Film scanneur minolta 5400 in canada, Québec

[pierre_cantin]

hi

I want to share my problem may be some one out there coud help.

Sorry if it is not the right place to post .

 

I did buy a scanneur january 6 to a dealer from my town in Québec.

He didn't have it in stock. But i said minolta canada (in ontario i

believe)have it stock no more than two weeks . I called my dealer

this morning to have new . He don't have any . I said i will take my

money back if he don't get it .

 

I don,t not where is the problem i believe it is with minolta or it

is my dealer who do not he 's job .

 

So anyone there dring a beer with minolta staff who coud say to

them , that i began to be mad with the services .Or any other help

to have my scanneur?

 

Thank's a lot

[johnny massey]

Pierre, I think this is happening to lots of people. Minolta cannot meet the demand. Fortunately it is worth the wait. Johnny. PS When you do get it don't run it with Windows 98 (in my experience).

[ben z]

I absoultely refuse to pre-pay a camera dealer in full for a backorder. Once they've got your money in their bank there isn't a whole lot of incentive for them to put an effort into bugging the distributor or manufacturer on your behalf. In your case I would tell them they've got one week to get your scanner or give you a refund. Then order it from somewhere it's in-stock. How about B&H? BTW KEH has one in "Excellent" for $499: <a href="http://www.keh.com/shop/product.cfm?bid=DM&cid=89&sid=used&crid=9940817">Here</a>

[olivier_reichenbach]

Pierre, I'll tell you what. Get your money back ASAP and do not buy this scanner. Unless

you're willing to wait like 40 minutes for one full res. ICEd file, that is. You've waited long

enough already. I don't KNOW that (I don't have one), but I've been told that by a

knowledgeable person in Montreal, who also confirmed that they might be backordered.

Go the Nikon 5000 or 9000 way.

[johnny massey]

FWIW, I've just timed 3 B&W max res scans against a stop watch - average 3mins 10secs, but comparing apples with apples I never use ICE as all my negs are 'new'.

[olivier_reichenbach]

Now try full res. input, full res. print output (I guess that's 300 dpi), maximum number of

passes, 14 or 16 bits (for a total of probably a 100 meg file) AND ICE, and tell us the

results.

[olivier_reichenbach]

Maximum number passes on the Minolta is, I guess, 16, as in the Nikon scanners. That's

what we're talking about.

Maximum details.

[bob_mcbob]

According to their web site, Simon's has the 5400 in stock for $1,019.95 . They update their inventory list fairly often, in my experience. I guess it would be worth a call at least.

[jorge]

Olivier,

 

Why on earth would someone want to make 16 passes of one scan unless one happens to be scanning a very dense Kodachrome and then it would be without ICE?

 

I've had the 5400 for about 18 months. I've only used the multiple scans feature a few times as a test. With normally exposed trannies (Velvia), color negatives and B&W negatives, there's absolutely no improvement, meaning that under normal conditions there's no digital noise in the shadows of the scan that might be ameliorated by multiple scans. Resolution, as expected, doesn't improve a iota with multiple scans.

 

My everyday work of B&W and C41 scans (seldom do trannies) take between 3 and 4 minutes time for the actual pass and transfer to Photoshop for a full res scan with ICE (for color), using either the native Minolta software or Silverfast 6.2 Ai. If you use the scan interface standalone --not from within Photoshop- the times are reduced somewhat.

 

Pierre, order it from B&H, it's less than US$630 now, and pay the import taxes. They have it in stock and I believe you may come out ahead with some savings. I know I did in regards to buying in Mexico. It is indeed a great scanner.

 

Olivier, you should know better than disseminate hearsay. Tsch, tsch...

[malcolm_rains]

I have the 5400 and after using it for several months I tried the VueScan software with it. I

was quite amazed at the difference. The scans were greatly speeded up (less than a minute

or two per negative) and there was less noise in the shadows.

 

VueScan took a little bit of work to get used to but now I never use the Minolta software.

 

I bought mine from Vistek in Toronto.....they might have some in stock.

[pierre_cantin]

Thank,s guys

 

I will try to have money back first , i gave them(dealer) only taxes.I will try to call minolta, like someone explain directely to my email. After i will buy it from simon's or in the state . You right i pay less then in canada how ever i pay the duty .

