NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Other => Topic started by: Chris Bartleson on December 21, 2018, 22:13:51
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For those of you that scan your own film, I am looking into eventually scanning my own film, currently, I am just shooting 35mm, but who knows, I might shoot medium format in the future. What scanner would you recommend? I am currently looking at the Epson line and possibly look at saving for an Epson V800, but I am open to other options.
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I've got a V700, it does a decent job with 35mm & MF negative film but leaves something to be desired for slide film, not as much dynamic range as a dedicated film scanner so its easy for shadows to get blocked up and highlights to blow out. It's been a while since I compared to scanning with my D800, they're pretty comparable with a slight edge to the V700 if I remember correctly.
I'd suggest to look into scanning with your dslr as well.
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I've got a V700, it does a decent job with 35mm & MF negative film but leaves something to be desired for slide film, not as much dynamic range as a dedicated film scanner so its easy for shadows to get blocked up and highlights to blow out. It's been a while since I compared to scanning with my D800, they're pretty comparable with a slight edge to the V700 if I remember correctly.
I'd suggest to look into scanning with your dslr as well.
I have looked into that, Nikkor 40mm macro lens plus the Nikon es-2, it's a tempting idea, the only problem I haven't found a solution for is both inverting the colors and removing the orange color cast in color negatives, I don't think that it's an issue with black and white negatives, but color negatives would be an issue.
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Color negs are the bane of the DSLR method. The Photoshop processing to get decent color and tonality seems very laborious with results not certain. Some claim to copy with DSLR and invert color in Silverfast or Vuescan.
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Color negs are the bane of the DSLR method. The Photoshop processing to get decent color and tonality seems very laborious with results not certain. Some claim to copy with DSLR and invert color in Silverfast or Vuescan.
Yup, after I found out that, I nixed that idea, so my current option is the Epson V800, willing to hear about other options that I could do.
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Color negs are the bane of the DSLR method. The Photoshop processing to get decent color and tonality seems very laborious with results not certain. Some claim to copy with DSLR and invert color in Silverfast or Vuescan.
Yes. DSLR is great for slides.
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Nikon Supercoolscan 9000 was the best I tried so far. With calibration and RAW. Wow
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I use a Nikon Coolscan IV ED (LS-40 ED)
It is only for 35mm film, but does a good job on color negative film.
I use a DSLR (FX) for slides, faster as ok results.
I guess that the Coolscan is available on the used marked.
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I'm using Nikon Coolscan 4000ED and 8000ED, plus Agfa and Epson scanners for less exacting work. Negative scans are a breeze given the proper scanning software.
Silverfast does a great job for the Nikon scanners. I reserve it for the big 8000ED however, as it is more time-efficient to run batch scanning with the smaller 4000ED with its extra slide magazine (50 slides). I have dedicated computers for the scanners and they are running older versions of Windows to maximise scanner compatibility. Image scans are automatically transferred to network storage devices from which I can fetch the scans and process them during otherwise idle time.
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I had LS30 and picked up cheap LS5000 which was ‘not working’ actually just needed mirror cleaned. Used LS30 for many years - good but color, speed of scan and quality better with LS5000.
LS5000 reviewed nicely byThom http://www.filmbodies.com/articles/coolscan-5000-review.html
I bought Vuescan but it loads drivers that enables old Nikonscan to work in Windows10. Nikonscan still easiest to use and brings pretty reasonable quality scans with only a little tweaking needed. Kodachrome actually looks ok and ICE ROC (and GEM and DEE - not sure what they do) actually work with Nikonscan.
Before LS5000 I tried Epson V800 in an effort to get faster scanning. It is as slow but worse, if your film is not ‘in focus’ - need to tweak slide holders - the whole lot needs to be done again. I never had the time or patience to adjust it and ended up giving it to a dentist friend of mine who uses it to scan xrays into digital patient files. When it worked it produced nice images though less contrasty than Nikon.
I have not tried DSLR but it has got to be faster although probably less tweakable and error correcting as the old Nikon scanners.
JJ
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Nobody has mentioned the Minolta scanners.
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I used a Minolta scanner with SCSI interface in the old days ;)
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Nobody has mentioned the Minolta scanners.
Perhaps few of our members use one? Only read about the Minolta scanners myself, never actually seen one of them.
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It's been a while since I scanned any film, but I have a Coolscan IV-ED which made quite decent slide scans. It takes either strips or mounted slides, and also originally came with a holder for single unmounted frames and film that would not otherwise feed, a nice convenience.
