gabriel_roca Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Hello all, I'm seriously considering getting myself a Dimage Scan Dual IV and am looking for some detailed opinions, either positive or negative on this piece of equipment. Any opinions would be most helpful. Cheers. -Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonard_evens Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I don't have one, but most owners seem very happy with it. It seems to do pretty well for the price. Its main drawback is the absence of ICE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzeanah Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I should have one arriving today. E-mail if you'd like a scan, and lemme know what kind of film you shoot. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron_w. Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Well, I've been somewhat satisfied using the SD3 (the SD4's predecessor) for about a year now. By far, the main scanning problem I've had is coping with dust. Unless Minolta has improved the Dimage 'auto-dust' software in the SD4, I find it to be worthless! I'm scanning a lot of older slides and negs, and while dusting mounted slides is not too bad a job with a camel-hair brush and can of compressed air, negative strips are entirely another matter! So I suggest that you give this some thought and if you have a lot of film to scan, you may want to consider a scanner with an IR 'dust-removal' system (sure wish I had one)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabriel_roca Posted May 28, 2004 Author Share Posted May 28, 2004 Thanks guys. I went out and purchased one at B&H. I've got a week to return it if I'm not happy. To tell you the truth, I never use ICE. I find that dust/scratch filters tend to desharpen my images. I simply do a lot of retouching so, the lack of ICE is A.O.K. with me. Thanks again and have a great weekend! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archie_alcantara1 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 You will not be disappointed with this purchase. I recently bought mine and received it last Tuesday. Please note that I am also new with dedicated film scanners, but have tons of experience with traditional printing both RA-4 and slide printing. The maximum size I print is 8x10 using Canon I900D and Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl paper. I scanned few images at its maximum resolution of 3200 with 8x oversampling...the results rivals my slide printing process in regards to sharpness in details, the depth of color. I am quite impressed with the details I get from shadows and highlites are great too. In regards to how long it takes to scan, it takes long, but then again I am not a speed freak, I am more on the slow side when making prints. I would say, it takes oh perhaps 5 minutes to scan @ 3200 with 8x oversampling. But then again, I only do this if I will print on 8x10 (perhaps I do not even have to scan it this high, but have not had a chance yet to experiment). I paid $250.00 shipping included for this unit....this is money well spent as it exceeded my expectations. Now, if I could only afford a scanner that does medium format....then my darkroom stuff will be sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dumpster001 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 i don't have a detailed explanation. all i can say is that it's a good scanner and you get the best worth for what you pay. it produces good results. i use it along with vuescan and don't see any problems. the finish of the product, the film holder and the overall operation might seem and feel a little plasticky and flimsy, but i guess you get what you pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry n. Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 I had the Dual Scan III and hated it. It's slow, required frequent time-consuming "calibration", had trouble with USB ports on some computers, and lacked good dynamic range. Maybe the IV fixes this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
._._z Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 It's a bit noisy, a little slow compared to more expensive competitors, and it has no ICE, which means you may be spending additional time dealing with dust spotting. But for the price it has no peer. The next step up is a more expensive Nikon or Minolta scanner costing more than twice as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabriel_roca Posted May 30, 2004 Author Share Posted May 30, 2004 Thanks for all the responses. I bought it on Friday and have been playing with it for the past 2 days. In the end, I'm not too happy with it. It doesn't seem to handle black/white negs very well - I am having lots of problems with detailed shadows and highlights. I'm returning it today. It seemed to handle color slides rather well but, when it came to B/W I was rather dissappointed. Just goes to show you get what you pay for I suppose. Many thanks to all of your to replied to my post. Be well. -Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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