Jerry
02-16-2006, 08:54 PM
I was at my fav camera store today buying Canon L-glass 17-
40mm and 24-70mm lenses. I knew he carried Nikon scanners, so
we talked about them as well.
He has both sold and personally used the Coolscan V ED, 5000
ED, and 9000 ED. In my first post I asked the more general
question of what people recommended with the main criteria
being able to bulk scan. I thank everyone who replied. I
learned a great deal. I learned even more from my local store
manager.
First, he says that since I'm in no hurry, I should wait until
after PMA to see what's new, with some likelihood of current
models dropping in price.
I asked him what he thought I needed, since he knows quite
well what I do and my level of expertise. He /strongly/
advised me /not/ to buy any Coolscan scanner with to optional
bulk tray. He says that nearly 100% of what he sold last year
came back, one 3 times. The buyers eventually kept the
scanner, which worked flawlessly with the built-in f-slide
holder, and returned the larger tray. The alleged problem was
continual jams loading new slides, in some case with very
difficult extraction.
We also talked about Digital ICE and Kodachrome. So, here's
some fresh questions to help people focus on what I think I
heard today, and offer their personal experience. As to Braun,
he knows about it, but can't get them. He predicted they would
also jam, but that's just supposition.
1) If anyone has the Braun SlideScan 4000, what has your
experience been with either of Braun's optional trays, the
straight one or the circular 100 job. I (now) understand that
I would have to swap slides from my Kodak Carousel trays to
anything I buy, which I can live with.
Is the Braun relatively jam-free in bulk mode?
2) Again to the Braun 4000, I would scan at 1800 DPI, not
3600. If my calculator is correct, that would give me about
approx. 2.4 mega pixels, which is plenty for me. Braun claims
a scan speed with ICE off at 60 seconds, but I'm skeptical of
that. What is your experience? And, how long does it take with
ICE turned on?
3) For any Nikon Coolscan, same questions basically"
a) What is your experience with the bulk loader? Work OK, work
sorta, or jam-city?
b) If I read the Nikon 500 specs right, the smallest image
size is in 12 mega pixel range, which is really overkill for
me. So, my question is, what is your experience with per-slide
scan times with ICE off and with ICE on?
5) What is your experience scanning Kodachrome slides with
Digital ICE turned on. Again, my local store manager says he
has had excellent results. The only thing he does is turn the
slide emulsion side up, so ICE doesn't mistake the emulsion 3-
D effect as dust, and do a 600 wet sandpaper job on it. He
says that his customers also report good success, but he was
more vague on that.
6) Finally, I assume that both Braun and Nikon scanning
software has masks for common negative film types, certainly
Kodak and Agfa. I have only a small number of negs and they're
all Kodak. If I assume right, is the Coolscan color rendition
sufficiently accurate?
Six new questions is a lot, I know. If it results in too much
length and confusion, I will wait a day or two and come back
with smaller bites.
Thank you all for any and all advice and recommendations on
what works and what doesn't. And, since I have only 35mm and
no medium format, I do go with my camera store manager that I
don't need the big Nikon.
40mm and 24-70mm lenses. I knew he carried Nikon scanners, so
we talked about them as well.
He has both sold and personally used the Coolscan V ED, 5000
ED, and 9000 ED. In my first post I asked the more general
question of what people recommended with the main criteria
being able to bulk scan. I thank everyone who replied. I
learned a great deal. I learned even more from my local store
manager.
First, he says that since I'm in no hurry, I should wait until
after PMA to see what's new, with some likelihood of current
models dropping in price.
I asked him what he thought I needed, since he knows quite
well what I do and my level of expertise. He /strongly/
advised me /not/ to buy any Coolscan scanner with to optional
bulk tray. He says that nearly 100% of what he sold last year
came back, one 3 times. The buyers eventually kept the
scanner, which worked flawlessly with the built-in f-slide
holder, and returned the larger tray. The alleged problem was
continual jams loading new slides, in some case with very
difficult extraction.
We also talked about Digital ICE and Kodachrome. So, here's
some fresh questions to help people focus on what I think I
heard today, and offer their personal experience. As to Braun,
he knows about it, but can't get them. He predicted they would
also jam, but that's just supposition.
1) If anyone has the Braun SlideScan 4000, what has your
experience been with either of Braun's optional trays, the
straight one or the circular 100 job. I (now) understand that
I would have to swap slides from my Kodak Carousel trays to
anything I buy, which I can live with.
Is the Braun relatively jam-free in bulk mode?
2) Again to the Braun 4000, I would scan at 1800 DPI, not
3600. If my calculator is correct, that would give me about
approx. 2.4 mega pixels, which is plenty for me. Braun claims
a scan speed with ICE off at 60 seconds, but I'm skeptical of
that. What is your experience? And, how long does it take with
ICE turned on?
3) For any Nikon Coolscan, same questions basically"
a) What is your experience with the bulk loader? Work OK, work
sorta, or jam-city?
b) If I read the Nikon 500 specs right, the smallest image
size is in 12 mega pixel range, which is really overkill for
me. So, my question is, what is your experience with per-slide
scan times with ICE off and with ICE on?
5) What is your experience scanning Kodachrome slides with
Digital ICE turned on. Again, my local store manager says he
has had excellent results. The only thing he does is turn the
slide emulsion side up, so ICE doesn't mistake the emulsion 3-
D effect as dust, and do a 600 wet sandpaper job on it. He
says that his customers also report good success, but he was
more vague on that.
6) Finally, I assume that both Braun and Nikon scanning
software has masks for common negative film types, certainly
Kodak and Agfa. I have only a small number of negs and they're
all Kodak. If I assume right, is the Coolscan color rendition
sufficiently accurate?
Six new questions is a lot, I know. If it results in too much
length and confusion, I will wait a day or two and come back
with smaller bites.
Thank you all for any and all advice and recommendations on
what works and what doesn't. And, since I have only 35mm and
no medium format, I do go with my camera store manager that I
don't need the big Nikon.