edith_beerdsen

Dear Photo.net users, I need your advice on a camera issue.

 

I'm leaving soon for a five-week trip, travelling as light-weight as

possible. I'm used to photographing with a film SLR, but first of all

it is big and heavy, and secondly, it is big and obtrusive to point at

people. I am considering leaving it at home and taking a smaller

camera instead. But which one?

 

I don't care so much if it is going to be digital or film. I'd prefer

digital, but not at any rate. I have used some digital point & shoot

cameras of friends, and couldn't cope with the enormous shutter lag.

Do all small digital cameras have this problem?

 

I know that photographing with an automatic camera is not the same as

with an SLR. I'm willing to give up (temporarily) on the control you

have with different lenses, controllable shutter speed and aperture

(though I have heard that some compact cameras do give you some

control), but the shutter response should be fast enough. In addition,

a good viewfinder is important.

 

Of course there is a lot of advice on camera shops' websites, but

information about shutter lags is typically lacking. Who can point me

in the right direction to a compact camera that is acceptable to SLR

users?

 

Thanks a lot!

Thanks a lot to all people who replied to this question. You have provided me with a lot of information, so I could decide which scanner to choose. Today, I've finally made the decision and ordered a Minolta 5400.

 

Thank you once again!

Edith

Graham, this is a very useful reply. The drivers are indeed a matter of concern for me, as I will use the scanner on a linux computer. Probably with Vuescan, as this has a linux version that should work with either scanner.

Suppose you do work with Vuescan; does it make any difference (software-wise) whether you use it with a Minolta or a Nikon scanner?

:-) Is there anything wrong with my question? Any stupid mistake? (I'm sorry, I'm not a native English speaker)

Mendel, yes it is true that the Minolta scanner can take 4 slides (or 6 negatives) at the same time, while in the Nikon you have to feed them one by one, unless you have the expensive extension ($500!) which lets you scan 50 slides in an automated way.

 

This is also a matter of consideration. On the other hand, the majority of my old photographs are negatives. Then again, currently I shoot only slide film, so in the future this might be of more importance.

True enough, Beau, but then again, red cars are popular, but does that make them any better than cars with a different color? I agree with you that there must be a reason why a lot of customers choose the Minolta scanner, but ther reason might well be 'paper'-specs (resolution, nr. of bits and certainly the price). Even if the specs are much better, if the Nikons make better scans, that's the scanner to choose!

I'm going to buy a Nikon F80 and would like to have it adjusted so

that the film leader remains outside on manual rewind. I know that

this is possible (have had it done before on my previous camera, also

Nikon F80), but I don't know of any place in The Netherlands where it

can be done.

 

Does anyone know who can do this (preferably around Amsterdam)? I have

heard of the Nikon service center or something like that in Haarlem;

does anyone know if they are able to do this? Any other place?

One more question about scanners. I'm looking for a film scanner and

I'm asking your advice. After some research, I have the following options:

<br><br>

<table>

<TR><TD> <b>Scanner</b> </TD><TD><b>Price</b></TD> <TD>

<b>Resolution</b> </TD><TD> <b>Dyn. range</b> </TD><TD> <b>bits</b>

</TD><TD> <b>speed</b> </TD><TD> <b>ICE?</b></TD></TR>

<TR> <TD> Minolta 5400 </TD> <TD> 740 Euros </TD> <TD> 5400 dpi </TD>

<TD> 4.8 </TD> <TD> 16 </TD><TD> slow </TD> <TD> ICE (?) </TD </TR>

<TR> <TD> Nikon Coolscan V </TD> <TD> 800 Euros </TD> <TD> 4000 dpi

</TD> <TD> 4.2 </TD> <TD> 14 </TD><TD> faster </TD> <TD>ICE4 </TD> </TR>

<TR> <TD> Nikon Coolscan 5000 </TD> <TD> 1300 Euros </TD> <TD> 4000

dpi </TD> <TD> 4.8 </TD> <TD> 16 </TD><TD> very fast </TD> <TD>ICE4

</TD> </TR>

</TABLE>

<b>considerations</b>

<ul>

<li>Both Nikon Coolscan 5000 and the Minolta scanner have a high

dynamic range and 16 bits, the Coolscan V doesn't. On the other hand,

I've read that the dynamic range is a very arbitrary number,

determined in a different way by each manufacturer, so that you cannot

really compare the Minolta scanner with the Nikons. <li>The Minolta

5400 has a higher resolution. On the other hand, 4000 dpi is fine for

most applications. <li>The Minolta scanner is slow and I have a LOT of

negatives and slides to scan.

