Coolscan 5000 questions

Simon Larbalestier said:
I wish it would cover the edges of the film frame or you could file it out like on the Imacon film holders (which are metal) but you can't as it's very thin plastic. Perhaps i'm just a fussy bugger!
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oh? actually its a bit funny as each frame is a little different because i am a lazy bugger. and you need to center the frames perfectly which i am often to lazy to do.

 
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sbramin said:
oh?

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What is that?

ok you added a bit whilst i was replying - so you filed out the plastic rebate of the FH3 holder?
No offense intended but that's not the visual effect i was referring to - mine was more the type you see when you file down the metal edges of a 35mm neg carrier in something like a Devere 504.
 
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Simon Larbalestier said:
Ok I found the thread regarding the sharpness issue with the SA-21 motorized strip film feeder it's documented here:

http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00Obu1
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It seems to me the problem would be minimized, if not eliminated, by scanning a whole roll at once, which is what I plan to do...there should be enough blank film left over at each end to keep every frame in focus. Right?

Anyway, the softness illustrated there looks pretty much the way the V500 scans look at their best! So I might not be too bothered...
 
Here's a thought i do know that some of my film frame sizes differ especially between my Nikon S3 and my Leica MP......
 
can't imagine why i would be offended. simply replying to a statement "I wish it would cover the edges of the film frame or you could file it out like on the Imacon film holders (which are metal) but you can't as it's very thin plastic."

cover full frame, thin plastic. seems sensible enough. getting some desired effect is none of my business. though i will say this thread is getting more dorky by the second. just buy the thing, and stop worrying so much. worrying isn't good for the health.
 
Apologies for adding to the 'dorkiness' of the thread.
 
mabelsound said:
Holy moses, the hell with the SA-30! I'm going to do this:

http://www.jumboprawn.net/jesse/cam...scan-4000-sa30/nikon-scanner-roll-feeder.html

One drop of solder, and you can convert the stock feeder to accept entire rolls at a time. The only thing missing is the holder at the end, but I will just let the film fall into a basket.
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Mabelsound, I just did the modification on a friends SA-21. Worked like a charm. I'm scanning a whole role now. Thanks for the link!
 
I have also just aquired the 5000ED and are lusting after the SA30, has anybody performed the modification to the SA21 to make it work like the SA30? I have read that, although it works fine, the SA30 has a much larger transport motor and stronger transport gears. I don't suppose it matters much weather the film is transported in 6 x 6 frame strips or a single 36 frame strip, or does it.
Cheers Andrew.
 
Never Satisfied said:
I have also just aquired the 5000ED and are lusting after the SA30, has anybody performed the modification to the SA21 to make it work like the SA30? I have read that, although it works fine, the SA30 has a much larger transport motor and stronger transport gears. I don't suppose it matters much weather the film is transported in 6 x 6 frame strips or a single 36 frame strip, or does it.
Cheers Andrew.
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Hi Andrew,
As mentioned in my post above, this worked for me on a SA21 and Nikon 4000. The motor is moving film horizontally, so I can't imagine a larger motor is that big of a deal. I just set it up so that the film rests on something at the same height on both sides.
 
That's an interesting mod to the scanner - I may try it if I decide that all my frames are worth scanning :D

Cheers,
Dave
 
Dave, I scan whole rolls after developing then print contacts or sets of 6 by4(!). Anything I want to print bigger I can then use the FH3 for. As my SA21 is still unsoldered I sometimes use that for C41 that has been cut up into little pieces before some of them are dropped, still damp, onto the dusty floor at a (any of them, they'er all as bad) local lab. Fortunately the fuji frontier cleans of 3 of the dust particles and uses them the scratch along the length of the remaining roll as it's fed through for printing.
 
MikeL said:
Mabelsound, I just did the modification on a friends SA-21. Worked like a charm. I'm scanning a whole role now. Thanks for the link!
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Oh excellent! I am nervous about opening up my brand-new thousand-dollar scanner tomorrow, ripping it apart, and applying solder to it...but I'd rather risk losing $150 than pay $500.
 
I'm going to do it, the way the Aussie dollar has crashed, a SA30 is $650. I wonder if you could buy the SA30 film catcher / drum as a spare part?
 
Well, it's here, it's modded, and it's up and running. Pretty smooth so far. In the end, I wimped out and just did the quickie mod of shorting two female connectors on the back of the SA-21 with a small piece of wire. This seems to work perfectly, and it can easily be undone. Not that I'll want to--it seems to scan shorter lengths of film just as easily.

I installed the Nikon Scan, opened it up, and stared at it in bafflement for half an hour. Then I closed it, paid for Vuescan and had everything working great in no time. I'm doing batch scans without blinking an eye--I have the film loosely coiled in a little receptacle in front of the scanner (it's a floppy disc holder), and am letting it shoot out the back and onto the floor. It was very exciting when the scanner finished frame 6...and then went on to 7!

Only problem so far is that the first couple of scans seemed to introduce SCRATCHES to my negs. It's entirely possible they were already there, but I kind of don't think so. The roll I'm scanning now looks pretty good so far, we'll see. I am seeing excellent sharpness and detail from corner to corner, using Vuescan's "edit" quality mode.

The 5000 is very small and sounds exactly like a tiny MRI machine.

Nikon Scan truly has a horrible GUI. It just made no sense to look at. Vuescan, for all its awkwardness, is like MacOS by comparison. I'm going to stick with it, now that I have the white/black points and curves figured out.

Thanks for the advice!
 
Mabelsound,

Which mod is it that you used that can be undone - I prefer not to solder the board on the SA-21 :)

Thanks,
Dave
 
Here you go...

some dude on the internet said:
Incidentally, for those who do not want to take the risk of opening
their SA-21 up and making a permanent solder link modification, there is
an alternative temporary fix, albeit a little less reliable.


The two contacts of the link in question connect directly to pins 16 and
17 of the blue rear connector on the SA-21. Looking into the rear of
the SA-21 with the adapter the correct way up, pin 13 is on the middle
row on the left of the connector, so just count 4 and 5 pins across and
you get to the two pins in question. These can be shorted together
using some very fine wire - thin enough so that the operation of the
connector contact is not interfered with. Then hold the link wire in
place with some adhesive tape - Scotch Magic tape works quite well for
this.


Before pushing the SA-21 back into the scanner, make sure that you
pierce the adhesive tape over each contact in the connector block with a
pin. This will prevent the corresponding pins in the scanner being
subjected to additional pressure as the adapter is pushed home in the
scanner.
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