bjorn_solberg1

Thank you orsetto! Yes, replacement masks, holders and indeed any spare parts for the Minolta MultiPro seem non existent. I will have to treat my newly acquired MultiPro with the outmost care. It is a wonderful scanner! Your suggestion about making masks from unexposed 120 film seems like a brilliant idea. I will try that.

I have just purchased a Minolta Multi Pro scanner in very good condition. The scanner came with all the holders that were supplied when new, including the glass holder for 120 film. Unfortunately the seller could not find the masks that need to be fitted into the medium format glass holder. Does anybody here on this forum have experience with how to make DIY masks for the Multi Pro glass holder? I am grateful for any advice on this matter!

I regularly read about people who scan film with the Pentax K-1 and pixel shift, and they claim that pixel shift gives a better resulting scan than a non pixel shifted scan. I have been following a thread over at "largeformat photography", where one member uses the Panasonic S1R and pixel shift to scan film professionally in his lab. There are differences in the pixel shift technology between Pentax, Olympus, Phase One, Sony and Panasonic, but based on what I have seen on many photography forums I am convinced that pixel shift is beneficial when scanning film. Being able to bypass the Bayer filter and scan in full RGB is in my mind an obvious asset when scanning film. Then there is the notion of more resolution, less grain aliasing and a cleaner image resulting from a pixel shift scan. I guess I will know for sure the day I purchase the Pentax K-1 mark II

Once more slightly off topic: Here is a comparison between Pentax K-1 with pixel shift vs no pixel shift, but in a landscape context: Pentax Pixel Shift and Motion

Did you download the 97mb jpeg of the scanned image? It gives a rather good impression of a Pentax K-1 pixel shift stiched scan. Yes, this was a comparison between the Epson 4990 flatbed scanner and the Pentax K-1 pixel shifted. I have unfortunately not encountered any comparions between with pixel shift vs without pixel shift.

This may be slightly off topic, but here is a very good example of a pixel shift scan done with a Pentax K-1. The Pentax K-1 has a 36mp Sony sensor, and some people (Lloyd Chambers: diglloyd blog: Pentax K1: Impressive Innovation Unmatched by CaNikon) claim that with pixel shift this camera can produce more than 50mp files. Scroll down the page to member "Andrea K" and and take a look at his post. He scans Pentax 645 medium format film by taking four pixel shift shots and stich in Photoshop. How do you scan your film? - Page 3 - PentaxForums.com

Thank you for the service manual and the link to lcd-chip.com! I am still not any wiser about the exact specifications of the MDSE 5400 and consequently how to order a replacement bulb... I guess I will have to study the service manual more thoroughly and see if I can find the bulb specifications.

Thank you! I cannot however find any scanner bulbs at Projector Lamps LLC. Does anyone have the specifications of the original MDSE 5400 bulb?

Does anybody know where to find a replacement bulb for the Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 scanner? I am grateful for any advice on this matter!

Orsetto: Thank you very much for your "thesis" on film scanners! Very interesting and helpful. Do you have any experience with the build quality of the Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro? Is it as robust as the Nikon Coolscan 8000/9000? Are there any workshops that still repair Minolta scanners?

Sure, I know about the more modern FireWire driven Imacons. I would love to own an Imacon Flextight 343 for instance, but this scanner is much more expensive than its older sibling, the SCSI driven Imacon Flextight Photo.

Thank you digitaldog! I have investigated the Imacon Flextight SCSI scanner query a bit more. It seems that spare parts availability and repair possibilities make the SCSI Flextights a too risky investment for me. I have decided to look for other scanner options.

My current way of scanning medium format film is to use my Epson V750 for web sharing and smaller prints. I find that the V750 is good enough for prints up to at least A4 format (21 x 29,7 cm), probably also larger prints all depending. Further my plan is to send my very best medium format shots for drum scanning. Recently though I have started looking at the older Imacon Flextight SCSI scanners, like the Imacon Flextight Precision and Imacon Flextight Photo, these can be found for much less money then the Coolscan 8000/9000. What is the opinion about the older Imacon Flextight SCSI scanners. Are they worth purchasing, or are they simply outdated (SCSI and maintenance/repair problematics)? *I am also looking into camera scanning, but currently with my 16mp Pentax K-5 it involves multiple shots and stitching with 120 film to achieve results that better the V750. The results so far are promising, but it is very time consuming.

The PhotoKit plugins appear in the file menu, but CS2 is unable to load the plugins (OSX 10.5.8 and OSX 10.6.8). Instead the "spinning ball" shows up, or the application crashes. Is this comprehensible?

Then I need to investigate this further. Probably I will start by reinstalling Photoshop CS2. Thank you again for your help digitaldog!