Dimage Multi Pro or Nikon 9000ED?

[sf]

I am trying to decide which. I have a feeling the Minolta is a better scanner, but would appreciate from input from those who know. I can get the Nikon 8000 for a good price, and the 9000 for the next best.

The DImage would cost me the most, but it seems like the best scanner around.

In honest opinions, is this sort of investment logical? I would consider buying a better flatbed, because i use an Epson 3170 and am unhappy with it. I like the scans i get from the 35mm film on the Minolta Dimage I have, but I would like that in MF. The Microtek, Canon and Epson options are attractive, but I really have never had a scan from a flatbed that looked good at all. THey all look soft.

What i want, is something that will make 13x19 inch prints made from my 645 negatives a possibility at very high DPI.

Any input, comparisons, samples, ideas.

 

[bobofish]

I thought you said you wanted to give your credit card a rest?

I can just hear your wallet from here, Shutterflower. You're at least 200 miles away, but I can hear it wheezing and coughing....better get it some vitamin C before it kicks the bucket. 😛

 

[sf]

I thought you said you wanted to give your credit card a rest?

I can just hear your wallet from here, Shutterflower. You're at least 200 miles away, but I can hear it wheezing and coughing....better get it some vitamin C before it kicks the bucket. 😛

so far away, and yet you know me so well. You're right. I do, in fact, have no actual money right now.

I get like this. I know that I really don't have any actual need for something like that, I just get worked up about image quality. I have these great 645 frames, and the 3170 makes those scans look even softer than the 35mm I get from the dedicated scanner. Just frustrating. But, I know it is best to just take pictures and use the 3170 in the mean time, and wait till actual liquid wealth exists that allows for the painless purchase of a good scanner. Not like i have any actual need, no clients or shows. Just for my own printing, for my own eyes. ANd I can always scan those pictures when the scanner comes along. Not like they are going to melt or something.

Right now, I am lucky to have zero credit card debt which is a GREAT feeling- and I'm itching to use that card again, but I won't - because the cards don't exist. THe accounts still do, but the physical cards are history. Good riddance. Now, just to kill the Paypal account that has those cards on file.

Thanks for the extra help. I get a little crazy sometimes. But someday, the Coolscan will be mine. Or something like it.

 

[daveozzz]

I asked a question comparing a Coolscan LS-50 to KM DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 II on P.net Different models I know but the general concensus over there was the Nikon scanner was better quality in build and reliability and the KM. If that would continue to be the case up the line I'm not sure.
Also the fact KM are pulling out of the photography arena completely might be a consideration as to the quality of future support.

 

[GeneW]

I've only heard good things about the Nikon 8000 and 9000. The Minolta Multi Pro is long out of production, and the company is now out of business, if that's a factor to be considered.

Gene

 

[Richard Black]

I have to ask. When you say your scans from the 3170 are soft can you describe what you mean? Are they slightly out of focus? The reason I ask is the scans I get from the 3170 are quite impressinve and I've blown 120 up to 10x10 from scanned and stored on CD. One of mine, taken with a Mamyia Sekor C330 with 55mm wide angle, is sharp enough to study the rust on the fender of an old Ford truck. I don't mean this to be bragging, but what software do you use? I get TIFF files to work on over 17mg. The two attached are recent, the old ford is taken with a Moskva 5 and the other a Fujica GS645 folder.

Each were scanned using the Epsom software at 1200dpi and saved to a CD. The prints have won some local awards at a camera shop here.

 

[berci]

Hey,

I guess the big Konica scanner is as good as my 5400 II, so it's worth saving for.

Open a savings account and set up a standing order to save fot the scanner, and you can have it in half a year or a year without using any credit.

Berci

 

[bobofish]

Don't encourage him!
You guys are going to make him turn tricks on the street corner next! 😛

I obsess over image quality too, and it makes little sense. In the end, you have the good negatives, and that's the important thing...everything else is trivial and unimportant. If you will need prints for clients, you'll be able to use your business training to develop a cost analysis for having them scanned on a drum....and no scan will ever look as good as your slides on a light table with a Schneider loope.

Ah, the siren song of the empty credit card.

Oh, and by the way, although it is considered inappropriate, it is acceptable to go to the local photo store and use their schneider loope on their light table to oggle your pics... If nothing else, throw the person behind the counter a wink; if it's a hot chick, you might just come out ahead, and if it's a narly fat man, then you can be sure nobody is going to ask you any questions.