I haven't updated the software to run with Win 10, so it's temporarily retired until I either fix the software or set up a dedicated computer somewhere else. The Nikon software worked fine on XP and Win 95. I know some people were not pleased with the native Nikon software, but I always found it reasonably competent, and easy to use. It took some time to get the right settings for contrast and scan time and the like, but I found that after a few rolls, looking at the previews on a slide viewing screen, I could guess the settings pretty well. I would caution, though, that the USB-1 interface on this scanner is pretty slow. It's no big deal if you scan your stuff as it comes back, but it's a poor solution if you're catching up on a backlog of slides, as even bulk processing with no adjustment can take around 90 seconds a slide.
I also found that the now-discontinued Polaroid dust and scratch removal software (still available in archive I think) worked pretty well for old black and white film, which can't use the "ICE" feature of the scanner. Again, I rather doubt it will run in Win 10, but it worked fine in XP.
But if you're dealing with mounted slides, I suspect a good slide copier on a digital camera would work as well, and faster. I have yet to set up a proper rig for DX but a bit of experimenting suggests it would.
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Perhaps few of our members use one? Only read about the Minolta scanners myself, never actually seen one of them.
Been a long time since I used my Minolta. It did good job, but Apple OS upgrades killed the compatibility of the software that it was running, and rather than go for new software, since I was excited about shooting digital, I traded it off to a Windows user that I knew. Here's one of my favorites from that Minolta, shot with F100, 20-35 f/2.8, on Fuji Velvia 50, at the Japanese Garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
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Thanks for the recommendation on the Nikon Coolscan, I want to use models that are USB 2.0, which I think the Coolscan IV and V are, not sure on other models yet. The only concerned is if I need a repair done on one of these things, how hard is it to come across parts? What's the reliability like?
I also definitely would like to know about Minolta, I don't know anything about them and am interested, what models would I be looking to go for with these?
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Thanks for the recommendation on the Nikon Coolscan, I want to use models that are USB 2.0, which I think the Coolscan IV and V are, not sure on other models yet. The only concerned is if I need a repair done on one of these things, how hard is it to come across parts? What's the reliability like?
I also definitely would like to know about Minolta, I don't know anything about them and am interested, what models would I be looking to go for with these?
AFAIK, Minolta is a crap shoot at this point, WRT scanners. Sony has the reigns now, and while I did hear that they were doing some things with some models, they no longer produce them. Even that was some time ago, so I don't know how likely it is that they could be relied on for service or repair any longer.
Minolta made very good scanners, and they enjoyed good reliability, but that was many years ago, and I have not looked into current parts availability. My suggestion is to inquire at Sony. I'm not sure what is happening with Nikon parts, service, and repair of scanners either. That's old technology now that digital bodies rule the roost, thus not supported as it was.
Good luck.
The alternative is to choose a reliable lab to process and scan your film going forward. That is not going to be the least expensive way, but, it is the way to get good IQ scans.
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The Coolscan IV-ED is USB 1.1. They claimed a 42 second scan at full 2900 horizontal pixel resolution, but in my experience that was pretty optimistic. I would not recommend this one if you're in a hurry. But if you have a machine that it gets along with, and some time, it makes a good image. I found this a nice scanner to use while sort of watching TV. The perfect multitasking activity during Olympic season.
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The Coolscan IV-ED is USB 1.1. They claimed a 42 second scan at full 2900 horizontal pixel resolution, but in my experience that was pretty optimistic. I would not recommend this one if you're in a hurry. But if you have a machine that it gets along with, and some time, it makes a good image. I found this a nice scanner to use while sort of watching TV. The perfect multitasking activity during Olympic season.
I have confirmed what you have said to be true, the Nikon Coolscan V and Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED both use USB 2.0, I'll have to check other models, the firewire models might be doable with vuescan software.
AFAIK, Minolta is a crap shoot at this point, WRT scanners. Sony has the reigns now, and while I did hear that they were doing some things with some models, they no longer produce them. Even that was some time ago, so I don't know how likely it is that they could be relied on for service or repair any longer.
Minolta made very good scanners, and they enjoyed good reliability, but that was many years ago, and I have not looked into current parts availability. My suggestion is to inquire at Sony. I'm not sure what is happening with Nikon parts, service, and repair of scanners either. That's old technology now that digital bodies rule the roost, thus not supported as it was.
Good luck.
The alternative is to choose a reliable lab to process and scan your film going forward. That is not going to be the least expensive way, but, it is the way to get good IQ scans.