<li>All three scanners have ICE software (I understand that this is

absolutely essential), but the Nikon scanners have ICE4, which is a

newer, and according to some people on this forum much better, version.

<li>Nikon's technology is supposed to be very good, about Minolta's I

don't know; there isn't a lot of information in their folder.

<li>Nikon Coolscan 5000 is very expensive and actually above my

budget; the other two are comparable in price.

</ul>

<br>

<b>In short</b><br>

All three scanners are probably very good, but each of them has its

own advantages and disadvantages. Who can give me advice? What should

be determining?

<br>

Thank you!

A related question: I saw somewhere (it might have been in the Minolta specifications folder) that this negative holder takes negatives in rows of 2-6. Is it true that you cannot scan negatives if they are cut completely loose (e.g. this sometimes happens when you've taken 37 pictures on one roll; you get 9 x 4 (or 6 x 6) plus one)?

Thank you very much for your answers. I don't remember where I got the information that Coolscan V comes without ICE, probably somewhere on this forum, but apparently I was wrong. The Minolta 5400 sounds like a good option.

 

Jeffrey, I understand your points. 'As good as possible' is of course a vague notion; what I mean is 'as good as possible' in this price bracket and within reasonable time. I agree with you that 4500 negatives and slides is too much to scan and manually correct. I think I will scan all of them and spend further time only on the really good ones. Not all 4500 are top quality, but many of them I would like to keep for other reasons (e.g. they where taken during travels). The manual feeder that can be used on Nikon scanners sounds great, though I read somewhere that it costs $500 :-(

 

You ask what type of film: the large majority of the negatives are Kodak Supra 100, some Supra 400. The slides are mainly Ektachrome 100 VS, some Velvia 50 and some Provia 400.

 

Thanks again for your quick replies!

I was never a painter and was always frustrated by the fact that, as well as I thought about the concept of a drawing of painting, it never came out the way I meant it. I knew exactly what I wanted to draw, what it should look like and what it should convey, but it never came out quite that way. <br>

Photography for me was an exciting discovery: now I can make images that come out exactly the way I mean them to be. Using a tripod and taking some time, you can capture anything you want anyway you want. Of course you have more limitations as to what your subject can be, because you cannot photograph imaginary things.

If you are for example at a party, even if you don't have a telephotolens you can still catch people unaware. As suggested before, try to photograph people when talking to other people, or doing something. When you raise your camera and look through the viewfinder, people will usually react and smile at the camera, but if you just wait, don't release the shutter, sit for a few minutes looking through the viewfinder, they will forget about you and the camera, and you will have an opportunity to photograph them in a natural way.

I would like to scan about 4500 negatives and some slides as good as

possible, for archiving and printing purposes.

After some research, I am thinking of the following options:<br>

- Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 (about 745 Euros), <br>

- Coolscan V (about 800 Euros), <br>

- Canon FS4000 US (about 580 Euros).<br>

I also haven't completely ruled out Coolscan 5000 ED, though at 1300

Euros this is actually above my budget.<br>

<br>

Now, I don't have any experience in scanning. Of course, quality is

the main issue. But on the other hand, having to scan 4500 negatives

inserting them one by one doesn't sound too nice, so userfriendly film

insertion is another consideration. Also, as I understand, the

Coolscan V doesn't have ICE, so you have to spend some time on each

picture after the scan (which in principle is ok, but for 4500

pictures this time should be as limited as possible).<br>

<br>

Who can give me advice which scanner to choose? (Just in case: I will

use the scanner under linux, probably with Vuescan) Help is much

appreciated!

Thanks a lot for your answers! It seems like Vuescan is the program to use and that most common scanners are supported by Vuescan. I've checked and my current distribution does use glibc 2.3.

 

About the hotplug daemon, I'm not sure how to check this and whether this is necessary, as it might be impossible to use a scanner as a hotplugging device - I have to say that I am quite ignorant about these things and don't know exactly what that means...

I have a pile of negatives and slides that I would like to scan. I

have no experience whatsoever in scanning and no idea even how to

start researching which scanner to buy.

I have looked at Nikon webpages to find out about their Coolscan

scanners, but have difficulty finding out what the differences are.

 

An additional problem is that I'm going to use the scanner under Linux

(SuSE) operating system and I don't know which software will work and how.

 

Does anyone have experience with scanning under Linux? Which scanner

do you use? And which software? I have heard of Twain and Sane, but I

don't know if these are usable with any scanner. Are there any

scanners that are impossible to operate under Linux?

 

Another question: can you recommend a shop (either on the internet or

in the Netherlands) where you can buy such scanners? Up to now it

seems every shop sells only flatbed scanners...