Nikon Scan 4 and Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard . . . Any Issues?

peter_koster · October 9, 2008

I was having the same problem many of you reported: unable to launch NS4 on my G5 under Leopard 10.5, with a firewire LS4000 ED

attached. It had worked just fine under Tiger and Panther. I followed Tom's suggestion and looked for "ImageScan" files under preferences

subdirectories. I had to look really hard for any files related to the scanner and its software, since many of them do not have "Nikon" in their

filename. Then I reinstalled, updated to 4.0.2, and it launched just fine. I had a question pending at the Nikon website about this when I finally got

it to launch, so I updated my question by suggesting that if Nikon does nothing else to support these products, they at least should include an

effective "uninstaller" app with their software so that one can in fact effectively uninstall and re-install the software, which as a general rule

solves many software problems and conflicts, not just Nikon's. But if you can't effectively uninstall, you may not be able to re-install, and thus

your stuck with software that doesn't work. I hope they follow my suggestion.

dion_m · October 9, 2008

Peter, thanks for the comment. Unfortunately the problem I described is hardware-based, and Nikon has known about it for a

long time. The solution you posted won't work, as far as I know.

Nikon knows that their software won't work with an Intel-based Mac, while using a motorized attachment like the SF-200 or SF-

210. That's the case with my equipment. I don't think this problem exists with Macs earlier than those with Intel processors.

The fact that Vuescan solved the issue quickly, and they are a small company, makes me even more disgusted with how Nikon

has ignored this issue. They are a big company, and it would not take many of their resources to at least write a bug fix for this

issue. They have no excuse.

From what you've described, there are likely some other issues with Nikon Scan running on Leopard.

photo5 · December 8, 2008

I was able to use my Nikon Coolscan V (LS-50) with OSX 10.5 scanning with the standalone Nikon Scan 4 application. Photoshop CS3 doesn't recognize the Nikon Scan plugin at all. But the standalone app works fine and I am pleased to be able to scan on my Mac instead of my PC!!

dion_m · December 8, 2008

Interesting, I haven't ever used the plugin with Photoshop.

But again, the standalone application won't work with OSX 10.5 if you are using motorized attachments like the slide feeder SF-200 or SF-210, or the roll film scanner. A silly but very problematic bug that Nikon should have fixed ages ago.

Nikon, what's the holdup? Do you not listen, or care about your honourable customer base?

glenn_mawdesley · January 21, 2009

Hi Guys, Just wanted to add an update from my experiences. I have been saving up for almost 3 years to get a MAC to do my photos on. Had a PC before and it was okay, but having seen a MAC in use I thought the MAC would be better. December 2008 bought a new 8 core Mac Pro, HD screen, extra 1tb hard drive, Pantone screen calibrator, Photoshop CS 4, Aperture 2, OX 10.5.2 and wow aren't MAC's great, I'm was so happy, then to my Nikon scanner. I bought my Coolscan V initially to run on a PC and so the software bundle I have is only for PC. So I went on line to download Updated software from Nikon only to find all links to Nikonscan software for the Leopard disabled. So I wrote to Nikon and here is there response. Dear Glenn, Thank you for contacting Nikon Support, Unfortunately the Mac OSX 10.5 Operating System is not fully compatible with Nikon Scan software. Nikon has no plans, at present, to release a version of Nikon Scan that is compatible with the Mac 10.5 Leopard operating system. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me by clicking on the link below to update this email. Kind Regards Fergus Redmond Nikon Europe Support <a href="http://www.europe-nikon.com/support" target="_blank">www.europe-nikon.com/support</a>

So I have written and expressed my disappointment but I do not think they will change their minds, unless we all choose to make a stand and all write at the same time to Nikon in Japan and ask them to kindly release an update. In the current economic climate if we can get enough names to write maybe we can effect a change, after all surely they will not want to alienate that many existing customers?

So without a PC and with no MAC software I now have a £500+ scanner that is useless. Thanks Nikon.

brad_price1 · January 21, 2009

If anyone is going to PMA2009 in March (Las Vegas... see <a href="http://www.pmai.org/pma09">http://www.pmai.org/pma09</a> )

and is unhappy about the current indifference Nikon is showing toward Mac OS X, I would encourage you to protest the Nikon booth and tell every attendee you can that they should avoid this product if they own or would ever consider using a Mac.

It's truly shameful that a company of this size would take this stance. It's probably a relatively easy fix, too.

mikiyo_yatsu · January 30, 2009

Hello,

There is a petition online to Nikon Corporation about the issue touching Nikon Scan and Mac OS X 10.5 every interested person can sign.

