These scanners are listed locally, thoughts?

[richard_golonka]

<p>1) Nikon Super CoolScan 9000 ED - "absolutely mint condition, used only to scan personal film collection. Includes scanner, fireware card for computer, 120 and 35mm slide/film carriers, glass film carrier, software and manual."<br /> <strong>$<strong>3000 Canadian Dollars</strong></strong></p>

<p><br /> 2) Nikon Coolscan 8000 ED - "Perfect condition come with 5 trays 3x 120/220 2x 35mm see photos for tray numbers. No software." $<strong>1100 CAD</strong><br /> <br /> <strong><br /></strong>3) Nikon Coolscan V ED LS 50 - "with SA21 Negative adapter. Scanner purchased to scan family slides. Used once. Works perfectly." $<strong>500 CAD</strong><br /> <br /> 4) Nikon LS4000 - "Excellent working condition, low scan count, with MA-20 and SA-21 adapter"<br /> <strong>$650 CAD</strong><br /> <br /> 5) Pixel Craft ProImages 4520rs - All it says is "Please contact". No price listed</p>

<p>I have about 100 rolls of film that I have shot over the past 2 years, and I am tired of sending them out for scans. And I tend to shoot a new roll every weekend. I <strong>will not </strong>be scanning them all. Just the frames that look good from what I can tell from the negative. Although, I would scan the entire roll if there was an easy way to 'set and forget' and let it do it's thing for a while. So, I am scanning because I like posting on my website beside my digital images, and/or sharing other ways, rather that just digitizing 10000 family slides kinda thing.<br>

<br /> New to this film stuff, obviously. I have done plenty of googling, and each one of these scanners sounds good. But a review of a 5MP DSLR for $5G in 2001 also sounds good. I am having trouble piecing together what came first and so on. Also there are not as many reviews out there from multiple perspectives. I am doing 35mm now, but maybe medium format in the future? But maybe not.</p>

<p><em>My gut feeling says the Nikon Coolscan V ED LS 50 is probably best option as I think it might be the newest as well as the least expensive. </em> Well, the 9000 is probably the newest, but I cant afford that. I could probably stretch for the 8000ED if it was that much better. Also, I have no idea what the pixel craft is....</p>

<p>Does anyone have experiences using any of these back in the day? Looking for any and all input! Hoping to pick one up in the next few days. Since they are all local, I can check them out in person.</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p> </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Consider the question of what interface each scanner may have. USB connections are really slow, but will work if you're only doing a few slides.<br /> The Nikon 9000 with IEEE1394 is an excellent scanner. I sprung for it despite the cost when my Canoscan 4000 died.<br /> Most of my scanning was with a Canoscan FS4000US which is close to the Nikon Coolscan in image quality at 4000 ppi, but much cheaper. Its fastest interface was SCSI 2, and that's slow and hard to hook up to most modern computers.<br /> With any of these scanners from the era when people were regularly scanning in film, many, like me, have kept an old desktop from that era on which the original software for the scanner will still work. You can set the scanner and the desktop off to the side somewhere and let it chug away without interfering with your work on your current computer. Where you don't have the original software, and even if you do, <a href="https://www.hamrick.com/">Vuescan</a> supports a huge variety of scanners.<br /> I have some reports/essays at http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00d6UB and others linked to.</p>

<p>Oh, and make sure you have the necessary film holders, etc. Parts for any classic scanner are nearly impossible to find</p><div></div>

[Kent Shafer]

<p>>> "I would scan the entire roll if there was an easy way to 'set and forget' "</p>

<p>In addition to the high-quality scanners you're considering, you might think about getting a less expensive flatbed unit for proofing. I have an Epson V700 that will scan 36 frames of 35mm in "Thumbnail" mode without any further attention once you get it going. I make low resolution scans of each new roll, then import them into Lightroom for a digital record of what's on that roll. I also use those scans to print a proof sheet to file away in a binder with the negatives.</p>

<p>If there's a frame on the roll that looks good, I scan it with my Nikon 9000.</p>

[wgpinc]

<p>Dub dub dub digmypix dot com in Arizona is a very reasonable scanning service and does good quality work. Dub dub dub scancafe dot com is probably more reasonable but they ship your negs to India for the scans. I did a project to scan a large number of slides a few years back on my Konica Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 using Silverfast. It took a lot of my time that could have been better spent taking pictures, playing golf or exercising. Any negatives I need scanned going forward will be sent to digmypix. Best of luck! </p>

[bgelfand]

<p>I have the Coolscan V. I would agree with your assessment that it is probably the best choice for your needs. I am running the Coolscan V with NikonScan,under Windows 7; there have been several reports on photo.net that it runs under Windows 10.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00e7RK</p>

<p>I simply installed VueScan first then NikonScan and used the VueScan drivers (uncheck the box to install drivers as part of the Nikon Scan installation).</p>

<p>The advantage of the Coolscan V is that it uses a USB connection which is supported on all current computer systems and probably will be supported on future systems - at least for the next 10 years or so. Firewire is an obsolescent interface and SCSI is obsolete. The price is very good - almost too good. </p>

<p>The disadvantage of the Coolscan V is that it is restricted to 35mm film. If you have medium format film to scan, you are out of luck. </p>

<p>I usually scan all the frames on a roll at low resolution and use the low resolution scans as a "contact sheet" to chose the frames to scan at high resolution for printing.</p>

[richard_golonka]

