Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED quite noisy

[andreas_h]

I just purchased the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED and discovered that it is

quite noisy when scanning - at least compared to my good old Epson

3200 (flatbed).<br><br>

Is this normal - or do you think I got a defect unit? The scans look

quite fine so far.<br><br>

Here is a 30 sec MP3 of it scanning a slide: <a href

src=http://people.freenet.de/linus42_pic/Coolscan5000ED.mp3>

Coolscan5000ED.mp3 </a><br><br>

Thanks, Andreas.

[andreas_h]

Sorry, here is a working version of the link: <a href=http://people.freenet.de/linus42_pic/Coolscan5000ED.mp3>Coolscan5000ED.mp3</a>

[eric friedemann]

Its certainly quieter than my 8000 ED. Email your MPEG to Nikon's techies and see if they think the noise your maching makes is abberant.

[franklin_polk]

Unfortunatly, I think they really are that loud. The Coolscan 4000 ED that I've used repeatedly sounds identical, and I have scanned probably 2000 images with it. It is louder than say a flatbed, but I don't find it that bothersome.

[lilly_w]

I agree about the noise. I think its part and parcel. I placed mine on bubble-wrap vs. the hard desk surface and that helped a bit...along w/ some Bose noise canceling headphones and a rhythmic vibe.

[scott_turner]

Andreas, you can relax. Yep, they're that loud. From your mp3, yours sounds just as it should.

 

Scott

[william_john_smith]

You have a silent one, my 4000 sounded like a diesel bus but worked like a charm.

[ilkka_nissila]

The Coolscans are noisy but good scanners. Epsons are quiet and so fitting to the sound environment of a home but the scan quality is nowhere near in the same ball park. Which do you prefer?

 

That said, I also hate the sound of the Nikons at 1x multisampling. That's one of the reasons I use 4x - it makes the scan sound a bit less irritating ;-), not to mention increases dynamic range by a factor of 2...

[ilkka_nissila]

Just a thought: what kind of structure is under your scanner? The table may resonate with the scanner and this may increase the sound you hear. Nevertheless what you recorded sounded very normal to me.

 

If anyone has a "too loud" LS-9000 that they want to donate to me, send me an e-mail. :-)

[scott_brim]

Sounds identical to mine. It sounds like a piece of heavy-duty machinery, and fortunately, it's built that way too. I've used my Coolscan 5000 weekly for two years now without a mechanical problem of any kind.

[Ed_Ingold]

I have an LS-4000 and LS-8000. The LS-4000 is very noisy - lots of buzzes and clacks. The LS-8000 is very quiet - just a light hum.

[jonathan_walker]

Ilkaa, is that right -- multisampling increased the dynamic rnage by twice? Should we all be running though important projects at 4x?

[ilkka_nissila]

In principle, the (single-pass) multisampling is effectively the same as using a longer exposure time. This reduces scanner noise by a factor of square root of the exposure time (which is proportional to the multisampling number). So, by using 16x multisampling, the noise is reduced by a factor of sqrt(16) = 4. By using 4x multisampling, by a factor of 2.

 

This is the theory. It should apply to any light detection systems where scanning noise is shot noise.

[ilkka_nissila]

Ups. replace "scanning noise" by "noise in the signal"

 

A factor of 2 or 4 reduction is visible but by default you may not get it into a print. This is because the scanner's dynamic range is greater than the paper's. It will generally only show when you make adjustments in PS to bring the dark parts to within the dynamic range of the print.

[ilkka_nissila]

Of course in the above posts I am talking about the noise in the image and not the sound. I do however find that the scanner sound is also more pleasant at higher multisampling rates, because the frequency of the steps is lower.

[joename]

Yep - I have a LS9000, and it's noisy, and I love it. I use vuescan,

and also do multi-sampling, makes a really big difference. For

important (I do mostly B/W scans) I'll do 10X oversampling. Might be

overkill, but there is no noise.