advice on 6X7 scanners

[opa_diallo1]

Hi all ,

I decided to sell my D300 kit and just keep my Mamiya 7II kit . The digital world did not meet my expectations . I am

going back to film . I mostly shoot Velvia , and am looking advice on a good scanner .

Does anyone has a good advice for a scanner 6X7 slides .

Thanks

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

I use both a Mamiya 7II and a Nikon Coolscan 9000. Just be aware that the standard film holder does not hold the film flat enough. You can buy the Nikon glass holder, buy ANR glass from Focal Point that is cut to fit the standard holder, or go with wet mounting.

[ellis_vener_photography]

New for less than $2000, the only option is the Nikon Coolscan LS 9000ED.

 

If you are really serious about quality I'd add SilverFast AI6 Studio scanning software, the AZTEK fluid mount

tray, and Joseph Holmes' EktaSpace (free) of Chrome 100 color space.

 

And if you want to get hyper-serious add the HCT Fuji target from http://www.hutchcolor.com/.

[eric friedemann]

Robert and Ellis are right. With Minolta out of the game, MF scanner choices have narrowed and the Nikon LS 9000 is the scanner you'll want.

 

 

I've got the LS 8000. There's something of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, Nikon MF scanners can produce some outstanding results.

[tobiasfeltus]

fluid mounts will ruin your trannies though. I would suggest the direction i have taken, to buy an older but not heavily

used Imacon. I bought a Flextight Precision II and a dedicated machine to take its SCSI, which turns a 6x6 neg into

something in the range of 50 megapixel... From a hassie, is that sharp?

 

Anyway, a used Imacon is a good price field to get something that is competitive and has no film flatness issues. if you

are not scanning volume, it is perfect, as it makes a 300mb (circa) 3f raw file in 10-15 minutes. dedicated machine

means i can have coffee and do other stuff, and the quality is superb.

 

t

[nealcurrie]

I got the AN glass from focal point for the standard holder than came with my 9000, and while it adds some noise

to the scan, it is considerably sharper around the edges.

[opa_diallo1]

Thanks for all your advice , I am learning already new stuff about scanner from your mails . But am I making the wrong decision , in other word , will I get better , sharper images when scanning my 6X7 slides than shooting with my D300 ? I just hate to play with white balance and all the other details in digital shooting .

[eric friedemann]

I would make this observation. With my D200s, I can usually take an image and print it with my Epson 2200 printer with no color correction and the print is dead-on. With color negatives or transparencies scanned with my LS 8000, I almost always have to do color correction in Pshop and usually have to make a print, then go back and do more color correction tweaking. In that sense, I find shooting with digital cameras easier than shooting film and scanning.

 

 

Also, I use Nikon's rotating glass carrier to hold my 120 films flat. I've been pleased with the results.

[stb]

How large do you want to print?

[opa_diallo1]

Thanks again to all of you .

Stephane , I would like to print posters up do 1meter large . In these cases , I will give it to a lab to print .

[eric friedemann]

If you are satisfyed in poster quality for one meter prints, the LS 9000 would be fine. If I were going to try to make that large a print from a 6x7cm piece of film, I'd want look-at-the-print-from-a-foot-away-photo-quality, and I'd use a service to have the image drum-scanned.

[philip_wilson]

I made the mistake of buying the Nikon 5000 scanner which does not do MF and despite having MF scanned professionally with Nikon 9000 and Imacon I have been unhappy with the results. I know for looking at the transparancy that I should be getting better results - indeed I get better results from 35mm and my Nikon 5000. The issue is that pro labs do not appear to be very interested in a few scans from amateurs and thus despite paying $25 to 40 and image the results from the three labs and 5 scanners I have tried so far have been very poor. As some of the other posts said the way you set up and use the scanner is a big factor in the end result. The nikon scanners are very good (although they will occasionally crash your computer if you do a lot of high resoultion images in sucession). and even with 35mm transparacy or negative prints up to 12''x18" are very good (comperable to by Omega 5XL enlarger) so MF will be great. I do not use the color correction etc.. for the Nikon as it is very heavy handed (only useful for 20+ year old slides!). The dust and minor scratch removal feature is useful. I have not had good results from flat bed scanners. I guess I am saying buy the 9000 Nikon or a used Imacon.