Grain Dissolver on the Minolta 5400 vs Dual Scan IV - Whats the Difference?

[bill_crenshaw1]

I'm wondering if anybody knows the difference between the grain

dissolver on the Minolta 5400 to the one on the Dual Scan IV?

 

From what I've seen on Minolta's site it seems that the 5400 has a

hardware version(physical diffusion of the light source) and the

Dual Scan IV has what looks like a software version.

 

 

 

My two questions are:

 

Does the software version on the dual scan IV, work just as well as

the hardware version?

 

Does the software version affect the final output of the scan in

terms of sharpness compared to the hardware version?

 

 

Thanks in advance for any help

 

Bill

[boris_zugic]

Not sure for Dual Scan IV, but Dimage 5400 uses hardware solution

(physical diffusion of the light source by setting scanhancer lens in the light path)

More info:

http://www.scanhancer.com/index.php?art=15&men=15&PHPSESSID=b192c259c2389207ef251f8bca7a830a

[boris_zugic]

Les,

Maybe "hardware solution" is not most fortunate term as it seams to describe some high-tech solution in scanner itself -it is just a diffuser - pretty much same as in some regular darkroom enlargers (you will insert it between condenser lenses to get softer light).

[erik scanhancer]

"That is not a hardware Grain Dissolver, from what I understand

of it that it does help."

 

Les,

 

The Scanhancer 5LE is a piece of hardware that in the Minolta

version is called "Grain Dissolver". As Boris said, it works similar

to what a diffuser in a traditional enlarger used to do.

 

With regards to the original question: the Grain Dissolver does

not alter the grain structure in the scan, it only reduces grittyness.

So the true film character will be conserved. All software grain

suppressors (not just the one in the Dual Scan IV) do alter the

grain identity. For me this is a reason not to use any software

(like NeatImage) to "remove" grain. I find these applications give

a "plastic", unnatural look to the original structure of what a

physical piece of film shows. For me grain is a vital part of a

picture. It should only not be overly accentuated.

[robert goldstein]

Where is the Scanhancer man when we really need him? Well, here is the URL to the website:

 

http://www.scanhancer.com/

[erik scanhancer]

Robert, please tell me when you really need me. I am not aware

of not being there when my help is needed. At least YOU seem

to know where to find me. :-)