RE: [Leica] Film Scanners

[Henry Ting <henryting10@yahoo.com>]

I know I'm late in discussion of this thread. I like
to see more info on Minolta's 4800dpi scanner which is
getting quite good reviews and the price is far less
than the Nikon. I'm getting a scanner too and is in a
similar situation of researching.

- --- Tom.Henson@bakerbotts.com wrote:
> I must thank all of you that have given me valuable
> insight and comments
> about film scanners.
> 
> It does sound like many of you are using the Nikon
> and are quite satisfied
> with them, even the older ones.
> 
> I have read as many reviews and articles as I have
> been able to in the last
> few days and have come to a couple of conclusions. I
> hope that I have
> properly digested all of this material.
> 
> Absolute scan resolution is not everything, although
> it is an indication of
> what the scanner is capable of under ideal
> circumstances. As a couple of you
> pointed out, it is amazing what you have on a
> negative until you scan it at
> 4000dpi and see for yourself. This begs another
> question. Do any of you
> clean your negatives or slides before scanning them?
> What about using PEK
> pad on them?
> 
> Dmax, or density is also very important in how a
> scanner is able to bring
> out the darker areas of a negative or slide. Again,
> this is an important
> number, but only so long as the manufacturer has not
> stretched the truth
> hear.
> 
> DPI is another figure that is quoted a great deal.
> From what I understand
> about the way a scanner works, only the smaller
> number is of any real
> significance. The smaller number is the actual
> amount of pixels that a CCD
> can scan in a single pass without any gimmicks such
> as interpolation.
> Several of the 4000dpi scanner do not actually have
> the ability to scan 4000
> pixels in a single pass, but come very close. This
> includes the Nikon and
> Canon 4000's.
> 
> Bit rate is another figure that is quoted by
> manufacturers and is an
> important number also. The higher the bit rate, the
> more colors variations
> can be picked up by the CCD.
> 
> Based upon numbers alone, one would look for the
> highest resolution (DPI),
> dMax, and bit rate. This should be an indication of
> the theoretical ability
> of a scanner.
> 
> But, software is a very important factor in all of
> this. Software can
> actually be a limiting factor in keeping a scanner
> from performing at it's
> theoretical best. Almost everyone that uses a Nikon
> said the software that
> comes with it is not that good, that you should get
> Vuescan for better
> results.
> 
> I also think that having a scanner with ICE or FARE
> is preferable over
> having one without. While you can clean up the dust
> and flaws in PS, this
> can be a time consuming step. I like the option of
> using it or turning it
> off if I don't want to use it. From the reviews that
> I have read, ICE works
> great, but at a cost of slight loss of sharpness.
> FARE by Canon, on the
> other hand, while not quite as good, evidently does
> not affect the final
> image as much and thus give you a sharper image.
> 
> This brings me to decide between the Nikon
> SuperCoolscan 4000ED and the
> Canon FS4000US. When I factor how I will be using
> the scanner and the amount
> of work I will doing on it, then cost becomes a
> factor for me. I'm strictly
> amateur.
> 
> Based upon all of this, I feel the Canon is the
> better scanner for my needs,
> but only when you factor in the cost as the final
> deciding factor.
> 
> Since I work in the IT field, I know that both of
> these scanners will be
> obsolete in a short amount of time (a year or two at
> most). Knowing that
> someone will come out in the next year or so with a
> film scanner that will
> far surpass both of these, cost becomes another
> reason why I would buy the
> Canon over the Nikon today.
> 
> If I was making a living at this, then I would
> easily buy the Nikon, or an
> even higher end scanner like the Imacon's.
> 
> Thanks again for all of your help and comments.
> 
> Tom Henson
> --
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