Which 35mm Scanner

[ioptics]

Hi All,

I need some advice on which 35mm scanner to buy. The plan is to buy one on **** a popular auction site, and then sell it on once all the slides have been scanned.

At the moment I am looking at:

Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 Scanner
Nikon Coolscan V ED (LS 50)
and the older: Nikon Super Coolscan 4000ED

Does anyone have any experience with these scanners? any recommendations, comments, etc?

We really want to be able to print the scanned photos at large sizes, so the scans have to be high quality.

Thanks,
ioptics

 

[reddeathdrinker]

Not done any myself, but my old man is busy scanning his slide collection onto his PC (slides from the mid-60's to late 90's), and there's thousands and thousands of them. He's using the Nikon Coolscan V ED, scanning the slides at 4000dpi, and the quality is quite exceptional......He's a fussy bugger when it comes to stuff like that, and he tried several models out, before deciding on the Nikon....

 

[MacX]

Nikon Coolscan V ED (LS 50)

Does anyone have any experience with these scanners? any recommendations, comments, etc?

We really want to be able to print the scanned photos at large sizes, so the scans have to be high quality.

Thanks,
ioptics

That Nikon will be the one I use. None of them are very fast so expect to put plenty of time in. Digital ICE is a must for colour negatives and it will save plenty of post-processing time removing some of the dust and smaller scratches. Of course the main feature I like is that the Nikon 'sucks' the strip of negs in so you don't have to mount them in a carrier like other scanners. The only downside is that you can't scan a single cut negative without an adaptor. This hasn't been a problem for me as all of mine were cut as two, four or six.

Also, a 14bit scan at 4000dpi will you give you a TIF of about 118mb so make sure you have plenty of space for the results.

Oh, and it's good enough that I have sold 20" by 16" prints from some of my better 35mm negatives.

Finally, scanning is a bit of an art as well as science and it may take a week to get the results you are happy with.

 

[FranchiseJuan]

I would probably choose the Nikon V ED. The digital ICE is very nice, but it is slow. The only actual scanners I have used are Canon ones, and they worked great. If you turn on Digital ICE, then expect to spend 3-4 minutes per negative (not per roll but per negative), that is assuming 4000 DPI and after you have tweaked it to get the results you want.

You actually don't need to worry too much about film grain, as it is not that visible in print. Oh and a 4000 DPI scan of a 35mm Negative is so detailed that it will make you want to sell your digital equipment and go back to film (almost) .

 

[ioptics]

Thank you for the replies!

Does anyone have any experience with the Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 Scanner?

The 5400 dpi is really appealing (even if it is more than I need) and the reviews I have read really do praise it. But it is 2 years old.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
ioptics

 

[MacX]

Thank you for the replies!

Does anyone have any experience with the Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 Scanner?

The 5400 dpi is really appealing (even if it is more than I need) and the reviews I have read really do praise it. But it is 2 years old.

The only reason I would have gone for this, and I did investigate it, would be if there was a large price advantage.

But in real terms, from the reading that made me to buy the Nikon, the extra d.p.i. just gives you much larger files rather than any extra detail. You start getting into diminishing returns, especially when you start resolving the actual grain in the film.

To me, the slot feeder was far preferable to the extra resolution! I REALLY cannot stress how important this becomes after the 10th roll of film.

Oh, and buy noise reduction software like Noise Ninja or Neat Image. They will make all the difference with the final output.