Should Leica Make A Film Scanner?

[paulsydaus]

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Going out on a limb here, but should Leica sell a film scanner?

Clearly film is having a resurgence, Leica still make film cameras, and there is a massive gap in the market for a high quality dedicated 135 scanner with quality hopefully exceeding the Nikon 9000ED and approaching the Flextight X1.

Leica obviously understand optics, and now also digital imaging and processing.

As someone who would consider getting an X1 one day, I think Leica could do it better and smaller/cheaper if focussing on 135...

Probably never going to happen...?

 

 

 

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[UliWer]

It would be interesting, if they made a film scanner, but way too expensive if Leica sold it.

 

So I fear, they wouldn’t make it, but sell something else for their „usual“ price.

[TomB_tx]

I don't believe a market analysis could justify the expense for a true film scanner. They might do like Kodak did for their "new" film scanner - which is a re-branded digital copy camera that simply works like an old slide copier to take an image of the film with a macro lens onto a camera sensor. They could do multiple exposures at different settings for HDR.

[schattenundlicht]

The idea is intriguing, but those looking out for a ‚prosumer‘ scanner would propably not swallow a Leica 2018, Hassi+ price tag. I, for one, would not...

 

The quality gap between the Reflecta/Pacific clones and the Flextight is painfully felt by many of us on a daily basis. It is sad that Nikon bailed out, but unlikely that Leica will come to the rescue here imho

[jaapv]

It is really a similar situation to the "Leica" beamers of a few years ago. They were rebranded, not upgraded, from another brand and came with a typical Leica price mark-up. I don't believe it was a commercial success.

[Frase]

I would rather Nikon started making film scanners again even if it was the same ones they made in the past with some software support.

Leica are more likely to rebrand some cheap scanner add a big red 'leica' and charge 5 times the price, they could even make it SCSI for a more retro feel!

[MarkP]

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My Nikon Coolscan 5000 is still going strong. 

[pico]

We do not really understand the market of the film domain. I would welcome a Leica digital scanner, but only if it also did 6x10cm. Perhaps Leica's Sinar enterprise could help.

 

Let's look back - was there not a company associated with Leica that would process film and deliver the film with a high quality CD?

Edited April 14, 2018 by pico

[michaelbogdan]

I’d be very happy if Leica made a kit similar to Nikon’s digitizing film adapter that threads onto a macro lens. Nikon added support into their DSLR cameras so that they automatically convert the negative image during capture.

 

This would be a great way to boost 60mm APO lens sales, and it would be a great solution for SL, TL, and CL owners. And, if you don’t count the lens requirement, it could come in at an affordable price.

[Nima M]

My Nikon Coolscan 5000 is still going strong. 

 

 

What software and operating system do you use to run your software? is it the original Nikon scan or something like vuescan? Thanks!

[250swb]

I think most people who seriously want to scan their film will already have a film scanner or a darkroom, so essentially that leaves Leica a market full of tyre kickers or total noobs. So not only would they need a new owner to buy the camera, they'd also be trying to sell them an expensive Leica branded scanner at the same time, and scanning is a skill, and shooting film is a skill, and processing film is a skill. Yeah, that's going to work.

 

Anybody who's been around the forum as long as myself or pico will have noticed the decline in photographic knowledge by people joining, and the angst over really simple technical things is real. But people can learn, and let's face it digital automation often means they don't need to learn, and that's fine if they are generating the images they want. Except lots of new users expect Leica to deliver the highest ideals based on what they've spent, any further effort becomes a whine. So no, Leica branding a scanner or building their own niche product just isn't going to work, the stores will be full of 'used once' stock within months, people on the forum wanting a scanner are imagining the form represents real life, and it just doesn't.

[Ouroboros]

Going out on a limb here, but should Leica sell a film scanner?

Clearly film is having a resurgence, Leica still make film cameras, and there is a massive gap in the market for a high quality dedicated 135 scanner with quality hopefully exceeding the Nikon 9000ED and approaching the Flextight X1.

Leica obviously understand optics, and now also digital imaging and processing.

As someone who would consider getting an X1 one day, I think Leica could do it better and smaller/cheaper if focussing on 135...

Probably never going to happen...?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nikon still make a 35mm slr film camera but saw no reason to supply or even support an ever decreasing market with their Coolscan scanners some time ago, so I see no sensible reason why Leica would pick up that particular ball and run with it. 

 

I would also question Hasselblad's long term commitment to their continued manufacture and support for their Flextight scanners before making the significant investment again (I have one).  Personally, if I were in that market again I would be seriously considering a used drum scanner for probably significantly less outlay than a new Flextight.

 

The Plustek range is perfectly good enough for most amateur purposes and a better option than Epson flatbeds for 35mm originals.  

[MarkP]

What software and operating system do you use to run your software? is it the original Nikon scan or something like vuescan? Thanks!

 

I'm on Mac. I haven't used the Nikon software for years. Ised Vuescan for a while but found it clunky and unintuitive.

I then spent way too much on the outrageously priced Silverfast a few years ago but much prefer it for my purposes.

 

I should say it would be nice of Leica made a 'reasonably priced' scanner, but even if they did it would be unlikely to support use of film larger than 35mm

Edited April 15, 2018 by MarkP

[Nima M]

I'm on Mac. I haven't used the Nikon software for years. Ised Vuescan for a while but found it clunky and unintuitive.

I then spent way too much on the outrageously priced Silverfast a few years ago but much prefer it for my purposes.

 

I should say it would be nice of Leica made a 'reasonably priced' scanner, but even if they did it would be unlikely to support use of film larger than 35mm

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing, Mark. I have that same scanner and run OS X as well. I've tried seeing if the Mac can detect the scanner through the SANE software but it doesn't work for me. I manage to get it working by having a small Windows 7 partition on my Mac and use the Nikon scan software; it works great on modern Windows.

[Ko.Fe.]

Lets have some mercy and leave to Hasselblad. At least, they have something.  

[marcg]

My Nikon Coolscan 5000 is still going strong. 

 

Mine too.

 

What software and operating system do you use to run your software? is it the original Nikon scan or something like vuescan? Thanks!

 

Vuescan.  It is a bit fiddly but the creator is highly interested in his product, lots of regular updates and fantastic customer service response.  Rather unlike Leica, actually.

[otto.f]

I would be more interested in Heiland lowering his price for the Splitgrade. I’m so done with all the dust in my scans. I’m much faster with an efficient darkroom procedure and it’s much less dust-prone than scanning.

[mradey]

My Nikon Coolscan 5000 is still going strong.

 

My 9000 too. Been to Fixation once when I couldn’t get the film holders to load. Turned out to be too much dust on one of the mirrors

[DickieT]

I am glad that I have kept my Nikon 5000. I sold my LS-30 in the past but decided to hold on to this one for a little - you never know and here I am using it very often again I have even purchased the SF 210 slide feeder and the SA-30 roll adapter over the last year on Ebay. They are both great tools and were quite hard to find for a decent price.

 

I also use Vuescan on High Sierra and it works like a charm. I agree that Silverfast is nice too, but the price point makes no sense at all.

 

Interesting comments about a Leica scanner. I would be a fan of Nikon updating their software and/or reproducing the old line with maybe some updates ?

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[Adrian Lord]

Still on Coolscan V + Vuescan on a Mac 

 

Not looking forward to the inevitable failure of the Coolscan whenever it comes...