 

Thank's I appreciate

unfortunily i will buy a minolta however bad service they have.

[olivier_reichenbach]

Jorge, I was not discussing the virtues (or lack of) of multiple passes. I was repeating what

a knowledgeable person has told me (and some reviewers have remarked as well) which is

that if you use the Minolta scanner to its full potential - including multiple passes for

those times where you really have to go get as much details as possible - you will end up

waiting

around 40 minutes for one scan. So far, no one has proved the contrary, not even you. You

have just dismissed the utility of multiple passes, and this was not the point. It's a little

like answering "Why would you drive at 120 miles an hour?" at my complaining that the

brakes of a car lose a lot of efficiency at 120 miles an hour. Tch, tch, tch...

[bob_mcbob]

It's worth noting that if you buy the scanner from B&H, Minolta Canada won't honour the warranty.

[olivier_reichenbach]

Jorge, FYI, here are a few quotes from users opinions and reviews:

 

"Slow scan times with ICE and multi-sampling and 16-bit colour (like half an hour at full

res)..."

 

"Digital ICE slows down the scanning process; I have to sit in front of a computer..."

 

"The scanner becomes very slow with digital ice and grain dissolver..."

 

"Quality scans may take quite a bit of time (but it's okay with me)..."

 

"For many, scanning time will be the downside. I can get a good scan in about three

minutes but some of my multi-sample scans (up to sixteen passes over the transparency)

can take 90 minutes or more..."

 

"Making those really big files is a long, drawn out, arduous process ... even with 2.8 GHz

and 512 MB RAM? ... and did I mention it was SLOW?..."

 

"Multi-pass scans take a long time..."

 

"Cons: Sloooow..."

 

"Cons: Slow, no real batch scanning compared to the LS5000..."

 

"Cons: Scanning time on my G3 is long with full resolution and ICE..."

 

"Slow at high resolutions... Although the maximum resolution is very impressive, you are

unlikely to use it very often in practice as it generates 165MB jpegs from a full 35mm scan

and takes forever..."

 

"What are the weaknesses?... Time to scan with ICE..."

 

Etc...

 

This can safely be considered a bit more than "hearsay", don't you think?

[pierre_cantin]

I try to call minolta 1905-890-6601. But it allway busy line . I can't believe,how bad is the services

[jorge]

Lieber Olivier,

 

I'm sorry about the lancet on hearsay... :-) I only said that because you acknowledge not having personal experience with the scanner (aren't you a lawyer, BTW?); that constitutes hearsay.

 

My personal experience with the scanner has been, fortunately, different. I can agree on the lousy customer service. I had to threaten with a suit to get my original unit replaced (it failed on the fifth week, leaveing out the possibility of B&H serving the warranty) and even then I ended up paying the import duties twice, plus the not inexpensive S&H.

 

Talking about my personal experience with it, I would like to demonstrate feasibly that multiple passes do not enhance detail in the scan. I propose doing -and timing- scans of a Velvia tranny, a Kodak Gold 400 negative and a FP4+ negative; in one, 4 and 16 pass modes, full res, USM applied and off, Grain Diffusser and ICE on and off. I shall use the Minolta software (latest version tho, downloadable from internet), not the faster SilverFast, and post full resolution clippings in addition to the full image in a folder of my PN gallery. I have some things to do this week evenings but I'll do it next week if it's all right with you.

 

My first point will be that multiple passes do not enhance detail in scans, only reduce noise and in some rare instances enhance D-range. My second point to demonstrate (hopefully) will be that the D-r. of the 5400 is good enough that even dense trannies scan all right without need for multiple passes, specially not 16, or even 8. The third pint will be that for the great majority of situations, a single pass, with ICE and GD, gives more than enough quality for healthy A3 prints and in less than 5 minutes; most of the times under 4.

 

One thing to clarify, tho. I'm running a 1.2GHz P4 with 1.5Gb RAM, 128Mb V-RAM, two 700RPS disks and one SATA disk. It's fast. The 5400 is connected to a USB2 port (faster than FireWire, I'm told). That may -or not- affect the scan time. I truly ignore it. However, my tests should prove something.

 

I promise, like McArthur, I'll be back. ;-)