Re: [Leica] OT: Just went MF, need scanner advice

["J. Gilbert Plantinga" <jgp@gilplant.com>]

Austin,

I've been using it for about a year and a half. I run it under 
ViewScan, though some people like the recently updated Minolta 
software. You are correct about the change of magnification, the 
optical resolution for MF is 3200 dpi; in the 35mm mode it scans a 
strip down the center at greater magnification to get 4800 dpi. This is 
NOT an interpolated resolution. I'm sure that you, as a Leaf owner, 
will agree with me that the extra 800 dpi the Minolta offers over the 
Nikon or Polaroid 4000 dpi units makes a great difference in image 
quality.

One caveat: Minolta customer service in the US really sucks. I had to 
return mine under warranty (it was giving me a small band of noise 
across the frame, seemed to be a stepper motor or gear problem?) and 
they shipped it back without locking down the transport as per their 
own instructions. Needless to say it got back to me broken worse than 
when I sent it in. I had to return it two more times before they would 
admit there was anything wrong with it, at which point they replaced 
it. What's more, I live only 45 minutes away form the repair facility 
but they insisted that I ship it UPS ground, refusing to allow me to 
bring it in; they cited security concerns over terrorism as the reason 
they refuse walk-ins. By the time I got done I was ready to show them 
personally what terror is! I was without the machine for over a month.

Gilbert

On Monday, June 30, 2003, at 03:28  PM, Austin Franklin wrote:

> Has anyone actually used this scanner?  I heard about it quite a while 
> ago,
> but no one in any of the lists I am on has stepped up has admitted to 
> having
> one...which very much surprises me, given the specs of this unit.  
> People
> seem to buy the Nikon and Polariod units...
>
> BTW, Gilbert, where do you get the 3200 figure for 120 from?  The 
> Minolta
> spec sheet on their web site says:
>
> "120/220 film: : 4,800 (by interpolation) x 4,800 dpi "
>
> It does say the sensor is 7,260...which would fit your 3200 number 
> (2.25 x
> 3200 = 7200...), so my guess is you're probably right.  To get 4800, 
> the
> scanner would have to change the magnification...it's not quite clear 
> from
> their specification sheet exactly what they do.

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