Is Digital ICE that important -or- How is the DiMAGE Scan Dual IV?

I am presently looking at the Minolta DiMAGE Scan Dual IV, a rather

inexpensive film scanner ($269.95 at B&H), but its lack of Digital ICE

somewhat worries me. However, I am a student with limited financial

resources, and so the cost of the DiMAGE Scan Dual IV appeals to me.

The cheapest scanner with Digital ICE, the Nikon Coolscan V ED, starts

at $599 or so...a bit out of my price range. But if the scanner is

going to be a pain to use without Digital ICE, then perhaps I am

better off waiting until I have the money for a better scanner. So, I

am wondering if anybody with experience with the DiMAGE Scan Dual IV

can comment on its overall qualities and in particular its image

quality in light of its lack of Digital ICE.

 

-Kurt Raschke

Whether or not you will want ICE depends on what you are going to scan with it. If it's mostly color negatives then you will absolutely want to buy a scanner with ICE because you'll get tired of spending 1/2 to 1 hour on each scan cleaning up white dust specks. If you are going to scan mostly slides then it's less critical because the specks show up black and are usually less obvious. ICE doesn't work so well on B&W negs so even if your scanner has it you have to turn it off to scan B&W.

 

I went 2-1/2 years with a non-ICE scanner (a Kodak) and will NEVER, EVER go back because the difference is incredible and well worth it....YMMV.

I'm in the same boat as you and did opt for the IV. It's a very nice scanner, but I'd be lying if I said I isn't a pain not to have ICE. (At work, I use an ICE scanner. It is immeasurably more convienient.) However, if you store your negs and slides well and clean them before each scan, you can keep the dusting time to a minimum. I spend on average ten to fifteen minutes, more if I plan on making a big enlargement. The software auto dust brush plugin helps a bit but don't plan on relying on it.

If you already have a scanner without ICE (I agree, get ICE if you're looking for a scanner now) there's a program put out by polaroid for free called PolaDSR (Polaroid dust and scratch remover).

 

http://www.polaroid.com/service/software/poladsr/poladsr.html

 

Good buy for the money (It's free) and it does work to remove pesky dust and scratch marks on your B/W film scans as well.

i have the scandual IV, and have had greats results with it. I'v never used a scanner with ICE so i can't compare, but for me atleast dust hasnt been a major problem

I've been cleaning 1800 Vuescan raw file scans, of silver-based black and white film, made with Scan Dual II, mostly from Tri-X. I'm about 50 files away from completing this task, which I started in January (wait for it) of 2003. Since ICE doesn't work with silver emulsion, I've lossed nothing by not having ICE. But I sure as heck am going shopping for an ICE scanner before getting into my color films.

 

Your "price range" could cost you years of sparetime. Forget it, get the best. Research here and the rest of the WWW.

I have the DSD III, and while it is a (reasonable) good scanner: scanning is a Royal Pain In The A@@. Dust is one of the major problems, getting the color exactly right is another (slide on the light table scanned). I thought I could get away with just having film developped and then scan them. Forget it. You will only scan your very best images; scanning is just too time consuming and frustrating.

Noise removal programs would help a great deal I suppose.

<p>I bought a used 4000 for something less than the cost of a new V from B&H. Think it was about $500 and has the same feature set (minus the new shadow-handling features that I can see disabled in my Nikon scanner software) as the V so it's a good choice now that all the professionals are unloading them in favour of the 5000. I'd guess (admission: wild a** guess) that the optics might <i>actually</i> be slightly superior in the 4000 (compared to the V) so that <i>might</i> even make a better choice.</p>

 

<p>I'm very happy with the results too, although I've been a little too lazy so far to really dig in and do the scans perfectly since I just want to get a good collection into iPhoto/Photoshop and then go back and identify the really promising ones that are worth the extra effort and time.</p>

 

<p>Just to second two other points made in this thread:</p>

<ul>

<li>You certainly won't be scanning <i>everything</i> you shoot because scan times are long (2+ minutes without any in-scanner correction or cleaning)

<li>ICE is useless with B&W (darkens the scan) so if you shoot this style then save your money

</ul>

I own a Scan Dual IV and think its an excellent scanner for the price. However, this is my first film scanner so I have no basis for comparison. I have found that the Auto Dust Brush included with the scanner does a decent job of removing dust without sacrificing image quality. Those scans where I did not use the Auto Dust Brush, I did not spend anywhere close to 1/2 - 1hr manually removing them out of the image. YMMV. If your budget is limited, I highly recommend the Scan Dual IV.

I too am in the same boat. I've been researching scanners for the past three weeks. Here's my running order.

 

1. Minolta Scan Elite 5400 - Has 5400 dpi wiht ICE, I've heard nothing but good things said about this scanner. A notch above the Nikon Coolscan V. Scan's 4 neg or slides at a time where the Coolscan V only dose one at a time, this is a major PLUS for me. But $580+ shipping makes me wonder if it's worth 2x the price of the Scan Dual IV just for ICE (and a little more dpi).

 

2. Minolta Scan Dual IV- I've seen some outstanding scans produced from this scanner however with no mention of how long it took to get them that way (Dust & scratch removal). The price tag of $230 + shipping has me looking.

 

3. Minolta Scan Elite II - An older scaner with ICE, but only has 2800 dpi (how would this limit me). However I've heard that 2800 dpi is plenty for prints up to 8x10.

 

Then there's used. I've seen the Nikon coolscan IV going for $320 used or $369 referb.

 

I have a few questions. How often do you scan at max DPI? Aside from large file sizes and longer scan times are their any other drawbacks?

I seldom scan at max DPI, as most of my scans are for web presentation, not printing. When scanning for web presentation at 1200 DPI using Auto Dust Brush and 4x multi-pass, the scan takes about 20-30 seconds. When I scan at full 3200 DPI resolution, Auto Dust Brush and 16x multi-pass, the scan takes a bit longer. Say 3 to 5 minutes.

 

The biggest drawback so far for me is that the scanner software is particular when sharing a USB hub with other devices. It sometimes displays errors and won't scan when sharing a USB hub.

Manuel

 

Where did you find the 5400 for $580? Do tell. Enquiring minds want to know.

Fei8th,

 

Here's where I found it. Actually it's $575 and they only charge 6% of the items total to ship. Good luck!

 

http://www.amphotoworld.com/product.asp?id=mndse5400

 

Keep in mind that I've never shopped with them but I have called so that's how I got the shipping charges.