Nikon LS50 slide feeder?

I would like to scan my slide collection, and was dithering
between the Minolta 5400 and the Nikon LS50.

As far as I can see, the Nikon can only take a single slide
at a time, while the Minolta takes 4.

Nikon has a slide feeder, the SF210, but the Nikon site says
this is only for the LS5000. Other
accessories such as the MA-21, SA-21, IA-20, FH3 are all
compatible with both the LS50 and LS5000, and I would
guess all the extra hardware is in the SF210. Looks to me
like a "Marketing Decision" (tm).

There's no way I'll spring for double the price for the scanner
for the privilege of paying even more for the feeder, so does
anyone know if the SF210 is _actually_ compatible with the
LS50?

Regards
Ian

Nope.
Get a CS4000 (essentially the same scanner as the LS50) and a SF200s.
Make sure you get a warranty though. Publishing Perfection sells
refurbs. Otherwise you will need the CS5000 if you want to batch a large
number of slides. If you are scanning KC, there can be problems with
some slides. i have done over 2000 from the '50s and 60's with only a
few problems. i do use IT8 calibration and either Silverfast(mostly) or
Vuescan. With Ed adding analog gain control to Wuescan 8, the only
thing you will miss is ICE.

Frank

Ian wrote:
> I would like to scan my slide collection, and was dithering
> between the Minolta 5400 and the Nikon LS50.
>
> As far as I can see, the Nikon can only take a single slide
> at a time, while the Minolta takes 4.
>
> Nikon has a slide feeder, the SF210, but the Nikon site says
> this is only for the LS5000. Other
> accessories such as the MA-21, SA-21, IA-20, FH3 are all
> compatible with both the LS50 and LS5000, and I would
> guess all the extra hardware is in the SF210. Looks to me
> like a "Marketing Decision" (tm).
>
> There's no way I'll spring for double the price for the scanner
> for the privilege of paying even more for the feeder, so does
> anyone know if the SF210 is _actually_ compatible with the
> LS50?
>
> Regards
> Ian
>
>

degrub wrote:

> Nope.
> Get a CS4000 (essentially the same scanner as the LS50) and a SF200s.

No, the LS-50 has much different algorithms for scanning, and so the
difference is dramatic between the LS-4000 and the LS-50, in
particular with negative film.

I was not able to find differences in quality between the LS-4000 and
LS-40 which were significant, so I went with the LS-40. The LS-4000
had more pixel resolution, but the pictures were not sharper in
themselves.

With the LS-50 and LS-5000, there is a significant difference. Unless
speed is an issue, the LS-50 is as good as the LS-5000 if you do not
need the slide feeder. The mechanical quality seems similar, which is
quite surprising in view of the price gap between the two.

Both these Nikons are vastly faster than the Minolta 5400, which used
up to 11 minutes with each negative with ICE in my test which will be
published in Norway soon.

Per Inge Oestmoen, Norway