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Goodbye Nikon 5000


jplomley

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I just spoke to my dealer about this. Apparently Nikon is killing the scanners, because they don't want to update the NikonScan software. Seems like there is some problem with an upcoming or current version of Mac OS X.

Well there are alternatives and Nikon Scan has been 'clunky' on Mac OSX for quite some time - its not been my favourite software to put it mildly.

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It all seems crazy to me after all Nikon, in the days of thier film cameras, where very highly regarded and used by more professionals than Leica could dream of. As a serious amateur I used Nikon F- FM- F2as- F3hp- FM2n and Nikkormat FTN over the years with Nikkor primary lenses and they cannot be faulted and although I do not favour the use of scanners personally, I have seen some superb results produced by Nikon scanners. My only reason for moving over to Leica M system film cameras is that I find it sits well with my quirky senior citizen outlook to life as I believe Leica to be quite esoteric and steeped in the history of our art. If I can find a really nice Nikon F of Nikkormat F2 with a 50mm 1.4 I might just buy it.

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Just today I ordered a Coolscan 5000 ED as long as they are still available. Got it from an Italian dealer on eBay at the normal price, while local prices for that scanner got ridiculously high in the past few weeks.

Now I just have to modify the SA-21 from my old V ED to act as the SA-30 and I will soon be able to scan full rolls of film.

I wonder - shall I keep the V ED in case the 5000 will ever fail?

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Are you kidding me?

 

What a lame thing to do, they make the best affordable scanners in the business. I have a 9000ED and with Silverfast Ai / HDR and a fluid mount scan kit from Scan Science, I am rivaling drum scans in edge sharpness!

 

If nothing else, keep the 9000ED in the lineup, it rocks!

 

I hope to heck they support the scanners for awhile in terms of repairs and maintenance.

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I do not believe Nikon has an in house programer. They use a man in Germany whose initials are NIK, really no joke. He may not know how to do it or it can not be made compatable.

 

Software is a big problem with Microsoft making things incompatable every 2 years. Then you have to redo it. Somebody really should pressure OS designers not to make things incompatable. This is the worst thing about digital.

 

My KM5400 works with iMac 10.4 and I will not upgrade that OS for incompatability problems. My darkroom is still active, but I can see the day when paper is no longer made. Chemicals are scratch mixed. Bulbs can be a problem. Then low volumn color stuff is becoming a problem and has been for 3 decades.

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Tobey Bilek wrote- My darkroom is still active, but I can see the day when paper is no longer made. Chemicals are scratch mixed. Bulbs can be a problem.

 

That is the day I give up taking photographs

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I've been watching this closely and this pushed me over the edge...ordered a 9000. I'll sell my 5000, maybe, the slide bulk feeder is pretty handy, even if inconsistent with cardboard mounts.

One thing that just cracks me up...Nikon couldn't support the software? Cripes, the software wasn't supported in 2001...:D It's always sucked.:(

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No. That stopped when they were bought by Sony.

 

Sadly.

 

I'm still using my Konica-Minolta 5400 II, which is a really super little scanner. No idea what I'll do when it croaks.

 

I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.........

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Of course, it IS possible that Nikon is discontinuing the 5000 in order to introduce a new model.

 

Just a thought...

 

I would hope so.

 

Personally I find the whole software excuse a little difficult to swallow. For one thing Mac OS is very stable with excellent backward compatibility. It seems to me that there must be another reason. If NikonScan really is written outside of Nikon, perhaps that firm went under?

 

Regardless this is a serious problem for anyone who still shoots film. There is no replacement and a IMACON/Hasselblad is out of the reach of almost all of us. If Kodak or Fuji were smart they would offer a small lineup of affordable and high quality scanners.

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Well, Kodak now owns Creo, so they have the technology in-house to development a trickle down product for the pro-sumer. Fuji makes the Lanovia, so again, a good chance for a trickle down. But will they? With all the pro labs falling like domino's I would have thought both Kodak and Fuji would have set up a network of processing labs to support their products. To date, that has not happened.

