let's talk scanners

[phovsho]

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Hi David

 

I might give ken's a try. If you ever feel like pulling the trigger perhaps we should try and co-ordinate a Nikon scanner order - buying power and all that.

 

Cheers

from flooded Hanoi.

 

Murray

[junglehs]

What do you guys think of the scan services from NCPS that Ken Rockwell was writing about? Is it better to do the scans yourself? Say on a Nikon 5000?

 

Why We Love Film

[greg s.]

The Minolta sounds interesting are they still available or is ebay the best option? I would consider the 9000 at a pinch, but it seems to be pretty hard to find as well. You seem to be suggesting the Minolta over the 5000 at least. Do you see any material differences between the 9000 and Minolts when scanning 35mm negs?

 

Hi Murray,

 

meanwhile the Minolta is only available as second hand gear and is not supported any more. The Coolscan 9000 is actually running out of production, but you should be able to get one anyway (and don't forget to stack some additional film holders; I suspect that they'll be hard to get in some years). The Minolta Scans are sharper than the Coolscans, due to the higher resolution of the Minolta, but besides that I can't see any important difference, and I'm doing a lot of b/w-work and -scanning and use to look critical at the results. Another difference: The Coolscan is built much more solid than the Minolta. - I hope this helps you.

 

Best,

Greg

[jevidon]

Attached is a very old slide from K64 taken in August 1968 of my son when he was 4 years old sitting in front of a waterfall in Yosemite. I scanned it with an Epson 4990 flatbed at 1200 and perked it up a bit with CS3. This slide, I recently discovered sitting in a box in my garage.

I really don't think you will have any problem with any of the better Epson scanners. My 4990 is several years old and doesn't even have the latest software as in their current 770 model.

 

BTW, I don't recall the camera but it may have been the first generation Minolta SLR; no TTL, no AF, all manual and probable with a f2 50mm kit lens.

 

This K64 wasn't the easiest scan, but it went pretty smoothly. I have found that scanning old Agfachrome, which I always preferred to shoot back then, produces a less satisfactory scan. Maybe the later Agfachrome scans better.

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[Adrian Lord]

All except one or 2 of the images on the link below are Coolscan V scans, to give you an idea of what to expect.

[atufte]

Nikon Coolscan 5000 or 9000, depending on wether you'd like to have MF capability or not. The MInolta, while being a good scanner, is not up there IMHO and - which is more important - isn't supported anymore: you get it, if it breaks that's it, no service (more than that, no Minolta anymore, no Konica-MInolta either...), so you'd end up with what is just a large paperweight (unless you can find a repairman in your area who is willing to mess with it, and who has spare parts from other defunct scanners...). The Nikon is great, and is - still - supported by Nikon; the M1 receives good critics but I never tried one; the V700 is very good, I have one and am happy with it but after getting the 9000 there is simply no comparison and the V700 is on its way out now.

 

Sorry Vieri but this is not right...

 

Konica Minolta do still service the Minolta scanners (5400 MK1 included) i just bought

two new film holders today and asked what would happen if something breaks down in my 5400 MK1, they said not to worry there will be service places for this products for years to come, and spare parts are still in production...

 

And BTW, i get Nikon products for free and have used the V, the 5000 and the 9000

and this scanners can't compare with the old 5400, at least not for B&W and Kodachrome. (The Nikon scans looks better on monitor but the Minolta print much better than the Nikon, which for me is far more important...)

 

Best

 

Alex

[Vieri]

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Sorry Vieri but this is not right...

 

Konica Minolta do still service the Minolta scanners (5400 MK1 included) i just bought

two new film holders today and asked what would happen if something breaks down in my 5400 MK1, they said not to worry there will be service places for this products for years to come, and spare parts are still in production...

 

And BTW, i get Nikon products for free and have used the V, the 5000 and the 9000

and this scanners can't compare with the old 5400, at least not for B&W and Kodachrome. (The Nikon scans looks better on monitor but the Minolta print much better than the Nikon, which for me is far more important...)

 

Best

 

Alex

 

Alex, I am sorry but I am as right as you - or you are as wrong as me, according to the point of view What I mean is, what might be true in your local is not necessary true everywhere. Here, KM is dead, and some private repairmen aside, nobody would service KM scanners, cameras, nothing. As far for the quality of the results, as we all know that is very much a subjective thing: I would definitely pick a Coolscan over a 5400 any day - you would pick the 5400 - that's the beauty of it, isn't it? More, I suspect that if the scans from the Nikon look better on screen than on print, and viceversa for the Minolta, something is not right with your monitor/printer relative calibration: I get the exact same results on print as what i am seeing on my monitor, how do you calibrate your monitor and your printer?

