cliffp Posted December 22, 2009 Share #1 Posted December 22, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I have just bought a non-working Minolta Multi Pro from Ebay (I must be mad - I paid $335 incl postage - thats auction fever for you!). The seller claims it hasn't been used very much and that it simply stopped working. I have enquired with the service agent and apparently spares are very likely to be still available though they understandably don't have any idea how much it might cost to fix. The cost of getting an estimate and (potentially the minimum cost of repair) is £90. Clearly the whole exercise could turn out to be a complete waste of money or a good deal if I can get a good condition and serviced machine for £300 total. I would be interested in any comments as to how much of idiot I have been (I do have enough money to afford the risk!) and any suggestions as to sources of spares other than the official service agent. I have already discovered the Yahoo group dedicated to this model of scanner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 22, 2009 Posted December 22, 2009 Hi cliffp, Take a look here Repairability of Minolta Multi Pro. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jerryharwood Posted December 22, 2009 Share #2 Posted December 22, 2009 Hi, I have had this same problem; the easiest way to go is to download a copy of Viewscan from Ed hamrick; I was on the point of ditching an expensive nikon coolscan, and was advised to do the same- in less than 10 minutes I had a working scanner, and after learning the methods of using it, I am scanning better than before ! Hope this is of help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share #3 Posted December 22, 2009 Jerry Was it the case that your scanner appeared to have a fault using the bundled software but the problem disappeared when you use Vuescan? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photoskeptic Posted December 24, 2009 Share #4 Posted December 24, 2009 I hope you have better luck in the UK than I had here in USA. After numerous attempts at repairing my Minolta 5400 (by the factory recommended servicing agent) I had to throw the whole thing in the trash. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share #5 Posted December 24, 2009 John Sorry to hear about your bad luck. What did you get to replace it? (There aren't many decent scanners out there) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryharwood Posted December 26, 2009 Share #6 Posted December 26, 2009 Cliffp- No, I started one day, as normal; scanner was in the green, went to scan- absolutely nothing, couldn't even find a trace of silverfast or anything- even the original nikon scan; got on to Nikon- sorry, scanner appears to have a terminal fault ! get rid of it !!, Very nearly did so, but a Leica colleague said, WAIT- try Ed hamrick first, as I had this same problem; the rest is history- I get better scans now than I ever did. This problem also happened with the MINOLTA( I HAVE A MINOLTA KIT AS WELL .) Hope this helps. Jerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
topoxforddoc Posted December 26, 2009 Share #7 Posted December 26, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Cliff, Vuescan is a great way of using legacy scanners. I use it with my Scan Elite 5400. I did have a problem with my Minolta 5400 and sent it to Johnsons Photopia (the UK service agent), who turned my scanner around and fixed it. It's given me good service for another 3 years so far. I don't think 90 quid is a terrible price to get it serviced. Best wishes, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photoskeptic Posted December 27, 2009 Share #8 Posted December 27, 2009 John Sorry to hear about your bad luck. What did you get to replace it? (There aren't many decent scanners out there) Cliff, I didn't replace it. I couldn't justify the cost of one of the Nikon's versus the number of "keepers" I get with film nowdays. Damn shame, too, as the 5400 was a terrific scanner. I used Silverfast when I had XP, and then Vuescan when I had to go to Vista. Today I have a lab print what looks good from the contact sheet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wblynch Posted December 28, 2009 Share #9 Posted December 28, 2009 Please don't throw stuff like this away. At least offer it up for parts. There are people out there that may need one or two little things to get their scanner going again. Parts from your broken scanner may end up saving 4 or 5 others. Thank you. I hope you have better luck in the UK than I had here in USA. After numerous attempts at repairing my Minolta 5400 (by the factory recommended servicing agent) I had to throw the whole thing in the trash. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted December 28, 2009 Thanks to everybody for their helpful suggestions. If I can't get the machine working with Vuescan, I'll send it off to the service agent. I won't throw it away without offering it for spare parts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjt1 Posted December 30, 2009 Share #11 Posted December 30, 2009 The multi pro is a great machine. I got one second hand in 2006 and it is still going strong (I used it yesterday), so there might be hope for yours. In addition to the multipro group, another useful resource is scanhancer (a hero of the multipro group) at Official Scanhancer Site. I also second the recommendation for vuescan. If you are using a modern windows, vuescan provides a driver for these and there is a recent post in the multipro group about getting it to work in windows 7. I know it works on windows 7 64 bit because that is what I have working. Another thing if you get it working - it is much better to scan negatives as positives in the scanner and invert in LR or PS. This way you seem to get a much better dynamic range. Hope this is useful and you get it going. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted December 30, 2009 Thanks for that Steve Ill post here the outcome of my Multi Pro repair experiment (it may be some time as I don't anticipate delivery until mid Jan) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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