New Minolta Scan Elite 5400-II

[Fernando]

Minolta just announced (PMA show) the successor of the 5400 filmscanner:

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news/articles/story_2547.html

Improved scan speed, improved color algorythms (expecially for color
negatives) are the most notably improvements (to my eyes, of course!)

Fernando that was hoping for a new Scan Multi Pro... sigh!

 

[false_dmitrii]

Minolta just announced (PMA show) the successor of the 5400 filmscanner:

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news/articles/story_2547.html

Improved scan speed, improved color algorythms (expecially for color
negatives) are the most notably improvements (to my eyes, of course!)

Fernando that was hoping for a new Scan Multi Pro... sigh!

Hah! What did I tell you? Workflow speed improvements sound good,
though I wonder how much faster an "all option" final scan would be.
Looks like they built in the full ICE package as well. Still has the
focus knob. The adapters look about the same--except they're missing
the pointy end.

Any guesses about the following:

When it will be released in the US;
How much it will cost (I'm blindly guessing they'd aim more toward the
Coolscan 5000 than the original 5400's current price);
Whether the original 5400's software will stay as-is, clipping
negatives for all eternity?

false_dmitrii

 

[Fernando]

Hi!

Hah! What did I tell you? Workflow speed improvements sound good,
though I wonder how much faster an "all option" final scan would be.

Reading "through the lines", I guess they shortened the
startup/calibration/focusing/transport seek/postprocessing time; while
to me, it does not look like the actual scan time would be shorter. They
should have increased the power of the light source or redesigned the
optics to use a wider aperture -thus decreasing DOF-, or increasing the
sensitivity of the CCD -thus increasing noise- to accomplish that.

Whether the original 5400's software will stay as-is, clipping
negatives for all eternity?

I'm rather pessimistic about that!!

But maybe, with this new 5400 out, Ed Hamrick could have a second look
at his Vuescan algorythms and put an end once and for all to the streaks
issue. One can always hope!

Fernando

 

[Bart van der Wolf]

Hi!


Reading "through the lines", I guess they shortened the
startup/calibration/focusing/transport seek/postprocessing time;
while to me, it does not look like the actual scan time would be
shorter.

To me it looks more like a software optimation, and a restyled outer
casing. Be we'll have to wait for the actual units before we can
judge.

SNIP

But maybe, with this new 5400 out, Ed Hamrick could have a second
look at his Vuescan algorythms and put an end once and for all to
the streaks issue. One can always hope!

I fear that Ed Hamrick may underestimate the size of the userbase of
the DSE-5400, and rather goes for the low(er) hanging fruit (adding
features/models to the current capabilities). Whether that makes
business sense, who knows, but time will tell.

Bart

 

[Wilfred]

To me it looks more like a software optimation, and a restyled outer
casing. Be we'll have to wait for the actual units before we can judge.

It seems it doesn't have a grain dissolver. Probably that's how they
increased scanning speed;-)

 

[Hecate]

It seems it doesn't have a grain dissolver. Probably that's how they
increased scanning speed;-)

As that's one of the best features I'm glad I've got the Mk 1.

 

[winhag]

That would be a shame (and a mistake!!) if they really eliminated
the grain dissolver (in favor of GEM?).

W

 

[Dierk Haasis]

To me it looks more like a software optimation, and a restyled outer
casing. Be we'll have to wait for the actual units before we can
judge.

Same that I thought when reading through the specs. Would be nice to
get sw/fw upgrade for the first generation.

 

[winhag]

Seems like grain dissolver is gone! Unless I missed something, if you
follow the Minolta link below,
they never mention 'grain dissolver' as being part of the 5400 II. My
guess is they saw it as a way to cut
cost. Too bad.


http://konicaminolta.com/products/consumer/digital_camera/dimage/index.html

 

[Wilfred]

Seems like grain dissolver is gone! Unless I missed something, if you
follow the Minolta link below,
they never mention 'grain dissolver' as being part of the 5400 II. My
guess is they saw it as a way to cut
cost. Too bad.

.... and, like Nikon, they also abandoned FireWire.

 

[Wilfred]

... and, like Nikon, they also abandoned FireWire.

