If you're scanning many frames from the same roll of film, the following procedure will optimally set the CCD exposure and film base color (i.e. mask color):
1) Set "Input|More options" 2) Set "Input|Media type" 3) Insert film with most transparent area 4) If "Input|Lock exposure" visible 4a) Clear "Input|Lock exposure" 5) Press "Preview" button 6) Adjust cropping if necessary 7) If "Input|Lock exposure" visible 7a) Set "Input|Lock exposure" 7b) Press "Preview" button 8) If "Input|Lock film base color" visible 8a) Set "Input|Lock film base color"For step 3 above, use a film frame that has an area that would print as pure black for negative, or pure white for slides.
Regardless of the lighting conditions, shutter speed and aperture of each frame in the roll, you should use these fixed values for exposure and film base color for scanning all frames on the roll of film.
Once you have the exposure and film base color fixed, you can scan the whole roll of film with these values. If you're using the same lighting for all the frames on the roll (or a subset of the frames), you can lock the color balance by scanning the brightest frame in the series and then setting the "Input|Lock image colors" option. This will lock the black and white points for the scene, and will produce consistent colors for all the frames in the series. This is also useful if you're scanning panoramic scenes that have all been taken with the same lighting, shutter speed and aperture or if you're scanning a series of studio shots taken with the same lighting, shutter speed and aperture.
Another thing you can do to optimize workflow is to scan to raw files and later experiment with color correction. Make sure you first set "Input|Lock exposure" before scanning a roll of film.
If you're saving raw scan files, you probably will want to turn off the "Output|Output TIFF file" and "Output|Output JPEG file" options. You may also want to capture the entire preview area instead of the auto-cropped area by clearing "Crop|Auto position" and setting "Crop|Crop size" to "Maximum".
If you set the "Input|Lock exposure" option and clear "Crop|Auto position", then the "Scan" button won't first do a preview scan. This can save time when batch scanning.