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/nikon009/petition.html

<a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/nikon009/petition.html" target="_top">Please render Nikon Scan software compatible with Mac OSX 10.5</a>

Maybe that will help all of desapointed Nikon film scan users ?!

If we are a lot of people to make this request... maybe rocks will roll ?

Please read it, sign it and spread it all around the Internet !

Best

dion_m · February 2, 2009

Hi Everyone,

Great to hear that this thread is alive and well. I am certainly not ready to give up on this issue, either.

I also spent a bunch on a new 8-core Mac Pro about a year ago, to learn that Nikon Scan won't run on it. From what I understand, the incompatibility has existed even before Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard), with Macs that have Intel chips.

It's unfathomable that Nikon won't make the relatively small effort it takes to bring their software up-to-date for Macs. There are so many reasons for this, to name a few:

-- Photographers and graphic artists commonly use Macs, and this trend is probably growing.

-- This lack of respect for their customer base, and the lack of support for their products is a costly inconvenience to us, and an embarrassment to Nikon.

-- I chose a Nikon scanner because I trusted they would continue to support the major platforms for years to come. The LS4000 scanner & SF200 feeder were expensive, and I never imagined that support would be abandoned.

-- Such neglectful obsolescence should be illegal. It is especially irresponsible considering that our society is aiming to be less wasteful. My four-year-old scanner is not ready for the landfill yet, and I should not be forced to buy third-party software.

I'll certainly sign the petition, and help to spread the news anyway I can.

I hope that some people can make it to PMA2009 as Brad suggested. For a large corporation like Nikon, this is an easy fix. Tiny little Vuescan stays right on top of these issues, so I'm sure it would be nothing for Nikon to get on it.

Thanks.

Dion

dion_m · March 24, 2009

Has there been much progress with this?

Perhaps it needs to be posted in several places. Even though there are "only" 98 who signed up so far, that is a small proportion of the people who have been unfairly affected by this.

walterrowe · May 24, 2009

I have problems since installing Mac OS X 10.5.7. I decided to re-install 4.0 Full and 4.02 Update. That seemed to resolve the initial problems of being able to scan previews of color negative film strips. I was able to scan an entire frame and NikonScan presented the scanned image on screen. However, NikonScan crashed when I tried to save the image to file.

walterrowe · May 24, 2009

Looks like I'm able to save image files now. It took a few iterations of scanning. NikonScan crashes with some frequency when making adjustments and clicking any button to reload the preview.

dan_bergeron3 · July 21, 2009

This situation is pretty shitty, but I have another solution. If you can get a copy of Photoshop CS, install it and then drag the Nikon Scan Plugin 4 into the appropriate plugin folder - Photoshop CS/Plug-Ins/Import/Export. The plug in will appear when you use CS and should work just fine. Just make sure that you don't use this version of Photoshop with any other versions. Voila!

brad_price1 · July 22, 2009

There are some workarounds (all fairly crappy as the above post indicates) if you are scanning individual slides. THE REAL PROBLEM COMES WHEN USING THIS SCANNER WITH THE OPTIONAL BATCH FEEDER, the SF-210 Auto Slide Feeder for Nikon Super Coolscan.

Batch feeder is the only practical way to batch scan a large number of slides. This holds about 50 at a time, unfirtunately the ONLY software that supports the batch feature is Nikon Scan. Cannot do it with VueScan, or Photoshop, or anything else!

I feel like a prisoner with this Nikon harware, stuck using an old PowerPC Mac and old version of Mac OS X (10.4, Tiger) in order to do my batch scanning. Even then, it's SLOOOOW.

Someone needs to come up with a new batch slide scanner and some decent drivers.

I looked into getting rid of the Nikon crap, and getting one of these Braun devices

http://www.braun-phototechnik.de/E/Products/scanner/scanner4000.html

but reading the reviews it seems suffer from the same software problem on the Mac.... lame old PowerPC software that is not compatible with Intel Macs (that have been out for several years.)

I just bought a new Canon 5D Mark II so I won't be shooting slides anymore and don't have to worry about this problem in the future. No way I was going to buy anything Nikon after this experience.

ilan_graicer · September 25, 2009

Simple solution for Intel Macs running Leopard 10.5 or Snow Leopard 10.6

1. install any PC emulation software (VM Fusion, Paralells, or virtual box, i use VM Fusion 2.0.5)

2. install Windows XP (or later)

3. install NikonScan PC 4 (i used the 3 year old CD that came with the scanner)

4. scan on PC window and transfer the images to the Mac

Tested on Intel Imac running 10.6 with VM fusion 2, Nikon CoolScan V, (everything works perfectly including ICE, etc...)

