Which 35mm film scanner?

[OurManInTangier]

I've been using my old Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 for years but since I got myself a new computer it won't connect without a lot of money and hassle for new parts (modern technology eh?)

As such I think its time I got myself a new scanner. I can't afford it yet so have time to make sure I get the right one for me - any suggestions from current users?
It would need to connect via USB and offer excellent sharpness and resolution - though not with any great trade off in dynamic range.

So what do you use and what do you think of it - positives AND negatives would be very helpful.

[Spyderman]

I have Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III. I don't recommend it. Here are the pluses and minuses:

-
low dynamic range
cannot really get anything from shadows on slides
poor automatic exposure (manual exposure setting necessary)
lots of noise
slow

+
has manual exposure
sharp enough for me
has multi-sampling (but it doesn't really remove any noise, so it's next to useless)
8/16 bits per channel

I recommend you buy something with ICE for dust and scratches removal. It's a pain to retouch all the little dust specks with clone brush... :bang:

[iml]

What's the budget? I had up to £500 to spend and the choice was either a dedicated 35mm scanner (Nikon Coolscan V) or a flatbed (Epson V700). I went for the Epson because of its greater flexibilty. Initial results seem very promising.

Ian

[rxmd]

Er, the old one is a SCSI scanner?

I would presume you can get a good PCI SCSI controller for sub-$20, and it won't be much extra hassle if you get a well-supported one (e.g. Adaptec 2920). If connecting it is the only reason for your upgrade plans, I would first try whether if it's really not possible to hook it up with minimal investment. It's substantially cheaper (by an order of magnitude or two), and if it doesn't work, which seems unlikely to me, you won't have lost much money anyway.

Philipp

[anselwannab]

I would get one with ICE as long as I wasn't going to do just B&W, which ICE doesn't work with.

I have a DSIII also. On my TMAX 100, I scan as color postive and invert in PSE3. Works for me. I find it does better with thinner negatives, highlights get blocked up too much.

Dynamic range isn't the best, but with curves and layers I can get what I want. All my RFF pics are with a SDIII.
The bigger thing to me is "Are you going to do MF?" IF you are I would look at one of the flatbeds.

DSIII are only a couple of hundred bucks now (One sold here recently).

Mark

[OurManInTangier]

rxmd - It is indeed a SCSI connection. My knowledge of computers is pretty much soley PS CS2 and not alot else. I was told ( more fool me for believing them ) by staff in PC World, that nothing was available that would connect a SCSI product to my new computer. I did an internet search and found a 'board' thing that I'd have to insert into my computer for £150 or thereabouts. If I can rig up the old scanner I will as it will do me for now.

Long term I'd still very much like to upgrade, simply to get the best out of the negs.

Ian - My budget would be around the £500 mark too - less would be great but I'm happy to save and get the best I can. I've looked at the Nikon Coolscan V, I do own and old Mamiya 645 but it very very very rarely goes out these days so it's predominantly 35mm.

Spyderman - thanks for your input, its great to have people recommend NOT to buy something as it is to actually say you should buy something.

My Sprintscan is AF....I assume, and I'm happy enough with that, it hasn't let me down yet. I'd go for the ICE as I shoot colour as well sometimes though I'm not averse to cloning myself for the ultimate in anal control!!

[iml]

Ian - My budget would be around the £500 mark too - less would be great but I'm happy to save and get the best I can. I've looked at the Nikon Coolscan V, I do own and old Mamiya 645 but it very very very rarely goes out these days so it's predominantly 35mm.

In that case I suspect the Nikon is going to be the best choice if you're looking to buy new. I've seen them for around £425 (AJ Purdy were listing them for that price I think). Otherwise your only choices around that price are secondhand or a flatbed. The V700 seems very good so far, but if I wasn't thinking about MF I'd have gone for the Nikon.

Ian

[OurManInTangier]

Long term its the new scanner for me but does anyone know of something that will connect my SCSI scanner to my computer which is USB? I'm going to check out the Adaptec 2920 as mentioned by Philipp but any other info would be greatly appreciated.

