New Scanner?

For holiday fun, I got the new computer running, shot some film, installed the SCSI card and drivers, and discovered the old Nikon LS-2000 has died. It's not a configuration problem, it's also dead to the old computer it had been working with before too.

So, do I get a new Nikon dedicated film scanner (the bulk feeder will transfer over) or will an Epson V750-M handle the smaller amounts of film I'm shooting now at least as well as the LS-2000 did in addition to dealing with reflective materials?

Any other suggestions? I don't care about the wet mounting but I do like the idea of having it scan more than one slide while I drink a cup of coffee.

Hi Will,

There are a billion posts and an excellent review to be found re. the V 750 on the photo-i site of Vincent Oliver: http://www.photo-i.co.uk/BB/.

For occasional scanning of your films, I am sure you'll find it to be very versatile and capable. If you want to do some really serious scanning, nothing flatbed beats a dediceted film scanner yet. In that case, you might consider buying the Nikon 5000 or 9000 for instance.

Cheers,

Cem

Cem,

Thanks. I was looking at Mr. Oliver's review when the OPF email popped up. I'm thinking the 750 will serve my purposes, I don't need ultimate quality in a scan.

Hi Will,

There's an attachment I believe for using oil for the negatives you need to scan!

Looking forward to seeing your fim of the Bevelry Hills Farmer's Market!

Let me know if you order the scanner! I think it will work out very well.

Asher

Asher,

Yes, the BHFM and the M8 comparisons are the ones I wanted to work with. And of course those of the beautiful woman we met at the sidewalk cafe. I'll dither a few more days and make the decision on the weekend.

Will_Perlis said:

Asher,

Yes, the BHFM and the M8 comparisons are the ones I wanted to work with. And of course those of the beautiful woman we met at the sidewalk cafe. I'll dither a few more days and make the decision on the weekend.

Click to expand...

I'm so interested in your results!

I intend to start shooting with my Eos 3 again and also with rangefinder film cameras.

I need to reorientate my sense of what is and was good about film as digital has taken me far from my base. So I'm looking forward to comparing our pictures.

Asher

Flatbed versus dedicated film scanner

I use a Konica-Minolta Dimage 5400 film scanner for 35mm negatives & slides but an Epson 4990 flatbed for 6*12cm with my Horseman SW612. The Epson is one generation before their latest comparably priced model. Of course, I couldn't resist comparing images from the two scanners at the 35mm level. Gotta say that the Minolta produced better quality images in terms of resolution (when magnified) and color rendition. It's too bad that K-M folded because I understand from reviews on other sites that not everyone is happy with Nikon film scanners.

Hi Michael,

Glad to hear you are still shooting film. Or are you really just find the gems in your film library? I would love to know you are one of the few who loves film enough to go through the effort for some special value.

Is there still service available for the Konica-Minolta scanners? Did Konica or anyone else pick up the service?

Asher

Still shooting film

Still shooting film though I sometimes use my wonderful wife's Olympus DSLR, which is a lovely camera. The reason for sticking with film has a lot to do with my slow paced style of photography. It takes time to compose pictures, to get the angle right, to wait until the wind blows that fluffy cloud where you want it, etc. So I don't take that many pictures per shoot. I have the negatives/slides developed at a local lab and select the best few (usually one or two per film) for further processing. Scanning takes a while (more than half-an-hour with a 6*12cm image, about 20 mins. with 35mm, always using Digital Ice but no other correction), which provides a good excuse for making a coffee or having a beer while listening to the machine whine, screech, and clunk along with a Pink Floyd CD that for some reason seems good scanning music. (Gotta love the sound of that Minolta)! Then the image opens up as a 108mb Photoshop file for 35mm or a 700mb file for 6*12cm. That's when the fun begins all over again. So there's really four lots of fun in shooting film and scanning (unless you're under time or business pressure, which I'm not): taking the pictures; the excitement of getting them back from the lab; the anticipation associated with scanning; Photoshop processing, which for me is the most creative part of the process. So far I've had no problems with my scanners, so I'm not sure what will happen when the Minolta breaks down.

......listening to the machine whine, screech, and clunk along with a Pink Floyd CD that for some reason seems good scanning music.

Click to expand...

The Delicate Sound of Thunder perhaps?

Sorry, couldn't resist

Stuart

StuartRae said:

The Delicate Sound of Thunder perhaps?

Sorry, couldn't resist

Stuart

Click to expand...

Right Stuart, that's one of the CDs It's strange but that kind of music seems to stimulate my creative juices on anything to do with photography, but to totally inhibit them when writing or doing data analyses needed for work. Does anybody else experience the effects music in similar or different ways or have an explanation for such effects? Cheers, Mike

Michael_Stones said:

Right Stuart, that's one of the CDs It's strange but that kind of music seems to stimulate my creative juices on anything to do with photography, but to totally inhibit them when writing or doing data analyses needed for work. Does anybody else experience the effects music in similar or different ways or have an explanation for such effects? Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

Just think of Kubrick's 2001! The music was what he played allthrough editing!

Asher

A fascinating director Kubrick was. Didn't he use base the billboard for the Shining on Diane Arbus's Twins?