Minolta 5400 or Nikon LS5000

[Robert A]

I've been using a Canon FS4000 with Vuescan and I'm considering either one
of these two scanners.

I'd like to achieve improved results with silver-based black and white films
(Tri-x, etc.). With the Canon, film grain tends to get rather clumpy.

I'd also like better shadow detail from color slildes.

Other attributes like speed, digital ICE, etc., are not all that important
to me.

Thanks,
Robert A

 

[Hecate]

I've been using a Canon FS4000 with Vuescan and I'm considering either one
of these two scanners.

I'd like to achieve improved results with silver-based black and white films
(Tri-x, etc.). With the Canon, film grain tends to get rather clumpy.

I'd also like better shadow detail from color slildes.

Other attributes like speed, digital ICE, etc., are not all that important
to me.

Talk to any Nikon user and they'll tell you that the Nikon is the
best. OTOH, I use the Minolta and if you talk to any Minolta user....

 

[Erik Krause]

Talk to any Nikon user and they'll tell you that the Nikon is the
best

Not for silver based films. The maximum density is relatively low for
b/w film and grain aliasing is a problem.

 

[Hecate]

Not for silver based films. The maximum density is relatively low for
b/w film and grain aliasing is a problem.

<g>

 

[Olaf Ulrich]

I've been using a Canon FS4000 with
Vuescan and I'm considering either one
of these two scanners.
I'd like to achieve improved results with
silver-based black and white films (Tri-x,
etc.).

While the Nikon LS 5000 sure is a great scanner, for
silver-based B&W negatives the Minolta Elite 5400 is
better. The biggest drawback of the Minolta is the
very slow scanning speed with Digital ICE engaged.
For silver-based film, Digital ICE cannot be used
anyway ... and for that type of film, the Minolta's cold-
cathode lamp plus the Grain Reducer give better
results than the Nikon's LEDs which tend to over-
emphasize silver-based grain.

To see how the Grain Reducer works, see:
http://www.scanhancer.com/index.php?art=15&men=15

The Elite 5400's Grain Reducer is a built-in 'Scanhancer'.

Olaf

 

[Alan Browne]

While the Nikon LS 5000 sure is a great scanner, for
silver-based B&W negatives the Minolta Elite 5400 is
better. The biggest drawback of the Minolta is the
very slow scanning speed with Digital ICE engaged.

"very slow"? 4 minutes (with ICE) to get nearly twice number of pixels that the
5000 delivers in 2 minutes with ICE. Why is that "very slow"?

Or, less than a minute for non-ICE, which is the best way to go, of course, for
clean, unscratched slides.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Mendel Leisk]

"very slow"? 4 minutes (with ICE) to get nearly twice number of pixels that the
5000 delivers in 2 minutes with ICE. Why is that "very slow"?

Or, less than a minute for non-ICE, which is the best way to go, of course, for
clean, unscratched slides.

Cheers,
Alan

With Vuescan, my time to acquire a full resolution, saved at time of
scan, 64 bit rgbi Vuescan Raw File (meaning the infrared data is
contained in the file, and can be used by Vuescan for it's
alternative, and quite effective, cleaning action), with the Grain
Dissolver OFF, and with focus locked per Vuescan's advanced workflow,
is under 2 minutes, say 1 min. 50~55 sec.

Scan-from-disk will be required with this file, but this can be done
without user intervention, overnight, or whenever. For this, my times
with cleaning are around 80 sec, and without cleaning (pointless)
around 40 sec. This is to output both a new 48 bit Vuescan raw at time
of save, with cleaning applied (and cropped/rotated), plus a 48 bit
finished gamma file for viewing.

 

[Alan Browne]

With Vuescan, my time to acquire a full resolution, saved at time of
scan, 64 bit rgbi Vuescan Raw File (meaning the infrared data is
contained in the file, and can be used by Vuescan for it's
alternative, and quite effective, cleaning action), with the Grain
Dissolver OFF, and with focus locked per Vuescan's advanced workflow,
is under 2 minutes, say 1 min. 50~55 sec.

Scan-from-disk will be required with this file, but this can be done
without user intervention, overnight, or whenever. For this, my times
with cleaning are around 80 sec, and without cleaning (pointless)
around 40 sec. This is to output both a new 48 bit Vuescan raw at time
of save, with cleaning applied (and cropped/rotated), plus a 48 bit
finished gamma file for viewing.

Is that DSE 5400 or LS5000?

 

[Wilfred van der Vegte]

Alan Browne wrote:

Is that DSE 5400 or LS5000?

DSE 5400. Nikons don't have a grain dissolver.

 

[Nicholas]

I'm in the market for either of these scanners. My film collection is
mostly Kodak 5279 with some Fuji NPH400. All color negative film.
5279 has really amazing amber colors that I want to preserve. Of
course higher resolution and speed is important, but I'm fiending for
color. Any advice?

Thanks,
Nicholas