dwindling scanner choices

crane17

crane17

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I have been reading threads relating to scanners and it appears that many users are using Minolta DualscanIV or 5400 as dedicated 35mm scanners. (my impression is that the LED source for the nikon scanners is not as optimal for B&W) Now that KM will no longer be making scannners, what is next?
 
A good point crane17, I've been wondering the same myself! I have a Dimage 5400 and although the software is a pig it delivers great results. I guess it'll be down to market forces - or perhaps flatbed scanners will improve over the next five years to offer a qualitative alternative.
 
Silva Lining said:
...or perhaps flatbed scanners will improve over the next five years to offer a qualitative alternative.
Click to expand...

I have the opposite opinion: home use film scanner sales have peaked and Nikon will bail out of the market next. Sooner rather than later.

I hope I'm wrong because I can't afford a Nikon Coolscan right now.
 
venchka said:
I have the opposite opinion: home use film scanner sales have peaked and Nikon will bail out of the market next. Sooner rather than later.

I hope I'm wrong because I can't afford a Nikon Coolscan right now.
Click to expand...

Same here. I think that the Epson 750 and the Nikon Coolscan 50/5000 are the best we are going to see in the prosumer range of scanners. I don't see the big players investing in further R&D - for how many are left to buy that kind of product? For this reason I see no benefit in waiting for a next, better model (having said that lets just wait until Photokina).
 
This is my concern as well: it is a bigger threat to film shooters than oft-mentioned "death of film". And in fact, scanner shortage could make a dent in film sales too; so many of us got used to sharing our shots over the net. Affecting in turn film production. Hmm.. maybe I should get that glass plate back thing for Contax after all.. :)
 
Agreed. I have a busted Minolta Dimage Multi Scan Pro that's been in the shop (official service is now done by an outfit that serviced stuff for Sony) for months because of a lack of parts. It's very possible that they won't be able to fix it @ all & will have to do a buy-back (I hope for a decent sum if it comes to that) or, worse, I'll have to buy a new scanner. Inventory for the Nikon equivalent (9000?) appears to be pretty small based on my 'net checks on B&H & Adorama. In the meantime, for 35mm I've been using a Nikon 5000 & hate its user interface & the way it scans B&W.

venchka said:
I have the opposite opinion: home use film scanner sales have peaked and Nikon will bail out of the market next. Sooner rather than later.

I hope I'm wrong because I can't afford a Nikon Coolscan right now.
Click to expand...
 
venchka said:
I have the opposite opinion: home use film scanner sales have peaked and Nikon will bail out of the market next. Sooner rather than later.

I hope I'm wrong because I can't afford a Nikon Coolscan right now.
Click to expand...


NO I agree :D I do think that dedicated film scanner sales have peaked and agreed that we are unlikely to see any more investment from manufacturers. I would have anticipated that Furcafe's exerience would have been a future scenario, however it would appear that we are further down the line than I had hought.

I posited that flatbed - i.e. non film specific - scanners might improve to the extent that they would be a qualitative alternative to a dedicated film scanners - If it is the end of roduct development for dedicated film scanners, this would be the next best we could hope for
 
crane17 said:
(my impression is that the LED source for the nikon scanners is not as optimal for B&W) Now that KM will no longer be making scannners, what is next?
Click to expand...
Hmmm....

venchka said:
I have the opposite opinion: home use film scanner sales have peaked and Nikon will bail out of the market next. Sooner rather than later.
Click to expand...
I fear you may be right, but that seems crazy. Seems like vendors can't keep the Coolscan models in stock, and they demand pretty high prices on eBay. So it seems to me there's definitely a market for these units. For how long I don't know, but then who predicted that a new film camera (Zeiss Ikon) was going to be released?

furcafe said:
In the meantime, for 35mm I've been using a Nikon 5000 & hate its user interface & the way it scans B&W.
Click to expand...
Oh my.... Care to elaborate?

Zeiss needs to come out with a scanner! Yeah, right. ;)
 
When I wrote that I don't like the interface for the Nikon 35mm scanners, I meant that I don't like that the film is fed into them directly as strips/rolls, rather than placed in a holder like the Minoltas. It sounds good in theory, as you don't have to deal w/holders, but what happens in real life is that the scanner guesses where each frame begins & often gets it wrong, which requires me to make tedious manual adjustments in the software: I have to preview each strip, adjust for the scanner's guesses as to the frames, & then initiate the actual scanning (I use Vuescan, but the same would apply if I used the Nikon software). It's a pain in the rear if you shoot & scan a lot like I do. My experience might be different if I kept my film uncut after development (which I don't, as I have my lab cut them for contact sheets) & if I happened to have the optional $450 bulk feed system (which is apparently never in stock anywhere, including B&H)--in that case, I would still have to do the adjustments, but I could do it for an entire roll @ a time (though I wouldn't be able to cut the film until after scanning it).

