I don't think you'll go too far wrong with either of these.
That has been my impression, but like many I'm hesitant to jump with
all the new stuff coming out.
There's not much detail left on the film that you aren't
already getting.
And that's far more than I get with my current 5 mega pixel digital.
Yet I can make good 11 X 14s from that. Normally I don't go beyond an
8 X 10.
I used to do a lot of work with my Nikons (F4S and 8008) and have a
huge reservoir of transparency film strips as well as slides and
negatives. In addition I have about 30,000 "old family slides". Too
bad those old slides wound't work well in a bulk feeder. They are so
dirty they typically take a couple of clean and scan cycles until I'm
satisfied with them.
Although the Nikon is 4000 dpi and the Minolta closer to 5400 and
includes Photoshop Elements, I like the Nikon a bit better and it has
the optional roll and slide feeders (which cost half the price of the
Minolta...each)
My personal prediction is that the film scanner market
won't see too many radical improvements from here on
out, since film itself (especially 35 mm) is waning.
I'd think that would be a fair assumption although I think there is
going to be a lot of film usage for a while.
Resolution numbers (dpi) are hard to compare between
digicams and film scanners. Those 11 million pixels
from a Canon 1Ds digicam have more real information
in them than the 20 million pixels that I get from scanning
35 mm film with a Nikon LS-8000 at 4000 dpi.
I still do a fair amount with film as I've not found any of the Nikons
that have a high enough ASA equivalent with low noise. (I have a boat
load of Nikon lenses). However it looks like there are some nice low
noise, fast dSLRs coming out. Unfortunately I need a cable release
and mirror lock up that works while shooting images. Nikon's
anti-mirro isn't sufficient for a few of the things I do and the
little D70 has no remote except the IR which I assume has to be
visible to the front of the camera. Not sure if I can hook a computer
to the D70 for control or not. Don't think so.
I'm probably going to end up spending the money for a pro camera, IF
Nikon has one that is low noise and fast responses. A pro camera with
all the features of the D70 plus would be great for me.
Again, thanks for the info.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com