ben_eriksson Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 Hi, I shoot film as a hobby, and I am looking into buying a scanner, and amlooking for suggestions. I won't be scanning a terrible lot all the time, so itdoesn't have to be the fastest one on the market. Image quality is more important. I've been considering the Nikon LS-50 Coolscan V ED, which is about as much asI'm willing to pay. I shoot mostly black and white negatives, but also some color slides and negs. Of course I'm hoping that there's this <i>one</i> scanner that i just<i>should</i> buy, but I know it's rarely that easy with these sort of products. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Ingold Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 The Nikon LS-50 is a good choice if you don't need to scan 35mm film strips longer than 6 frames. Only the more expensive LS-5000 will take a whole roll feeder (or automatic slide feeder). Otherwise, the image quality is the same. Unfortunately, you will not be able to use Digital ICE with b&w film - the silver particles block infrared light which is used to detect dust and scratches. The healing tool in Photoshop is alone worth the price of Photoshop in time saved. You should be pleased with the results, but will find it takes practice to get the adjustments down, and scanning takes a lot of time no matter how practiced you become. The Nikon mechanicals and optics are unsurpassed. The only serious competitor, Minolta, is out of the photographic business. Flatbeds are cheaper, but ... well, you get what you pay for. If you think you might be interested in medium format film, now is the time to get an LS-9000. High-performance film scanners are an endangered species, as is film and film processing to a lesser extent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eye-of-searle Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 The Coolscan V/LS-50 would be a good choice at this price point. I've had mine for some now and I have been very happy with B&W and color scanning. You can get very good results right out of the box and you can get excellent results with some practice and fine tuning of your scanning techniques. You can find a huge amount of scanning tips and user experiences here via the "search" tool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyd Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 I have the epson 4490 flatbed and I scan 35 as well as 6X6. I am very happy with the results. It works a lot better than the Minolta Dual Image IV that I had and plus it can scan my Xpan and medium format images. For $199 after rebate it is a steal. I only shoot black and white. I make prints from these scans and they are excellent...<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_viapiano Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 Scott... That looks great! Show us another... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyd Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 Xpan shot with Kodak 400CN scanned on the espon 4490 flatbed<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyd Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 one more, this was with Arista film, I can't remember if it was 100 or 400 but the film is only $1.39 a roll<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick_p Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 I vote for the CS V. I've been happy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troyammons Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 The 4990 is not good enough in my opinion for 35mm. If you can find one a minolta 5400 II pretty much blows everything away except a few drum scanners. Its out of production though. Nikon scanner next. It should be tops for the currently available. Here is a 5400 dpi scan/crop of bluefire police film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discpad Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 Since you're scanning mostly B&W, Digital ICE is useless. The Konica-Minolta DImage Scan Dual IV is a great bargain at $210... If you can still find them. I recommended one to my editor to digitize some 50 years worth of racing negs, and as picky as Forrest is, he's as happy as a clam at high tide. The Nikon CoolScan LS-5000 is a great scanner, but at $1000 is pricey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpeterson Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 <p>I have used a Nikon Coolscan V for the past year. I am very satisfied with the results. It contains Digital Gem and Digital Ice, two essentials for getting grain and dust free scans quickly. I have tested the Epson flatbeds ad found them to be inadaquate for 35mm scanning. Here is a sample scan from my <a href="http://www.abqstyle.com/index.htm">Albuquerque Photos</a> website:</p> <p><img src="http://abqstyle.com/jemez/pics_2.jpg"></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_tuthill Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Nice photo, Donald! Last time you posted it I wanted to make the sky brighter, so this time I did, mostly by increasing cyan saturation. Don't know how it really looked, not having been there.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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