When I wrote that I don't like the way the Nikon scanners scan B&W, I was referring to the way that their LED light sources capture even minor scratches in the film (tiny, light scratches that would barely be picked up by my Minolta), necessitating a lot of cloning/healing brush work in Photoshop. With color film, you can use ICE or other hardware cleaning methods to get around this, but they don't work w/traditional silver-based B&W emulsions (film grain is treated as "dirt").

goo0h said:
Oh my.... Care to elaborate?
Click to expand...
 
Furcafe,
There is an accessory film holder which can be fed in as you indicate for the Nikon scanners.

I think only the first generation of the 5400 had the slightly diffuse light source. Didn't all subsequent ones have light just as collimated as the Nikons?

allan
 
goo0h said:
Hmmm....


I fear you may be right, but that seems crazy. Seems like vendors can't keep the Coolscan models in stock
Click to expand...

Is it consumer demand that makes the product scarce? Or lack of supply? I would love to be a fly on the wall at Nikon.
 
I recently get a demo Minolta 5400 for 50£ at Jessops Birmingham, if you can get a similar deal go for it !!!
The price was stupidly low I still don't know why.

The PacificFilm 3650 is also said to be very good and it can get a full roll in one batch.
 
Pacific Image 3650.

Pacific Image 3650.

I've been interested in the PIE 3650 Pro for a little while, now, since the Dimage Scan Multi I have is a loaner. There aren't many reviews out there, but the few I've seen are pretty much 50/50 about the scanner.

There is a logistical advantage, though, as benjaminlr suggests - the 3650 allows for full-roll scanning (up to 40 frames, I think). This is specifically why it came to my attention. Given furcafe's regrets about the Nikon's frame-spacing troubles, I'd have to wonder about the 3650 - it doesn't offer a bulk feeder attachment, but rather drags the film through the scanner body and out the other side (or on the same side - I've never seen one in person).

If anyone has one of these beauties, I'd love to hear your comments. Its price is very agreeable.


Cheers,
--joe.
 
"NO I agree I do think that dedicated film scanner sales have peaked and agreed that we are unlikely to see any more investment from manufacturers."

It costs very little money to bring a new film scanner to market. The technology is mature. It's just basic plain vanilla engineering. But it is odd that it's taking so long for Nikon to upgrade their scanner line. I'd love to see a Coolscan 10000 that will scan 4x5. Hey, I can dream.
 
Dwindling scanner choices

Dwindling scanner choices

If film scanners are nearing the end of the road, then we can go back to transparency copying, if you remember them. Bellows on SLR with transparency holder at the end for 1:1 copying to the film in the camera (except of course it would be a digital SLR). For those forum members who are allergic to SLRs, you could put one of those Leitz mirror housings on a digital RF and do it that way.
 
If you're talking about the Nikon Supercoolscan 5000, there's no holder for film strips except the expensive bulk roll loader (it does come w/a feeder for mounted slides, which I don't use since I only shoot E6 for aesthetic purposes not for projection). For the medium format scanner (the 9000?), there's an expensive glass holder (in short supply like the bulk loader for the 5000), which Minolta supplied gratis w/the Scan Multi Pro.

As far as the light source on the Minolta, I believe the Scan Multi Pro's light source, though more collimated than the 5400, is still more diffuse than the Nikons, but I could be wrong. I'm not an engineer, so I can only describe what I see (which is obvious from scanning the same negs & slides on both scanners using the same software) & I'm only familiar w/my Supercoolscan 5000, not the 9000. Perhaps the 9000 has something like the Scanhancer (http://www.scanhancer.com) insert . . .

kaiyen said:
Furcafe,
There is an accessory film holder which can be fed in as you indicate for the Nikon scanners.

I think only the first generation of the 5400 had the slightly diffuse light source. Didn't all subsequent ones have light just as collimated as the Nikons?

allan
Click to expand...
 
planetjoe said:
I've been interested in the PIE 3650 Pro for a little while, now, since the Dimage Scan Multi I have is a loaner. There aren't many reviews out there, but the few I've seen are pretty much 50/50 about the scanner....If anyone has one of these beauties, I'd love to hear your comments. Its price is very agreeable.
Click to expand...
Definitely affordable. I notice even Costco carries them. At one point I was tempted to get one to at least have something, perhaps upgrading to something better later when I figured out what the blazes that might be. BTW, it's mentioned at the great scanner comparison.
 
Quality

Quality

rxmd said:
Where's the point of that as opposed to a glassless flatbed scanner?
Click to expand...

Nikon scanners have better lenses than inexpensive flatbeds with which I am familiar (my Epson 4990 has been a bit disappointing). And the build quality is higher.

I am not familiar with glassless flatbeds. Can you point me to a source with more info? Perhaps a comparison to a Nikon Coolscan 9000.
 
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