tips for Konica Minolta 5400 scanner on Mac OS X

[menos]

This is a thread to copy here some quick notes I took for myself to remember after running into scanner connectivity and hang up loop issues for the hundredths time when I was scanning yesterday.

I hope this helps someone else - it sure helps me to not get hung up again.

Konica Minolta scanners (I run a couple of 5400 Mk1 and a latest MultiPro) work absolutely beautiful on Mac OS X and VueScan.

There are just a couple of things you have to follow exactly - you deviate and you might get stuck with the scanner not being recognized / connected / hung in a loop and end up :bang::bang::bang:

Quick notes:

Only needed once:
- install VueScan
- reboot Mac after successful installation

Every time you set up for scanning:
- connect power adapter to scanner
!!! DO NOT CONNECT FIRE WIRE YET !!!
- switch power "on" on scanner - green LED will flash
- insert film holder into scanner - scanner will recognize film holder and push it into eject position
- wait for green LED to stop blinking until it is lit constant (scanner ready)

- NOW (and only now) connect fire wire to Mac (I use a OEM Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 dongle and a Firewire 800 to 400 cable)
- start VueScan (DO NOT start VueScan at any step earlier or the scanner will not be recognized)
- wait for VueScan pop up message “remove film holder”
- click ok and wait for VueScan to load completely
(THIS CAN TAKE SOME TIME with VueScan also sometimes causing beachball of death - JUST WAIT IT OUT, be patient and don't touch anything)

- once VueScan is loaded and the scanner is recognized, load your options file of choice (or set scan settings manually)
- start scanner calibration

- after calibration finish, verify scan file saving folder (I use a scan folder on my desktop but sometimes delete that folder, hence verify that the correct folder is selected otherwise VueScan will throw the scan files most likely directly into the picture root folder of the current Os X user account)

- insert film holder with film and wait for files to save (I run my Minolta 5400 with fully automatic scanning to file once the scanner detects a film holder, so I just have to swap holders without any necessary further steps)

- repeat until all film is scanned


Follow each step precisely (the scanner and VueScan initialization process).
If you don't do this but connect the scanner before the green LED shows "scanner ready" or you start VueScan before the scanner is properly initialized, you will not get the software to recognize the scanner and you will pull your hair out.
The tricky bit with Minolta scanners on OS X is to follow these steps and be patient with the initialization - it will work 100% all the time reliably this way.

The most important detail is that the scanner does show the green "scanner ready" LED fully lit BEFORE you connect it via Firewire cable to the Mac.

Sometimes VueScan will hang during scanning - the more devices you daisy chain between Mac and scanner, the higher the risk of this happening.
When it happens, simply:
- force quit VueScan
- shut down the scanner and disconnect the Firewire cable
- follow the procedure again step by step (if it happens within a long scanning session, I most often skip the Scanner calibration, which I do only initially)

On my last scanning session I had daisy chained a total of six (6) Thunderbolt devices to the Mac (the scanner being the 6th device).
It worked but I felt that VueScan initialization did take longer and I had more frequent unresponsive scanner moments and VueScan hangs then I remember from having the Scanner directly connected to the Mac last time around.

 

[brbo]

Macs don't have USB anymore?

Even with Firewire connection I don't have to do all the dance you describe with my Minolta 5400. Power-on the scanner and THEN connect Firewire does it for me everytime. And since I virtually never turn off my Mac it's enough to do this only when the machine is restarted (I only have to do this "hot plug" once). If I don't forget I power on the scanner if I know the machine will be restarted. This way I avoid plugging in the Firewire cable into the computer with the scanner powered on, FW is known to eventually fail if you do that a lot.

But usually I just use USB connection now that I don't have that many USB devices anymore so I have a free USB port for Minolta.

One problem with Vuescan. It never survives if you try to Quit with the scanner already turned off. I'd file a bug report but I don't know this minor inconvenience is worth being yelled at by Ed Hamrick 😉

 

[venchka]

My year old iMac 21 has 4 USB ports. I connect my Epson scanner via FireWire 400-800-Thunderbolt. Faster than the original antique USB port on the scanner. Viewscan works fine since Epson dropped support for Mac OS X on my ancient scanner.
Learning Viewscan is interesting.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[menos]

Macs don't have USB anymore?

Even with Firewire connection I don't have to do all the dance you describe with my Minolta 5400. Power-on the scanner and THEN connect Firewire does it for me everytime. And since I virtually never turn off my Mac it's enough to do this only when the machine is restarted (I only have to do this "hot plug" once). If I don't forget I power on the scanner if I know the machine will be restarted. This way I avoid plugging in the Firewire cable into the computer with the scanner powered on, FW is known to eventually fail if you do that a lot.

But usually I just use USB connection now that I don't have that many USB devices anymore so I have a free USB port for Minolta.