Not only that ... I see no mention of single-pass multiscanning either.
The only added improvement seems the replacement of the cold cathode
lamp by a white LED.

 

[Bart van der Wolf]

Seems like grain dissolver is gone! Unless I missed something,
if you follow the Minolta link below, they never mention 'grain
dissolver' as being part of the 5400 II. My guess is they saw it
as a way to cut cost. Too bad.

Now that the specs are up:
<http://konicaminolta.com/products/c...ge/dimagescan-elite5400-2/specifications.html>
it is apparent, they use a white LED lightsource.
The Grain Dissolver just takes away too much light, so now they had to
incorporate GEM.

Bart

 

[Kennedy McEwen]

... and, like Nikon, they also abandoned FireWire.

Fairly obvious route - have you checked the costs of IEE-1394 and USB-2
chipsets? Not to mention the fact that USB-2 is built into most new
PCs, whilst 1394 requires another card - which has to be supplied with
the scanner yet is superfluous to Mac users. All a bit of an
unnecessary expense really.

 

[Bart van der Wolf]

Fairly obvious route - have you checked the costs of IEE-1394
and USB-2 chipsets? Not to mention the fact that USB-2 is built
into most new PCs, whilst 1394 requires another card - which has to
be supplied with the scanner yet is superfluous to Mac users. All a
bit of an unnecessary expense really.

Which also means that those simultaneously operating 2 scanners on the
WinXP platform can expect problems
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324756).

Bart

 

[winhag]

Well, I use a Nikon 5000ED and have fairly successfully used
a 'scanhancer' diffuser (w/LED light source). While the scans take
significantly longer,
I can still use it! With today's relatively powerful LEDs, Minolta
should have done the appropriate reengineering to keep the grain
dissolver. It is too bad as they lost a significant advantage over the
stock Nikons.

W

 

[Kennedy McEwen]

Which also means that those simultaneously operating 2 scanners on the
WinXP platform can expect problems
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324756).

Yes, there is the problem with M$ hacking their software, but it'll be
fixed real soon now - perhaps in the next Millenium Edition. ;-)

 

[Hecate]

... and, like Nikon, they also abandoned FireWire.

And yet another good reason why I'm glad I've got the Mk1

 

[false_dmitrii]

Well, I use a Nikon 5000ED and have fairly successfully used
a 'scanhancer' diffuser (w/LED light source). While the scans take
significantly longer,
I can still use it! With today's relatively powerful LEDs, Minolta
should have done the appropriate reengineering to keep the grain
dissolver. It is too bad as they lost a significant advantage over the
stock Nikons.

I was just thinking of the "Scanhancer" product. Not coincidentally,
they had a whole page about calibration-related banding on the Multi
Pro. Maybe Minolta was as tired as Hamrick.com with the grain diffuser
calibration issues?

false_dmitrii

 

[false_dmitrii]

Fairly obvious route - have you checked the costs of IEE-1394 and USB-2
chipsets? Not to mention the fact that USB-2 is built into most new
PCs, whilst 1394 requires another card - which has to be supplied with
the scanner yet is superfluous to Mac users. All a bit of an
unnecessary expense really.

I don't follow chipset prices. But it's pretty easy these days to
find built-in Firewire on PC motherboards or to gain it via the not
uncommon Creative Audigy (by far the less preferable choice, I think).
Though if speed is a bigger concern than compatibility, there are
probably many better areas in which KM could spend their resources.

false_dmitrii

 

[false_dmitrii]

Not only that ... I see no mention of single-pass multiscanning either.
The only added improvement seems the replacement of the cold cathode
lamp by a white LED.

There's a "3-line color CCD", "scan method: single-pass scan", and
"multi-sample scanning". Do these three items mean anything together?

Doesn't the Nikon have 3 independent monochrome LEDs? Does the switch
to a white LED light source do away with any of the color channel
contamination that's supposed to occur when a single white source is
filtered?

I wonder whether the negative color matching is all software--akin to
licensing Silverfast's Negafix--or if it actually affects the hardware
exposure.

They're still bundling PS Elements 2. Not that 3 is a huge
improvement, but still....I really, really hope the Corel/PSP combo can
start providing Adobe with actual competition.

false_dmitrii