4 for the LS-9000 but not the LS-8000 is perplexing because my belief was that this was a software bug.