[ncd_photo]

If you have a desktop PC then a PCI SCSI card should do the trick and you should be able to pick one up on ebay or from a second hand computer reseller for not a lot of cash. You used to be able to get scsi to firewire adaptors but the chances are these things will give you more trouble than they are worth.

I've recently upgraded to a Nikon coolscan V and its superb, the level of detail and sharpness is fantastic. At 4000 dpi you get an 18x12 image @ 300dpi but it tends to pick up all the grain.
For my needs I scan at a lower resolution to produce an 8x12 file which gives me sharpness and tonality and smooth grain.
The plus with a dedicated scanner is the autofocus and the ability to pick out the shadow detail from transparencies.

[ncd_photo]

Here's a Scan from HP5+ That I did the other day. Its scanned for an output of 8x12@300 dpi, scanned 14 bit colour Tif then converted to 8 bit jpeg. No sharpening apart from the Nikon scan default 5%.

[OurManInTangier]

That looks impressive enough to me. i'm currently scanning at a max of 1200dpi so the Nikon will really give me a boost.

Nick, I assume the PCI SCSI card is something I need to have inserted into one of my PC's spare ports?! I'll google it and see what comes up.

[sooner]

I got the Minolta Dimage Multi Pro for just over $300, so it's a little more than the Dimage III/IV but I believe has better dynamic range and ICE. I found ICE worked like magic to remove the dust spots and saves me lots of time. It does a nice job and doesn't cost as much as the Nikon. But now that I'm shooting more MF, next time I would probably go with the Epson V700.

[OurManInTangier]

Anyone know anything about the Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 Film and Slide scanner?

[Kim Coxon]

Simon,
I think I have a spare (or two) PCI SCSI cards lying around. If you want to try that route, drop me a PM and I will send one. The bigger problem may be XP drivers. I wouldn't trust PC World with a bargepole.

[stumar]

I have the Epson V100 Photo, and so far, as i have only devloped 2 rolls of HP5, the results appear great! its a 3200Dpi but it has selections for 4800 in the menu, dont ask me how that works!!

If the V100 is anything to go by i can the imagine the V700 to be rather good!

My next purchase now has to be a good printer!!

Stu

[markinlondon]

Simon, what computer are you using? I have an Adaptec SCSI card collecting dust which you can have (says AVA-2904 but I think it's a 2920 in disguise). It doesn't fit in my Mac mini :D

PM me if you're interested.

Kim types so fast :-)

[Kim Coxon]

The 2904 is 10Mps as opposed to 20 of the 2920. ;)
It won't make any difference to the speed of the scans.

Kim


Simon, what computer are you using? I have an Adaptec SCSI card collecting dust which you can have (says AVA-2904 but I think it's a 2920 in disguise). It doesn't fit in my Mac mini :D

PM me if you're interested.

Kim types so fast :-)

[markinlondon]

The 2904 is 10Mps as opposed to 20 of the 2920. ;)
It won't make any difference to the speed of the scans.

Kim

Darn you, Kim!

You wouldn't think I did this for a living, would you? :D

[Gray Fox]

I've got the Microtek 4000t scanner which I think is the same machine. Polaroid supposedly just rebadged it. I took the adaptec card out of my old Windows ME machine and stuck it in a spare slot in my new dual core XP media desktop. I know little about sticking things in computer boxes, but I got it right on the second try. There were two vacant slots and the second one I tried communicated with the scanner. The new box is much easier to access than the old one was. Microtek has upd ated drivers online, but I have no idea if Polaroid does. The new machine with a world's better processor and 2 GB of RAM finally gets what the old 4000t is capable of producing--faster, too.

[georgefspencer]

I just- as in 30 min ago - ordered a Nikon Coolscan V ED. I'm anxious to see what it will do.

[Kim Coxon]

I have lost track of the number of repairs/upgrades/new builds I have done for people. Also I have used SCSI for a while. The spare PC has SCSI harddrives and I have an old GT7000, several Jaz drives and a Coolscan III. ;)

Kim

Darn you, Kim!

You wouldn't think I did this for a living, would you? :D

[Kim Coxon]

Not Fair! :o

Kim

I just- as in 30 min ago - ordered a Nikon Coolscan V ED. I'm anxious to see what it will do.