<p>Thanks everyone. Went with the Nikon Coolscan V ED LS 50.<br>

<br>

Good tip avoiding olders scanners without USB . That would have been a massive pain.<br>

<br>

<a href="/photodb/user?user_id=1841065">JDM von Weinberg</a>, you scanning odyssey write-up is an amazing resource. I have bookmarked. Thanks so much for putting in the time and sharing your results. </p>

 

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>If it's only for 35mm work, I would not discount the options that can be bought new for less money than any of these 2nd hand scanners; there are various models of Plustek and Pacific Imaging. I'm quite certain the Nikon scanners are better than those, but they cost double and if anything goes wrong with a Coolscan today, it's a paperweight. Somewhere soon I'll get some of my negatives scanned on a Coolscan V to compare, so maybe that may change my mind. But it has to be leaps better to make me get one at a fair price (the one you list is, in my view, <em>too</em> cheap - I'd be very cautious). So, most likely, I'll just stick with these cheaper scanners that do a totally serviceable job for normal use. Especially for display on the web, you really don't need the ultimate quality anyway. And then the occasional negative you really want done right, you send out for a proper drumscan.</p>

[alfonso e. perez-gonzalez]

<p>I, previously, gave my opinion on the CoolScan 4000 here: <a href="/black-and-white-photo-printing-finishing-forum/00dbyQ">http://www.photo.net/black-and-white-photo-printing-finishing-forum/00dbyQ</a></p>

 

[DWScott]

<p>A couple of questions for you:</p>

<ul>

<li>What is the end purpose of your scans? A personal record of memories? Photos to share with relatives via email, or to post on the web? Or would you like to make exhibition-quality prints?</li>

<li>Do you only have 35mm negs to scan?</li>

<li>Are you an experienced scanner, or very interested to learn?</li>

</ul>

<p>If you only need snapshots to share with family or for viewing on your screens, you have many options that are much cheaper. I currently use an older Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV, which was about 100 dollars, connects with USB, and gives me 10 megapixel scans that are perfectly serviceable. Good prints are possible to about 8x10. For 5x7 prints or screens, I could easily use my Epson V500 (current model is the V600.)</p>

<p>If you only have 35mm negs, the whole question is also much cheaper and potentially easier to keep running. I would get a current, top of the line Plustek and be done. The reviews are generally good, and the price for a new product is sane.</p>

<p>Medium format scanners are, and always have been expensive. The gold-standard Nikon 8000s and 9000s command a premium price. Considering the potential for failure on an older unit, and the headache of trying to service an older machine, I feel like the 9000's command about 2500 dollars too much. The small but desperate market for these scanners says otherwise.</p>

<p>Scanning your own film is demanding and has a steep curve to reliably get exactly the result you wish. If you are interested in this work (I am) the process is interesting and enjoyable. If you are only interested in results, you may find it frustrating and unsatisfying. The time commitment alone is daunting.</p>

<p>For critical work, I have scans done by the lab. This is most economical if done at the time of developing -- so consider this for your ongoing weekly shooting. It's a bargain to spend 25 dollars on a roll of important photos and get back 30+ megapixel scans of everything. The results are stunning, much better than I can achieve at home. I believe even a Nikon 9000 would be hard-pressed to give me better results. I am happily hanging 20x30 and 16x20 prints that I scanned this way.</p>

[richard_golonka]

<p>I want to scan mostly because I want to share my good photos online...somewhere...perhaps here. Instagram maybe, but more ideally a place where viewing higher res files is possible. Flckr annoys me with the ads. These are not photos of birthday parties or anything like that. I walk around in the city occasionally and take pictures of things (but not people usually). I don't have a lot, probably a roll every two weeks. I am not interested in making prints from these scans (I have an enlarger!) unless I cant seem to dial in the optical print, but I am interested in them being as good looking as possible right out of the scanner and not feeling the need to edit elsewhere.</p>

<p>I have slide film and negatives to scan, and for now just 35mm. Would like medium format eventually. But the vast majority will be 35mm.</p>

<p>I dont mind tackling the learning curve, even if its steep.</p>

<p>I did just buy the coolscan V ED, it was 450CAD which I thought wasn't too bad. Bought it from a guy who had it just to digitize about 1000 old slides. I have it working right now on windows 10 as I type this! Things look great, maybe they could be better if I edited them slightly but honestly I haven't yet been terribly disappointed in comparison to how it looked on the light table (still making my way through the velvia stack). Sometimes they are bit dark though, but I adjust slightly in nikon scan. To qualify my assessment so far I must say that I am not a scanning nor photo expert in any sense, and have only done about 50 scans to date So take what I say with a grain of salt...but that said, I am very satisfied thus far.</p>

<p>I wanted a medium formatscanner, but they were just too much. Ill have to send those out somewhere. And one things for sure I am not sending them back to london drugs to be scanned on their noritsu. Granted they were standard scans, but even on my small computer screen and not zoomed in at all they looked awful. This is not surprising, but the 4000dpi coolscans are many order of magnitudes better! But no doubt a different lab would be much better. And Ill need to find one soon in case I want to do some digital printing (ill have them rescan) or to digitize some medium format negatives.</p>

<p> </p>

[bgelfand]

<p>Hi Richard,</p>

<p>If you are still taking slides, have the lab that processes them leave them unmounted and cut in strips of 6. Then for scanning you can use the negative feeder on the Coolscan to scan them just like negative film. Just be sure to tell the software you are scanning slides (positives).</p>

<p>I hope you enjoy your Coolscan V as much as I have enjoyed mine.</p>