One problem with Vuescan. It never survives if you try to Quit with the scanner already turned off. I'd file a bug report but I don't know this minor inconvenience is worth being yelled at by Ed Hamrick 😉

Unfortunately I do have issues when not following the described sequence to the letter (as do have many, many other users apparently when looking through the Konica Minolta yahoo group - still the best place to trouble shoot scanning issues with these scanners now unfortunately without factory support).

I found that in this configuration following this exact sequence has eliminated any of the connection issues I ever had with these scanners (5400 Mk1 and MultiPro).

I don't do USB as I also run a MultiPro medium format scanner for 120 film and 135 panorama (only FW400 on the MultiPro) - I simply use one fixed Thunderbolt to FW800 dongle + FW800 to FW400 cable as the sole connection of the three scanners I use and switch between them as I need.

I do run all our Macs still on Yosemite 10.10.5 as unfortunately I missed the "purchase" of El Capitan in the App Store and we NEVER run our work machines on the latest OS for sanity reasons.
It may be that OS X Sierra does have changes to the Firewire connectivity protocol and it surely has a different connectivity protocol with USB (OS X Yosemite is infamous for a bug in Thunderbolt accessory connectivity whereas a Thunderbolt connection can be terminated under certain circumstances and only be revived by physically disconnecting and reconnecting the Thunderbolt root cable).

This may or may not have been fixed in OS X Sierra.
This behavior is identical on all our Macs (Macbook Pro different models and MacPro late 2013), also no different in either directly connected to the Mac or daisy chained.

I shared this because it works 100% reliable and takes away all those "scanner not ready" or "scanner not recognized" or "is my scanner broken" issues you see online that are rooted in the finicky Thunderbolt - Firewire connection and can be mistakenly diagnosed as broken scanners
.
The major difference between the 5400 135 scanner and the MultiPro 120 scanner is that the MultiPro needs a LOT LONGER initial warm up time to get to the "scanner ready" state while the 5400 basically becomes ready within seconds once powered and a film holder is inserted (BEFORE connecting Firewire to the Mac). I got into the habit early to just go and brew a coffee preparing my negatives while the scanner warms up (and I do have spare tubes already in the drawer just in case).

Please be aware that the MultiPro mentioned here is the latest model (Nikon CS 9000 competitor, Firewire 400 ONLY), not the earlier version which I did not run in this setup.

Regarding the VueScan bug of not shutting down once the Scanner is disconnected - I have experienced this in the past and simply "force quit" VueScan back then.
I do run the latest VueScan "vuex6495" version since a few scanning sessions and did not experience this issue (but also didn't look for it).
It may or may not have been fixed.

On the few occasions I had VueScan issues I found Ed Hamrick to be super quick and very helpful when contacted by Mail (he was the driving force behind me finding out a solution for my connectivity issues I had with the MultiPro, which drove me nuts until I came up with this sequence - which works equally 100% reliable with the 5400).

 

[aldobonnard]

Hi Menos,
Great tips. I never had the issue so far but was using the 5400 Mk.I via a VM (virtual box instance running Win XP and Silverfast 6.6) using the USB port (VM's don't support the Firewire except for HDD's).
I never tried to run parallel sessions with (to begin with) two 5400 scanners, scanning in parallel.
Is that what you have done yourself ? If yes how did you do that ? Does Vuescan allow to be opened several times (two instances running in parallel) ? My other option would be to run two VM's in parallel using each a different USB port - that might be not the best option -. Would be great to hear from your experience.

 

[menos]

I have not run several Konica scanners at once yet.
This is something I am planning to look into once I have my 5400 scanners all in one place (the other two I have are in storage on another continent).

I know that Vuescan does not allow to open several instances (this would have been perfect but does not work).

It may or may not work through different VM's or running one instance on the host system and another through a VM.

So far I have not needed to run both 135 and 120 film at the same time as I always shoot and scan one or the other but I can see that running two or three 5400 at the same time can be VERY handy when scanning in bulk ;-)

 

[gnuyork]

Interesting...I use the 5400, Vue Scan, and a Mac OSX and I have none of those issues. The only thing is after not using the scanner in a long time, I was getting funny color and I figured out it was because I wasn't doing the calibration. Now I do that every time.

I also use USB, not the firewire, in fact my computer only has FW800 anyway.

One problem with Vuescan. It never survives if you try to Quit with the scanner already turned off. I'd file a bug report but I don't know this minor inconvenience is worth being yelled at by Ed Hamrick 😉

Ha ha, yes. This is true.

 

[Solinar]

With a MacBook Air, current Sierra OS - I use a Firewire 800 to 400 cable to Thunderbolt adapter and connect the Thunderbolt cable as a next to last step, once the 5400 Elite has settled down.

The above info is correct. It is better open Vuescan as a last step and be sure to close the program before turning off the scanner.