Do film scanners degrade with use?

[jmlangford]

I have had a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III for about 2+ years now. My

last batch of slides are horrible. Terrible red color cast, scans are

very dark, etc. They are so bad that after making adjustments they

just aren't up to snuff. Could it be that it is wearing out? Is the

Scan Dual IV that much better? What is a good film scanner in the

less than $500 range? Up until this point, I have been very happy

with the scanner. This photo was a scan from when it worked well...

 

 

Thanks!<div></div>

[jmlangford]

Here is what it is doing now...

[emre]

Usually what happens is that the optics accumulate dust, resulting in halos, but I see no evidence of this. Less rarely, when a scanner has been heavily used, the lamp might wear out. Your scans merely look soft; perhaps a knock to the scanner caused an element to become misaligned?

 

Unless you are manually skilled, your money is probably better spent on a newer scanner. In your price range I recommend the Nikon Coolscan V for its dust removal.

[Ed_Ingold]

You may have changed some default setting that affects the color balance. It sometimes helps to do a general reset.

 

Lamp aging may be a factor, but 2 years is not long in that respect. Perhaps different software can improve the color and consistency. The color cast I see in your sample is minor, and easily corrected in Photoshop.

[jsbc]

The color settings may have changed - or you may be saving it to a different color space.

 

Finally, is your monitor calibrated?

[JohnMWright]

Lamp or dust sound like good answers, but if it is dust it is very minor at this point. I think an aging lamp is more likely. I recall seeing something about calibrating the lamps periodically on some scanners, you may want to look into that.

 

If you replace it, stick with Minolta or Canon, they have better dust resistance. My Nikon Coolscan III became dusty very quickly, and cleaning is too expensive to be worthwhile.

[jmlangford]

Thanks for the great info! I have done thousands of slides in the couple of years I have used it. The scans have become darker and darker over time. The lamp wearing out scenario seems like the most logical thing right now. I will try and do a reset and see what happens. I read reviews on the Nikon Coolscan V recommended above and people were impressed with its new technology that treall zapped dust they said. Other than that, I will probably stay with Minolta due to familiarity. Once again, thanks for the assistance!

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Minolta has recently announced the Elite 5400 II with ICE 4. Should start shipping soon.

 

Robert

[dano1]

Jody,

 

I have the Coolscan V and it is a great scanner. One thing I suggest is to stop using Minolta's software. Most software that comes with a film scanner is very amatureish.

 

Instead, use Vuescan www.hamrick.com . It's professional scanning software that works with almost all film scanners. It can even make your scanner do things that are supposedly only found on higher models, such as multi-sampling.

 

You will get much better results once you learn how to use Vuescan.

 

Dan O.