Any Intel Mac user should have PC VM software already installed for any 'PC only' stuff.

I agree with evryone that Nikon is treating us badly, but at least we can easily use the expensive scanner that we bought.

Hope this helps :)<div></div>

ilan_graicer · September 25, 2009

Simple solution for Intel Macs running Leopard 10.5 or Snow Leopard 10.6

1. install any PC emulation software (VM Fusion, Paralells, or virtual box, i use VM Fusion 2.0.5)

2. install Windows XP (or later)

3. install NikonScan PC 4 (i used the 3 year old CD that came with the scanner)

4. scan on PC window and transfer the images to the Mac

Tested on Intel Imac running 10.6 with VM fusion 2, Nikon CoolScan V, (everything works perfectly including ICE, etc...)

Any Intel Mac user should have PC VM software already installed for any 'PC only' stuff.

I agree with evryone that Nikon is treating us badly, but at least we can easily use the expensive scanner that we bought.

Hope this helps :)

gudrun_thielemann · October 12, 2009

Yes we Scan! with NikonScan 4.0.2 and iMac with Leopard 10.5.8

Hello everyone,

yesterday, after a very long story of all wellknown issues with NikonScan and my iMac (2.8 GHz Intel Core Duo, bought in early 2008), I wrote an email to the Nikon Support in USA (well, I live in Sweden, but I didn't assume this would be of any matter, and Nikon USA is the headquarter for support, I think).

NOT because I wanted help (as all of you know, they can't help) but I wanted to let them know what I found out about how it is possible to run their software on an iMac Leopard, though they are unwilling to update it. It was an offer for a solution, and they should be interested in ideas to make it run, shouldn't they? Their response was ... -

First, I'd like to share with you what I wrote, I hope it can help all who are hassling with the same problem:

Hello Nikon support team,

</blockquote>

I'm a professional photographer still using film for all of my work (yes, this is possible, and I'm not the only one :).

</blockquote>

After a few months of trouble and anger I finally found out how to use my Scanner LS9000 ED together with my preferred Nikon scan software your company is not willing to update. Maybe my experiences are helpful for all the other users who don't want to either invest in the overprized Siverfast software or to get nuts with vuescan (which are the only alternatives to NikonScan but don't deliver the same smooth workflow and image results like your software).

</blockquote>

<ol>

<li>- Make a clean reinstallation of 10.5. and use the retail version, NOT the CD software which came with the computer.</li>

<li>- Update to the latest version of 10.5.8</li>

<li>- Install Photoshop CS2 or, if you use CS3 or CS4, run the programm with Rosetta.</li>

<li>- Install Nikon Scan 4.0.0 by downloading it from the nikonusa support site.</li>

<li>- Immediately update to 4.0.2.</li>

<li>- Use Nikon Scan ONLY as Photoshop Plug-in, NOT as a stand alone program.</li>

<li>- Every time your scanning session is completed, turn off your scanner and immediately delete all .plist and setting memory data in the user/library/preferences section. (These data files are the crucial point next time when you boot your computer. They can cause mouse freeze and/or boot hang or problems with the firewire supply.)</li>

</ol>

BUT, adressed to the Nikon management who decided NOT to update the software, I would like to make a note:

there are a lot of people out there who really like your products, but say that they will refuse in future to buy anything else from Nikon because of the lack of support. An increasing number of Fine Art Photographers are remaining or even coming back to analogue picture taking (through medium format and large format film), a good scanning workflow is vital for all of them. With any such disrespect of customers needs you are loosing clients and a big part of your good reputation.

Good luck to all collegues with scanning!

Best regards,

Gudrun Thielemann, photographer, Sweden

</blockquote>

And this is Nikons answer:

<tbody>

<tr>

<td bgcolor="#C6D3BA"> Response (David D.)</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

<tbody>

<tr>

<td colspan="2">Thank you for submitting a question to this Nikon Inc. (USA) web site. Unfortunately we currently do not offer support to your country through this web site. Please contact the Nikon organization in your region. For local contact information please see: <a href="http://www.nikon-image.com/eng/Network/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.nikon-image.com/eng/Network/index.html</a></td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

</blockquote>

Thanks for using Nikon products!

Nikon Inc. (USA) Support / Service <a href="http://support.nikontech.com/">http://support.nikontech.com</a>

</blockquote>

Again, Nikon has proved that they are absolutely NOT interested in their customers issues. I'm quite sure, they even didn't read it!!