[atufte]

Alex, I am sorry but I am as right as you - or you are as wrong as me, according to the point of view What I mean is, what might be true in your local is not necessary true everywhere. Here, KM is dead, and some private repairmen aside, nobody would service KM scanners, cameras, nothing. As far for the quality of the results, as we all know that is very much a subjective thing: I would definitely pick a Coolscan over a 5400 any day - you would pick the 5400 - that's the beauty of it, isn't it? More, I suspect that if the scans from the Nikon look better on screen than on print, and viceversa for the Minolta, something is not right with your monitor/printer relative calibration: I get the exact same results on print as what i am seeing on my monitor, how do you calibrate your monitor and your printer?

 

I run a professional fine art printshop in Norway and use two Epson 9800 large format printers and hardware calibrated monitors of course. The difference with this two scanners is in tone transitions and gradation which is clearly better on the 5400, than the 5000/9000 scanners, (remember not everything can be seen, not even on the best monitors on the marked) there's are a big difference between watching a large print on the wall and pixels on a monitor.

 

The 5400 scans are similar in quality to what i get from my Imacon scanner, and that says a lot, and since it's easier to scan with the 5400 i prefer it to the imacon...

 

Here is a side by side scan from an even older Minolta and a Imacon

 

Official Scanhancer Site

 

But as you say this can be subjective, but my "very picky" clients prefer the 5400 for larger prints/scan over the Nikons, so let our own eyes be the judge... :-)

 

I'm glad you like your Nikons...

 

Alex

[jplomley]

Just do a drum scan and be done with these pro-sumer scanners. If you don't like to fuss with oil mounting, try a Creo iQ3 or Cezanne Elite. You are not getting everything out of film with either a Nikon or Minolta. The Dmax and resolution is simply not there.

[rob_x2004]

Konica Minolta do still service the Minolta scanners (5400 MK1 included) i just bought

 

Ouch.

Maybe that has something to do with your local service guy and your industry contacts because of the business you are in?

I have a KM5400ii and was told point blank no hardware service, no driver upgrades. In the unlikely event, I will be on my own if something goes wrong. But its washing machine technology, and pretty robust.

For a while Sony (i think?) was doing warranty work for them, but whoever it was said that was pretty much over.

Of course KM still manufacure and service their range of copiers.

If this has changed in the last year, or you have contact info for service guys let me know so I can file it away.

 

Ps ... Unfortunately I dont think Scannhancer does a carrier for the 5400ii? Any tricks? What software are you using? I found the KM software ran rings round Viewscan, Silverfast wasnt doing 5400ii when I last checked and trial software was buggy for me.

[Photoskeptic]

I still use the first version of the 5400. The SilverFast software makes all the difference, IMO. If it croaks, not sure what I would do. Rumors at Photokina suggest Nikon will discontinue the 9000 in near future. I do understand that Sony is still using the old KM service outlet to service the 5400. Version II of the 5400 used a different light source for scanning. While I've never used a Version II, those in the know say the first one is better. Some of the more dedicated film crowd have opted for Imacron, but if you are lucky you can find a used drum scanner. Some have been able to get decent scans from the latest Epson flatbeds using fluid mounting of the negative. But that would be, for me, a last resort. Anyway, good luck with your search.

[Vieri]

...

 

But as you say this can be subjective, but my "very picky" clients prefer the 5400 for larger prints/scan over the Nikons, so let our own eyes be the judge... :-)

 

I'm glad you like your Nikons...

 

Alex

 

Me too If I liked the Minolta better, I would be in trouble if anything happens to it - besides liking better the results from the Nikon, I also feel much better knowing that (for now) I can get service, spare parts, support, etc. Glad your "very picky" clients like your Minolta scans, I am pretty sure you don't offer them a side-by-side compare with the same image from a Nikon, so that doesn't say much about it anyway - as well, my pretty picky clients love what they see, but they don't have a chance to see what it would like if scanned with a Minolta as well.

 

As others said, a drum scan would blow both off the water anyway, so it's basically much ado about nothing

 

...

 

I have a KM5400ii and was told point blank no hardware service, no driver upgrades.

 

...

 

Same here. Besides image quality, a very good reason for me to choose Nikon - even though they are built well, you never know when something will go wrong, but with electro-mechanical appliances it will, sooner or later... by definition, they don't last forever, components used in them have a limited life: it all depends on the intensity of your use, and on your luck.

[ruiespanhol]

I use one Epson V350 whit great results.

They have automatic film loading who results in easy way to scan negatives.

I recomend that Epson.

 

Best,