So it's the same thing either way right? Which means it wouldn't be a bad thing to know some things about Minolta Scanners.
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I have the Coolscan 4000 and found the bulk negative feeder very useful. I load it up and get on with other tasks. It does have a bulk slide feeder (SF-200S) option which loads 50 slides. Both the Coolscan and Nikon Scan work fine on Windows 10 so no need for having to use an old OS. The Coolscan IV-ED mentioned also works with Windows 10 and Nikon Scan.
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I have the Coolscan 4000 and found the bulk negative feeder very useful. I load it up and get on with other tasks. It does have a bulk slide feeder (SF-200S) option which loads 50 slides. Both the Coolscan and Nikon Scan work fine on Windows 10 so no need for having to use an old OS. The Coolscan IV-ED mentioned also works with Windows 10 and Nikon Scan.
Well, this is quite a surprise, Nikon Scan actually works with Windows 10? That is quite different from what I've heard elsewhere. Thank you for this excellent information!
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I have the Coolscan 4000 and found the bulk negative feeder very useful. I load it up and get on with other tasks. It does have a bulk slide feeder (SF-200S) option which loads 50 slides. Both the Coolscan and Nikon Scan work fine on Windows 10 so no need for having to use an old OS. The Coolscan IV-ED mentioned also works with Windows 10 and Nikon Scan.
One would still need Firewire connection to the computer?
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One would still need Firewire connection to the computer?
Microsoft have compatible legacy drivers available https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2970191/firewire-port-based-device-does-not-work-correctly-in-windows-8-1-or-w
The Coolscan IV-ED is USB interface.
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One would still need Firewire connection to the computer?
are you referring to hardware here?
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I'll have to try that again, I guess (not home at the moment). I thought I had tried Nikon Scan on Win 10 and found it did not work. I think the machine itself will, if one uses other software, but I seem to recall incompatibility with Nikon Scan, but maybe I'm forgetting already. When I get home later in the week I'll see if I can give it a try, and report back.
Slow as it is, I found the Coolscan IVED and Nikon Scan made pretty nice images.
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are you referring to hardware here?
Connecting a Firewire scanner to a computer presumes there is a Firewire receptacle at the other end :D
(my Nikon scanners both use Firewire)
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Well, this is quite a surprise, Nikon Scan actually works with Windows 10? That is quite different from what I've heard elsewhere. Thank you for this excellent information!
I know it is possible to make Coolscan models with USB to work under Windows 7 and Windows 8, with some simple software modification. I use a Coolscan V myself on Windows 7 with no problems. I have not tried it under Windows 10, but it is worth a try. I see no reason why it should not work.
Here is the info: http://axelriet.blogspot.com/2009/10/nikon-ls-40-ls-50-ls-5000-scanners-on.html
You need to download Nikon Scan 403 from here: https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/na/NSG_article?articleNo=000026780&configured=1&lang=en_SG
This is for 32-bit Windows, but it will work on 64-bit with the description mentioned in the link above.
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Connecting a Firewire scanner to a computer presumes there is a Firewire receptacle at the other end :D
(my Nikon scanners both use Firewire)
I understand that firewire to usb adapters are sub 10€ items. Am I mistaken?
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Adapters are cheap -- but will they work? As I already have deployed computers with the necessary Firewire connections I'll stick to what works at present ....
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You can still buy FireWire pci cards as well as pci-e expansion cards for PCs if you wanted, now if you have a laptop I’m not so sure.
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I know. The laptops & PCs I'm using for scanning purposes all support FireWire. No need to purchase any additional hardware.
In the unlikely event these laptops all fail, and/or my virtual machine server(s) no longer work, I might have to rethink the situation. However, that is a lot of ifs.
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I know. The laptops & PCs I'm using for scanning purposes all support FireWire. No need to purchase any additional hardware.
In the unlikely event these laptops all fail, and/or my virtual machine server(s) no longer work, I might have to rethink the situation. However, that is a lot of ifs.
Scanners being the notorious speed bottlenecks that they are to begin with, I'm not sure that the specific interface matters a whole lot. Big bonus to Nikon with that 50 slide tray. Not that it Makes scanning any faster, it does allow one to set it up and ignore it for extended periods, doing something else while it runs.
Digital bodies have spoiled me, I don't have the patience to scan film any more. I should probably get rid of my film bodies before they drop even further in value. Same for some old flash units, and my 20-35 f/2.8 <sigh>.