[Leica] Minolta 5400 scanner

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

I have owned a Konica Minolta Dimage 5400 scanner for a number of years and
have scanned over 8000 slides and many B&W film strips.


There is no doubt that the  5400 and 5400 II will produce fine scans. Just
about as good as can be expected from a dedicated slide scanner. However the
machines have their weak spots which should be taken into consideration by a
prospective owner.


First Konica Minolta is no longer in the camera of scanner business. It has
transferred its film imaging and scanner operation to Sony. No direct
manufacturer support is available and when the supply of replacement
components runs out the scanner will no longer be able to be repaired.


Second, the scanner has known mechanical weak spots. Slides and film strips
are moved under the scanner optics by a stepper motor and gear drive with
fairly weak plastic parts. When the plastic wears, scanning becomes erratic
and eventually fails. Replacement is not too costly but the machine has to
be sent to an official repair depot. This is getting more and more
difficult. See the above paragraph.


Third, the electronics are prone to overheating. Color shifts may occur
toward the end of a session. If the scanner is used for a long period or
left on overnight the electronics may fail with a puff of smoke. Again a
repair depot job.


Fourth, while the included slide and film holders are adequate for standard
size images and mounts, they will not handle unusual sizes. I had to scan
images in the 24 x 24 mm Robot format one at a time. The holders require
film strips to be cut into five frame lengths. No continuous roll scanning.


Fifth, high resolution scanning with the 5400 takes a long time. It is a
slow machine. Using Digital ICE and high resolution takes between two and
three minutes a slide. A box of 36 slides takes an hour and a half assuming
the settings for all slides is the same. My 8000 slides took ten 40 hour
weeks of machine time.


After four years and two trips to the repair depot, I finally gave up on the
5400. I would have sent it back to the depot for a replacement electronics
module but the part was no longer available. I replaced it a couple of years
ago with a much less expensive flatbed Epson Perfection V500 scanner which
works admirably. It doesn't have quite the high end resolution of the 5400
(3600 dpi as opposed to 5400 dpi) but it is MUCH faster and the Digital ICE
works even better. Besides it also scans 6x6 and 6x9 negs and the 4x6 prints
my wife brings home from CVS.


Sometimes the very best is too much.


Larry Z