Nikon LS-30 Coolscan III Film Scanner for PC (PC/PowerMac) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you're looking for a 35mm film scanner, your research has finally cometo an end. Specially now that THE PRICE HAS BEEN LOWERED! I've been usingthis scanner for about two months and I can only say that it's worth everycent you put on it.Colors are great, detail is incredible, the resolutionallows really big output (around 12.5 X 8.5 at 300DPI - even bigger if youuse 250DPI). But the biggest star is ICE. Ok, it doesn't work on B&Wfilm, but the time it saves you from retouching on Photoshop more than paysfor this scanner. And ICE comes in two flavors - normal or sharpen. You canimprove sharpness while removing scratches and dust. Mine came with thelatest firmware (1.31), but I updated to the software's latest version(2.5.1) via download. The software works fine. Specially if you know how touse curves to correct color casts, improve details on certain areas, etc.And it has a very special feature that makes it better than all others I'veseen - you can resize the preview window to the size of your monitor. Youcan't imagine how much this little detail helps on correcting or improvingeach scan. Great. The Nikon Coolscan III (LS-30) is such a good scannerthat I don't believe paying more for the LS 2000 makes sense. Ok, the otherhas 36 bit and multiscan for improved shadow detail. But until now I neverfelt the need for this. Or for throwing US$ 700 more on a scanner. Betterbuy another Coolscan III... Ah, with Vuescan, a third party software, youcan do multiple scanning on the Coolscan III for better shadow detail. Ithas a nice place for storing the transport screws on the back, has built-intermination. The connectors are HDI-50. It comes with a cable (HDI-50 to 25pin SCSI), but if your SCSI chain has other equipment and you want to placeit right after the computer, you'll probably need another HDI-50 to otherconnector cable. As with most things Nikon, it feels solid as a rock.Certainly will last a long time. Hope as much as the faithful Nikon Fs.Looks like. It's hard to go wrong with the Nikon Coolscan III.

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Product Description:
Nikon has assembled an exceptional personal film scanner designed and priced for solo professional photographers, amateurs, and creative neophytes. The Nikon LS-30 (also known as the Coolscan III) gives you many of the features of Nikon's more expensive and advanced apparatus, the LS-2000, yet is priced for the individual. Out of the box, the LS-30 is ready and able to scan 35mm film in strip or slide format. When supplemented with an additional adapter (not included with the LS-30 basics), the Nikon LS-30 can also scan Advanced Photo System film. Fast scans of 20 seconds (average) at 2,700 dpi optical resolution with a dynamic range of 3.0 provide consistently reliable color. With digital image correction automatically removing surface debris from the scanned surface, you'll waste less time working on defective images.
Nikon has developed their exclusive Color Management System to ensure that colors match on your monitors, printers, and Web output. This system assists users in working with 1 of 10 RGB color spaces as well as CMYK for prepress work. You can even switch between film types without resetting the scanner or selecting alternate software. Additionally, LED technology guarantees consistent, true color.
The LS-30 uses no bulb, eliminating the frustration of stopping in the middle of a project to replace the light. Digital ICE technology automatically cleans superficial defects like dust, scratches, and fingerprints from scans. The Nikon LS-30 may be just the step-up you're looking for toward perfecting the beautiful, lasting images of your photographs.

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Nikon CoolScan V ED Film Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)The Coolscan V is an excellent cheaper alternative to the Coolscan 5000 which I have also owned.My immediate project included about 1500 slides from my own collection, my fathers collection, and my grandfather's collection.

Most of my father's slides are Kodachrome. Much has been written about the inability of this scanner to scan Kodachrome slides and said about ICE4 not working with Kodachrome. Well, I have some good news The ICE4 does work extremely well for the most part. However, with Kodachrome slides it does produce minor artifacts in about 5 percent of the slides. I scanned with ICE (not ICE4) always on and then rescanned if I encountered unacceptable artifacts. I did notice that the scanner ICE feature was more likely to be stumped by old Kodachrome slides where subjects were wearing shirts with stripes.

The GEM ROC and DEE (the other stalwarts of the ICE4 other than ICE itself) work on Kodachrome slides as well, but I found that the results were unpredictable and that I could achieve better results myself in Photoshop far more quickly. The GEM ROC and DEE features simply took too long and slowed down the scanning unacceptably. The results, for me, were not worth the additional scanning time. So I never used these features. But the "enhance" feature on the scanner I used nearly 100% of the time with great results - much better than the GEM ROC and DEE features.