Dispite the promises the president of the Company, Mr. Michio Kariya, announces in his adress:

<a href="http://www.nikon.com/about/info/greeting/index.htm ">http://www.nikon.com/about/info/greeting/index.htm</a>

In the more than 90 years since our Company’s founding, Nikon has accumulated countless invaluable assets, all of which are embodied in our corporate philosophy of Trustworthiness and Creativity. We’ve undergone a constant process of innovation, developing the tools that enable us to provide customers with products of the highest precision and quality. And we continue to ask ourselves “What do people really want?” in order to gain the trust of customers throughout the world. These efforts to advance our philosophy will never change, regardless of the severity of the conditions we face.

</blockquote>

I'm now an angry Nikon customer.

.

Here I'd like to provide another helpful link:

<a href="http://www.markwilson.co.uk/blog/2009/03/using-the-nikon-scan-402-plugin-with-adobe-photoshop-cs3-on-an-intel-mac-running-os-x-105.htm">http://www.markwilson.co.uk/blog/2009/03/using-the-nikon-scan-402-plugin-with-adobe-photoshop-cs3-on-an-intel-mac-running-os-x-105.htm</a>

.

Good luck!

gudrun_thielemann · October 12, 2009

I think it is fair to add the response to a second email I wrote to Nikon support USA as a reply to their first answer. I asked them for please reading again my thread in order to help upcoming future questions regarding that issue.

This is the answer from Nikon:

"...HI

Thanks for your update. In many cases some (or most) functions of scanners work in later operating systems but we cannot guarantee their operation. -David..."

In the end I think at least he read it. Now lets hope that Nikon one day will see they have to solve the problem.

david_chang_sang · October 4, 2010

I know this thread is related to Snow Leopard 10.5 - but I just installed Nikon Scan 4.02 (from the CD that came with the Nikon 9000) on Snow Leopard 10.6.4 and it's running fine on my Macbook Pro (2010 model).

Knowing this, I may attempt to upgrade my Mac Pro with Snow Leopard and install it on that system as well.

There's a point in the install, where the Nikon Scan software is, well, "running" (searching the hard drive) for some length of time but it eventually finishes and continues the set up. Took a bit longer than I expected on install but overall it turned out to be pretty good.

Cheers, Dave

dion_m · October 11, 2010

I'm still waiting for a Nikon Scan update for Mac, I thought one was supposed to be coming.

Regardless of some solutions some people posted, I refuse to install Windows on my Mac just so I can run a scanner. That's an awful lot of overhead. And I bought a Mac because I don't *want* to use Windblows.

Also, Nikon's own suggestions to pay more money for Vuescan or Silverfast are atrocious suggestions-- Nikon should promote these expensive scanners as "disposable" if they are not going to update the software. And wait-- don't they currently still sell these scanners?

The last time I wasted several hours trying, there was still no way to get the SF-200 or SF-210, or any other motorized device to run on a Mac with an Intel chip. With Vuescan, you can run the SF-200 and batch scan, but the software is buggy and annoying. You input some settings, hit the scan button, and it changes your settings. But-- Vuescan was quick to update... if they can make the SF-200 work with the Mac, then why cannot the big Nikon corporation? They cannot afford to release an update for the Mac? I don't believe the technical hurdles are so large.

All of this is unacceptable, period. Again, I will accuse Nikon of going against their own ethic, and becoming a wasteful creator of disposable, throw-away products... all their scanners. I find it amazing that nobody in the Nikon bureaucracy will get off their ass, and step forward to fix this problem. Or give me back my $2000 plus.

borgis_karl_johan1 · October 12, 2010

Using a Coolscan IV, I feel sharpness of the Vuescan images -even after repeated scan passes- is inferior to the Nikon Scan images I used to get before turning a -otherwise very satisfied- Mac user.

Isn´t this a fact? An update from Nikon would be most welcome.

brad_price1 · October 13, 2010

I would love to assemble a bunch of us who have been hung out to dry on this Nikon Scan issue, and go stand in front of their booth at some photo show (like the Expo they attend at Javitz Center in NY), raise a ruckus and make Nikon feel ashamed of themselves for ignoring this. Why do they even still sell the product saying it's "Mac compatible"? Absurd.

I need to use the batch feeder and have not been able to find ANY workable solution on the Mac. I have to use an old Windows XP PC to do the scanning, what a PITA.

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Nikon Scan 4 and Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard . . . Any Issues?

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