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I'm using the Minolta 5400 (version I). Would love to see a Leica scanner and I think they should seriously consider it if they are continue manufacturing the MP and M7 and, more importantly, if they are to continue selling lenses to their existing M film customers. For now, I've sadly moved to digital.

 

Just a thought: has anyone tried a 5D mk II, Alpha 900 or D3X with a 1:1 macro? My concern with this has always been the interaction of the film grain with the bayer matrix. Would love to give it a try, but don't have any of the above high-res bodies (I'm using a D700).

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Of course, it IS possible that Nikon is discontinuing the 5000 in order to introduce a new model.

 

5D mk II, Alpha 900 or D3X with a 1:1 macro? My concern with this has always been the interaction of the film grain with the bayer matrix. Would love to give it a try, but don't have any of the above high-res bodies (I'm using a D700).

 

Is mechanically scanning a linear array the best way to go these days ?

Using a high res camera sensor combined with sensor pixel-shifting and multiple captures could result in a far higher resolution and dynamic range - not to mention faster scanning.

 

Here's a quote for the olympus DP72 microscope camera : "Super high-resolution, equivalent to 12.8 megapixels, Rapid high-resolution image acquisition

Pixel-shifting technology is applied to the 1.45 million pixel 2/3" CCD. This results in a 12.8 megapixel, 4,140 x 3,096 pixels, super high-resolution image. High-speed hardware makes it possible to capture even high-resolution images (equivalent to 12.8 megapixels) in approx. 2.5 seconds. "

 

If one of Nikon's 6Mpixel+ APS or even compact camera sensors was pixel-shifted the resolution could exceed that of most medium format backs. This technique is best suited for static subjects - like a film scan :)

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Just a thought: has anyone tried a 5D mk II, Alpha 900 or D3X with a 1:1 macro? My concern with this has always been the interaction of the film grain with the bayer matrix. Would love to give it a try, but don't have any of the above high-res bodies (I'm using a D700).

 

Yes - I've tried copying slides with a 5D2 with Canon's 60micro (+Extension tube 12 MkII) and it yields very usable files - see my previous post. Not a cheap set-up and only viable if you have all the gear already. I haven't done a direct comparison but for the amount of scanning I now do I'll either get slides scanned professionally or I'll copy them.

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Is mechanically scanning a linear array the best way to go these days ?

Using a high res camera sensor combined with sensor pixel-shifting and multiple captures could result in a far higher resolution and dynamic range - not to mention faster scanning.

 

Here's a quote for the olympus DP72 microscope camera : "Super high-resolution, equivalent to 12.8 megapixels, Rapid high-resolution image acquisition

Pixel-shifting technology is applied to the 1.45 million pixel 2/3" CCD. This results in a 12.8 megapixel, 4,140 x 3,096 pixels, super high-resolution image. High-speed hardware makes it possible to capture even high-resolution images (equivalent to 12.8 megapixels) in approx. 2.5 seconds. "

 

If one of Nikon's 6Mpixel+ APS or even compact camera sensors was pixel-shifted the resolution could exceed that of most medium format backs. This technique is best suited for static subjects - like a film scan :)

Hi- What is "pixel shifting"? thanks....Peter

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Hi- What is "pixel shifting"? thanks....Peter

 

If you imagine the negative you are scanning has a single white rectangular patch on it, the rest of the area being black.

Assume that the patch happens to be exactly the same dimensions as the sensor pixel size.

If the sensor and patch are exactly aligned then all the light energy will now fall on just one pixel.

If the sensor is then shifted to the right by half length of the patch, then the energy from the patch now falls half in one pixel and half in another.

 

If the patch size is reduced to say 2/3 the size of the pixel, then by moving the sensor up, down, left, right and on centre - it's now possible to infer extra information about this smaller patch, by the smaller amount of energy spilling into adjacent pixels.

 

The technique is used by photoacute superresolution software to take several images combine them to expand the resolution (and SNR).

It makes the assumption that random pixel shifts have occurred between successive shots through camera movement or vibrations.

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