[Leica] Scanning my nature photos - Nikon or Minolta?

[rdcb37 at dodo.com.au (Rick Dykstra)]

I'm considering a scanner to digitise my nature photos myself.  The 
scans from my preferred pro-lab are pretty good at present (though not 
the best with darker areas of Velvia 100 slides, and expensive.  I 
could buy a good scanner for the equivalent of getting 35 slides 
scanned to high res) and end up as 6144 x 4096 images, of around 80 MB, 
so I'd be looking for a decent scanner, such as the Nikon Coolscan 5000 
with its 4000 dpi or the Minolta Dimage 5400 with 5400 dpi.

Is there any user feedback to share?  Particularly, performance of 
their scratch/dust removal software, the other Nikon image enhancement 
features, their ability to pick up shadow detail, ability to scan 
single frames, film flatness and focus issues, etc.

Speed of scanning is not really an issue as long as it's manageable.  
I'm also curious about new models that might be in the wind - as  both 
models have just been heavily discounted - and what new features they 
might have.  Comments on other favorite scanners (and why) would also 
be appreciated.

Thanks for any help or suggestions you can provide.

Rick (lets get Digital, Digital, ...) Dykstra.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/Nature