[Leica] LS-2000

[Jay LeBlanc <jaleblan@dakotacom.net>]

I have been using a Nikon LS-2000 for a couple of months, and have been
scanning color negative, black and white negatives, and slides.
The color negatives (mostly Kodak consumer bases 100 and 200 ISO speeds)
scan very well indeed, and the ICE feature is useful in attenuating some of
the processing marks.  I can't see any loss in sharpness, but I generally
use the ICE with the 'sharpen' feature turned on.

All chromes seem to scan smoothly as well, except for Kodachrome, which
requires quite a radical color adjustment, the images are _very_ cyan
without this override.  I've been scanning in RGB mode, and push the red
adjustment pretty high to the + side, the green an bit +, and the blue -,
and the results are realistic.
The manual recommends not using ICE with Kodachrome, but it seems to work
for me.  I've not found any reference to the odd color shift with
Kodachrome in the instructions.
A polaroid scanner that a friend of mine owns has profiles for different
emulsions, and this would be a handy feature to have with this scanner, in
view of its behavior with Kodachrome!

I've discovered that the ICE feature does not work at all with B&W
negatives, the resulting scan is very odd and muddy looking with ICE turned
on, at least with the Tri-X negatives I've tried.  The scanner can do
wonders with shadow detail when used with the 16x oversample mode and
12-bit scan depth, but I only use these features when necessary because it
slows the scanner considerably.

One of the nicest features is the 35mm film strip adaptor which comes with
the basic scanner.  It allows unattended scanning of up to 6 frames.

- -Jay-  

Visit my website at: <http://www.dakotacom.net/~jaleblan/index.html>