New Minolta MF Film scanner

Hi all

Here's news of a new multiformat film scanner from Minolta.

It goes up to 6x9 and is to cost around $2500.

http://www.hyperzine.com/scripts/hzget.cgi?1713

I have no other info - does anybody else?

I wonder what the UK price will be?

Ok, I'll partly answer my own question!

Try:

http://www.precision-camera.com/digital/scanmulti.htm

<p>

- they even have pictures!

<p>

Max Optical resolution is 2820 dpi for 35mm but only 1128 dpi

for MF film sizes. This gives an image of size 2496 x 3104

pixels for 6x7 film. Comparing this to PhotoCD: in standard

PhotoCD, the largest of the 5 images in the PAC is

2048 x 3072 pixels. With Pro PhotoCD you get an extra, larger

image which is 4096 x 6144 pixels. These are the theoretical

maximima - in practice, with PhotoCD and MF images you get quite

large chunks of black border, especially for 645, so the actual

number of pixels can be less than you expect. I have the actual

sizes for each MF format somewhere - will try to dig them out.

Lee - I was at a Photographic show in London this afternoon. There was a Minolta stand, and they were demonstrating the scanner.

<p>

The scanner is being released in August, and the RRP is to be 2500 pounds!

<p>

I pointed out to the Minolta Rep that that was about 70% higher than the US price, but he didn't seem too bothered. I hope that this is going to be heavily discounted when it hits the streets.

<p>

The scanner is suprisingly large (especially compared to the 35mm variety). There's a caddy which slots into the front which contains your film - the MF caddy has two glass plates which sandwich up to a 6x9 film. There's about 15 degrees of rotate that can be applied also - a nice feature. There was no resolution information or documentation to hand - so I can't add to the information you posted above. The rep had never heard of Dmax, so that remains a mystery.

<p>

The twain software seemed OK. Scanning was pretty slow (2-3 mins for a 31Mb file of a 35mm tranny), although the rep said that this was due to some computer config problems thay were having. They were importing direct into Photoshop on NT4 on a Gateway PII300/64Mb.

<p>

I'm sorry I didn't push the rep further on price. The UK seems cheaper than the US on MF gear, slightly more expensive with 35mm (after the latest price cuts) and slightly more expensive on computer hardware. A pound to a dollar exchange rate takes us back a few years - and I hope Minolta have a rethink.

Foto & Doka, a Dutch photo magazine has just reviewed this scanner.

Rather to my disappointment the review was not positive unlike

several I have read about Minolta's 35 mm scanners, but I await users

comments with interest. If anyone wants more info on this article let

me know.

Our office recently bought the Minolta Dimage Multi Scanner. We sold

out Nikon LS-2000 as we now require MF scanning abilities. The

Minolta is a very good scanner. The dynamic range is rated at 3.6.

Out 35mm scans hold excellent shadow detail. Color rendition is

superb and excells the Nikon. The scanning software is intuitive and

easy to use.

<p>

The scanner is fast. 35mm scans at max resolution (30mb files) take

20-45 seconds. MF scans (6x6) take about the same. The cyan cast

that we got with the Nikon LS-2000 is not present on the Minolta

scans. The resulting Monolta scans are also sharper than the Nikon

scans with or without using Nikons ICE software.

<p>

A 30mb 35mm scan on the Nikon took us 20 minutes. This baby really

flies as I mentioned before.

<p>

All in all we could not be happier. As architects, we photograph

existing buildings, scan them into the computer, manipulate them in

Photoshop and create presentations that are printed on an Epson Photo

Stylus EX or HP DesignJet 750 at 24"x36".

<p>

I would surely recommend this scanner as a very viable alternative to

the expensive high end scanners for all but the most demanding

projects.

<p>

Mike