Three new Nikon film scanners

[rico1]

Press release:

http://www.nikon-image.com/eng/news/index.html

I'm not unhappy with my current scanner (Canon FS4000), but would like to have roll feed, medium format capability, and better Dmax. Neither of these were provided by the Minolta 5400. Faster scan rate would be nice, too.

Looks like film isn't dead yet!

 

[djg]

I wonder how much better than the Minolta Scan Multi Pro the 9000 will be? The speeds quoted, which are usually optimistic, for medium format did not impress me.

I guess I don't regret getting the Multi Pro at the beginning of the year.

DJ

 

[mikel]

Let's see the price, maybe it will even make sense to get one to do scans for lightjet printing

Mike.

 

[mikel]

Hm. I just noticed. There is actually a new scanner from Minolta, Scan Elite 5400. 5400dpi (!) scanner for 35mm, for slightly less than $900. And, it has a real, manual focus dial.

I don't know when it became available, but it can be already purchased at stores, while Nikon only announced their new models, without much change in terms of their resolution (and slight increase in dynamic range), although it seems to be faster than the Minolta one.

Did anyone have a chance to see Elite 5400 in action?

Thanks,
Mike.

 

[mikel]

Wow, wait. Just noticed. The Nikons have LEDs as light source, not the more common cold cathode l&! That's new, I wonder how colors turn out on these (strictly speaking it's easier to make "perfectly pure" colored LEDs than it is to make surface-applied filters on CCDs/CMOS chips).
So, that new 2-line/3-line CCD is used as CCD was originally intended to be used - light-recording, color-blind device. As their info page states, color separation is done by LEDs.

I also wonder if it has any positive effect on B&W scanning (it could potentially improve things quite a bit when it comes to B&W).

It very well could be, that in terms of color, contrast and overall details these new Nikons might be really good, although somewhat lacking in resolution compared to new Minolta Elite 5400. But if choosing from the two - I would go for better colors and contrast than absolute resolving power.

And, another good thing about LEDs - almost no warm-up time and almost no heat as by-product. Thus, no warping of film, no heat waves, no negative effect on overall performance.


Seems like I might have to scramble some money for it

Mike.

 

[wsymington]

Thank God! A sensible posting at last.

Mike, I have owned the Minolta DSE 5400 for about 4 months now and am = very favourable impressed. You get gigantic scans from it (approx = 110MB!) and will unfailingly bring out the detail in the neg (if there = is any!). It´s also very effective at bringing out grain, which can be = a nuisance sometimes. The Grain Dissolver works pretty well, but the = light source is not remotely diffuse and grain is the result. This is = nitpicking though - it´s a great machine, and for the money it is a = no-brainer. Scan times with Digital ICE applied, particularly with = colour negs, are slowish - so I only apply ICE when the neg/slide looks = like it needs help in that area.

 

[noidea]

>Nikon is using the LED's ever since - well at least since I know Nikon scanners. > You forgot another advantage: LED don't change their color when they are aging. So no recalibration needed!

 

[redwood]

> > Hi,

I have the new Minolta 5400 and it is a very frustrating beast.I bought a new computer closely matching to the test specifications released by Minolta and whilst the file sizes are huge from a 35mm scan (100mb+) it does have a nasty habit of crashing. I may carry out a dozen or so scans and then for no reason everything crashes. If I set a day aside a day to scan my work then you will guarantee it will crash four or five times during the day.Its infuriating and time consuming.Every time a scan is taking place I'm almost holding my breath in anticipation of failure. My requirements are for a file size 50-70 mbs. If one of the new Nikon's can produce that at the same price as the Minolta and without crashing I'm tempted to change even after having the Minolta for 3 months. I want reliability and ease of use as well as the file size already mentioned. If your wanting a new scanner my advice is to wait a few months for feedback on these new models and any tests the Photographic mags bring out. The Minolta isn't all bad, it has saved many images that would other wise have been binned, but the user experience could be a lot better, it is its Achilles heel.

Regards

David Moore

 

[jsmisc]

Hi David.
I have a 5400 and it hasn't crashed on me yet, fingers crossed. I haven't used it a lot though.
That must be very frustrating indeed. Could it be a fault with the machine itself? or have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling it?
John

 

[wsymington]

I can´t say that I have had crashing problems with it. Maybe you´re = running short of RAM after you´ve done a load of big scans? I have a = P4 2.4 Ghz, 1024MB RAM on XP Home. Works just fine for me.