[OurManInTangier]

Thanks everyone. I wish I was more au fait with my computers 'innards,' the very thought of sticking something in there just brings visions of explosions, smoke and a broken PC!!

Kim and Mark - Thanks very much for your generous offers. I'll take a look at my PC when I get home and PM you both.

All the best

[bigdog]

I have the Minolta Dimage 5400 version 1 and I love it. I have it connected to my pc via fire wire connection on my sound card. It also has USB 2. I am very happy with the scanner, I am running it with Silverfast SE. I get great dynamic range and I am satisfied with 13 x 19 prints output by an Epson R2400. All of the low resolution images on my site were scanned with this scanner/software combination. I have sold prints using this combination and people seem to be happy! Search the archives photo.net and you will find plenty of useful information on this scanner.

[amateriat]

I've been using a Minolta 5400 for the better part of four years. Connection is via USB or FireWire. I use both Minolta's PS plug-in and (much more often) VueScan. Fabulous scanner. Not much more to add.


- Barrett

[meyman]

Two notes on the Nikon V which is a fantastic scanner BTW:
1. With curved negatives Nikon's holder won't hold them flat enough. If you want to have good sharpness of the whole frame, put the negs overnight under some books first. Either that or you'll get that very nice early days of photography feel [which incidentally I happen to like quite a lot].
2. I have been too lazy to develop my negs lately. All the labs I know use T-max as the developer for B&W. Here comes the bad part. Either Tri-x developed in T-max is extremely scratch-prone or the Nikon V loves these perticular scratched in this particular emulsion more than anything else in the world. The results are dreadful. After spotting a frame for some 8 hours in PS,
I decided to stick with either Neopan 400 [no problem here or on Delta 400] or use XP2 with which Ice is a blessing.

[peterm1]

Just a thought. I regularly attend a local computer fair and there are often a wide variety of adapters available at such events which I am sure are very common in most cities in the west. Mostly such things are available very cheaply. Does anyone know if SCSI to USB adapters are available. I had a vague idea they were. if so you could then continue to use your existing scanner by simply plugging it in as a USB device.

I am using a 4 year old Canon Canoscan D1250 with max resolution of 2400 but it is just not up to the job of scanning slides and negatives even at maximum res although it does a very good job on prints. I too am looking around for a replacement but prefer to stick to a later flatbed scanner if I can get one that produces good enough results on negatives.

[DavidH]

Anyone know anything about the Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 Film and Slide scanner?



Hey Simon

You've had some good replies but I'll add a plus vote for the KM5400 - I've been using one for some 3 years with such good results that I dread the day it croaks...

Over that time I've dumped the bundled software - really didnt like it - used Vuescan for a while then moved on to Silverfast cheap version and finally upgraded to the more powerful Ai version. Silverfast is excellent but like all scanning software takes a while to get your head around...and is expensive. It allows awesome color controls and that's been a lifesaver over the last few months...

I run mine over Firewire on a hub that links several external drives and an Epson printer - all firewire - and it all works well together. On a Mac :)

But of course KM5400's are no longer made and so when mine finally dies, I'd probably go for the Nikon...

Adding a scsi card is straightforward - haven't done it for a while on a PC but remember that additional layer of drivers were required...aspi or something...as well as the drivers for the scanner itself...others will be more knowledgable on that...

cheers

[Ronald M]

KM5400 or Nikon 5000.

Imacon 343 if you can afford it and want the very best. These will be gone soon too

[sfazli]

Epson Perfection V750 PRO is probably the best in semi-affordable scanners. It can scan 35mm negs, slides, MF and large formats. I have it a couple of weeks and its astounding.

[peter_n]

I use a Minolta SD IV which is plenty sufficient for my limited needs. The 5400 model is very popular for B&W and I have read that the first version has a different light system than the second version and is preferred for B&W. They go for a lot of money on eBay and fetch $700-800 new but I do wonder what happens if they break. If my Minolta breaks I assume I'd replace it with a Nikon model.

[steamer]

I'll have to cast a vote for epson 750--great value for the money (6400 dpi) and is pretty fast. I paid less than 400 dollars for mine , I like that it also scans 120 film . I bought mine in Japan, so I'm still trying to sort out the dust reducing software instructions.