The scanner is fast and does produce wonderful wonderful detailed scans, easily demonstrating the grain in the transparancies at 3000 and 4000 dpi. The Kodachrome slides were a challenge to the Dynamic Range of the scanner, but I believe that most of the detail in the shadows that is there was extracted. With dark slides I used the VERY useful gain feature turning it all the way up to 2 in the really dark slides. Unfortunately, Kodachrome, with all of its many attributes, does have substantial downsides including a very narrow exposure latitude and shadow detail is simply lacking. I think the scanner accurately reproduced the information including the colors on the Kodachrome slides, with perhaps a slight bluish cast noticed in some cases.

It wasn't until I was finished scanning all of the culled slides that I undertook to scan my select color negatives. And this scanner really came into its own scanning color negatives. Don't even TRY to scan color negatives without ICE because the results are unbelievably bad. Even pristine negatives have scratches and dust that magically are erased by the ICE feature. What a godsend. The scanned color negatives were just beautiful with very accurate color rendition. But immediately I noticed much more grain in the color negatives (Royal Gold and Fuji Superia Gold) than in the scanned slides.

One note unrelated to the scanner itself. Until you've used a digital scanner to scan your color negatives you can't begin to realize how far superior Kodachrome, Provia, and Ektachrome slides are to color negatives insofar as capturing detail. Even the best color negatives have much more grain that Kodachrome. And the difference in color negatives is substantial too.

The V was slower than the 5000, but honestly the difference for the non-professional scanner, to me, was not worth the additional investment.The V represents a superb value giving you nearly all of the advantages of the 5000 other than speed for a substantially cheaper price.

The included Nikon software worked fantastic for me. I downloaded a copy of VueScan which according to many reviews is superior to the Nikon software and found that for me the Nikon software was easier to work with and produced superior results.

Setup Summary: I scanned at a 16 bit color depth and 4000 pixels per inch with the scan enhancer turned on and the Digital ICE turned on. I did not use GEM ROC and DEE because of inconsistent results. I turned up the gain as necessary for dark slides and turned it down for light slides. Gain adjustments were only necessary on about 15 - 20% of the slides.

Setting up the Nikon Scan window was a little tricky too. I placed the tool palette in the far upper right corner of the window with the scan window placed under it to the right. The image window occupied the largest portion space to the left.

I can recommend this scanner without reservation. It is a phenomenal piece of equipment.If speed is not a paramount consideration and you are not a professional scanner needing the options (the auto feeder) offered by the 5000 then, in my opinion, the V represents an absolutely tremendous value.

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Product Description:
A high-performance dedicated film scanner from Nikon, the CoolScan V ED offers high-quality scanning of 35mm slides, 35mm film strips, APS film (with optional IX240 film adapter), and prepared slides (with optional medical slide holder). The Scanner-Nikkor ED glass lens offers a 4,000 dpi optical resolution, while the 3,964-pixel linear CCD image sensor and 14-bit A/D input (8-/16-bit output) provide true-to-life, brilliant results.
Nikon's own LED illumination technology ensures accurate color with no warm-up time or risk of heat damage. Scan times are as fast as 38 seconds including image transfer to display, and as fast as 14 seconds in preview mode. Automatic color/contrast compensation helps you achieve accurate results, while the ICE4 advanced digital image correction suite of technologies helps to restore old slides to their original glory. Additionally, the included Nikon Scan 4 software provides a comprehensive and easy-to-use interface for managing your scans.
The CoolScan V ED has a convenient plug-and-play USB interface, while one-touch scan and preview buttons will have you scanning film in no time. PC and Mac compatible, the CoolScan V ED also comes backed with a one year limited warranty.
What's in the Box
Scanner, CD-ROM, strip film adapter SA-21, slide feeder MA-21, instructions

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Epson Perfection 4870 PRO Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)I shoot black & white 35 mm.Previously relied upon either a Polaroid SprintScan 4000 or drum scans.The 4870 produces gorgeous scans and is easy to use.I'm very happy with my purchase.SilverFast has proved to be a dissapointment for use with B&W negs.I would probably have purchased the regular 4870 vs. Pro version if I had it to do over again.

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Product Description:
Perfection 4870 Pro Color Scanner

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