Just purchased a Konica Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 II -- Please help me get started!

[eric_v1]

<p>Hello,<br>

I have been asked to scan several hundred family slides - about 90% of them are older Kodachromes from the 50's-70's.<br>

I would like to scan them all at the highest quality settings, so that they [hopefully] only need to be digitized once.<br>

What kind of settings / techniques should I be using in order to obtain the best quality scans - right from the get-go? <br>

Should I be using the Minolta software? Vuescan? Silverfast?<br>

I was thinking of 5400 DPI, 16bit color, Digital ICE, perhaps 2-4x multipass? Edit the rest of it in Photoshop. Let me know what you do.</p>

<p>Also, the 5400 II model that I bought from Ebay is actually a Japanese model. The seller insisted that the scanner will work perfectly in North America without any power adapters/transformers. What do you guys think? Would you plug a 100v device into a 120v power outlet?</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help!</p>

 

[troyammons]

<p>You can scan at 5400 dpi but I doubt its worth scanning much of any normal family photos at 5400 dpi. 3600 would be enough.<br /> 16 bit tiff is good.<br /> Definitely ICE but I would skip the multipass unless you have a bad exposure.<br /> When I had mine I had good luck with the factory software, but Vuescan would be next. Not very user friendly though and has a big learning curve.<br /> Kodachrome might be hard to scan. Never tried it one the 540II. You might have to do a a custom profile for it.<br /> I would get the right voltage transformer.</p>

[bgussin]

This issue was just addressed a couple of weeks ago. Here's the link

http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00WCst

[andylynn]

<p>Check the fine print on the power adapter. Japan has the same two-prong plug but at 100V. A lot of electronics companies deal with this by making adapters that tolerate 100V-120V and sell the same adapter in both markets. My Minolta scanner has an adapter like this, usable in Japan or North America.</p>

[eric_v1]

<p>Thanks for the input.<br>

<strong>Robert Gussin, I appreciate your help in the other thread. I thought I would create a new thread since I am using a different scanner this time. I know each machine has its own unique custom settings / workarounds.<strong> </strong></strong></p>

<p> </p>

[melmann]

<p>Eric,<br>

I have scanned Kodachrome slides on this device with great success. You should try a few and see how the color balance looks - might need a custom balance to get the colors right. Scanner seems to err on the blue side with Kodachrome. Rarely use multipass - takes significantly more time and doesn't really improve a good, sharp chrome. ICE gives mixed results on Kodachrome although it will work. Better to get a soft brush and air puffer to clean the slides well beforehand. I use 16-bit linear because I know I'll be making adjustments in Photoshop - regular 16-bit is fine for archiving.</p>

<p>Just for fun I scanned a Kodachrome at full everything on the scanner and generated a 250Mb file. If you're willing to spend the time and storage space for this then go for it but I usually go with about half the full scan resolution, get 25Mb files and am happy for my applications.</p>

<p>I use the software that came with the scanner and am pleased with the results. Like lots of scanners it can be tempermental - do I turn it on first and then launch the software or the other way around? Sometimes my Mac just quits recognizing the scanner and I have to shut everything down and start over. It's part of the joy of scanning.</p>

<p>Can't help with your electrical question. Have fun.</p>

[mattb1]

<p>The Minolta is an excellent scanner, it can get a little more detail than the Nikons. But, it is not as easy to use as the Nikon and the ICE is not as good as the Nikon IMO. </p>

<p>scantips.com is a decent place to get started. IMO you want to scan to get a good histogram as it will give you more good info to work with. And I would use the scanner software, vuescan and silverfast are OK but I don't see any advantage to using them on the Minolta or Nikon. But, YMMV.</p>

<p>To understand how to use the histogram you have to know what it is telling you. Usually along the bottom axis is the color values. Along the verticle access it is simply the number of pixels. So, any point along the histogram it is telling you how many pixels in the photo are for a particular color. When scanning you want an even graph, one that does not have spikes or large portions at one area. At least as much as possible, each photo is different. What this means is that by doing this you get better tone variations, instead of spots with a single color. It also means that the color and tones will hold up to editing better. Next, you want to avoid cliping at either end as it means you are missing data. Cliping is where the histogram goes off either end of the scale. I personally like to go right up to the right side of the graph with out actually toucing it. </p>

<p>IMO scan at 16 bits, it allows for better editing results.</p>

<p>All that said, the auto mode on the Minolta is pretty good. Getting flat and clean film is the first step and one of the biggst issues you will face. Well, that and time.</p>

[robert_k1]

<p>How to scan depends a lot on what you intend to use the scans for: for monitor viewing, small prints, large prints, etc.? Let us know and you will get better answers.</p>

<p>The good news: your scanner is one of the best, if you know how to make optimal use of it. The bad news: it is slow and will take you quite some time to scan hundreds, and the learning curve can be steep if you want to get the most out of it.</p>

<p>Begin by understanding what a scanner's hw and sw are doing, and decide if you want to get *raw* scans. Here are some comments on this topic, and scanner sw. Good luck.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00IUe6</p>