Nikon Coolscan Thoughts

[Nigel]

I'm trying to choose between the Nikon Coolscan V or 5000.

Any thoughts as to why I should spend twice as much on the 5000??

Anyone have some examples of scans they made of B&W film??

Searching the web I have read that some people are finding that B&W scans are really poor because you can't use the "Digital ICE". People claim that their scans are riddled with scratches and dust.

Thoughts on that would be helpful too.

Thanks and it is nice to have the forum back.

Good Luck

[Blue Audio Visual]

It's probably only worth going for the 5000 if you have good reason to make use of the available accessories. If you've got a lot of mounted transparencies to scan then getting the optional (and expensive) SF210 bulk slide feeder may well make sense. These units have a good resale value, so you could use it then sell it on without taking too much of a hit.

I've seen the results of colour slide scanning on the 5000 (excellent in prosumerish terms), but haven't seen any B&W output.

I would buy a 9000 if only it could take the slide adaptor. There are 2 possibilities for the future -

1) Nikon will release a new range soon as the current line-up is looking long in the tooth.

2) Or they will get out of the scanning market completely, and these will be the last decent prosumer model we'll see.

I was looking at the prices of Eversmart scanners the other day. If you think the Coolscans are expensive, check those out....

[Taqi]

I've got the V. It's great. ICE works on C41 B&W films btw. Strongly recommend you get 3rd party scanning software like silverfast (hideous interface, costs a bit, but once you get used to it, it kicks the pants off the Nikon software). Silverfast has a dust/scratch removal tool which works with conventional B&W - seem just as good as ICE to me... and the scans look bloody fantastic. If I get chance over the weekend I'll try to upload some examples..

Edit - here is an example - neopan 1600 if I recall correctly. Sorry don't have a bigger file at the moment..
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopo ... puser=5424

[Nigel]

Thanks...

I don't shoot C41 B&W. Scanning true B&W is very important to me. I'll take a look at some of the third party software solutions.

As for bulk scanning. That would be nice for negatives but I typically edit down my slides pretty well. Taking the 3-6 decent ones from each roll.

What about scanning speeds??

Most people think that the V is very slow. Anyone want to comment on that??

Good Luck

[Plastik]

I have the previous model, Nikon Coolscan 4000. I always shoot true b+w film and always scan in RGB. I can then select which channel I prefer over the other, or simply convert the whole image into grayscale.
Scanning RGB is quicker than scanning b+w (it is on my machine).
RGB also scans in more detail.
I believe the 5000 model is faster at scanning than the 4000 model; that's always a bonus - especially when scanning in 16bit.

[Nigel]

Any thoughts about the V's lower bit rate??

I'm leaning toward the V because of the price but I could see the bulk scanning of negatives. To bad that is another 400 bucks.

Good Luck

[aj]

My Coolscan IV can do digital ICE. ICE is not model related but it doesn't go well with silver crystals. As in genuine BW film.

Scanning can be very laborious. You need to develop a workflow for quick and steady results. Should you need to do a lot of complete films (selecting is also time consuming) then a roll feeder should be handy. Otherwise the strip feeder can do 6 frames in a batch but then you need to change strips every 5 minutes or something. The 5-generation have somewhat better specifications over the 4-generation models. There are also other brands which can do batches. Kodak used to offer a machine with good specs.

BTW sometime ago I went to a Nikon-fest. A Nikon representative then mentioned that the 5-generation would be the last set of scanners. Demand is getting very low as little recently shot film seems to demand scanning.

BTW I visited Japan just last weeks and I was amazed that these large camera-sellers in all this digital storm actually have some 10 meters of display with four boards of darkroom supplies. Well stocked with Fuji BW paper (did this exist?) in many sizes. Developers, all other chemistry. Enlargers etcetc. Seems trendy enough

[RichardB]

I'm having good results with a Plustek 7200i, although haven't got round to trying any of its dust/scratch removal tools (I scan all my films as soon as they arrive, and the little dust there is can be quickly photoshopped out). So far I've tried Velvia 100, old Velvia, Kodachrome 64, Kodachrome 25 and Provia 400X. All came out great, and only needed a little correction (they tend to scan with a bit of a red bias).

[Plastik]

I wouldn’t recommend using ICE when scanning B+W film either...

[Nigel]

Did some tests with a Coolscan V ED.

It was nice. The slides scanned extremely well and it wasn't as slow as people seemed to be saying. It may have even been faster had I scanned at something lower than what I did.

The B&W negs look dirty. Nasty dirty but I should have played around with them more. I also fed the negs without blowing them off but I didn't want to rescan them so I assume that they will clean up.

At this point I'm going to pull the trigger on one.

Thanks for the help.

Good Luck

[Roster]

I have had a Coolscan V ED for about four years now and I love it. Mostly because I have thousands of old B&W negatives and Color Slides and Negatives from more than three decades of film shooting.

The Digital ICE and other software works very well for the color slides and negatives. Digital Ice was never designed, however, for Panchromatic film (e.g. Tri-X or Plus-X). As many of my B&W negs date back to the 1970's and were self developed, they really show their age on the scan with spiderweb cracks, dust, scratches, etc. So most of my time goes to fixing them up in Photoshop.

The Digital ICE will work for the C41 process B&W film Kodak makes, but I shot one roll of that last summer and I thought it was pretty awful. On the other hand, I also shot several rolls of Plus-X last summer, had a local pro lab develop just the negatives with a contact sheet (as I no longer have a darkroom) and then scanned them using the Coolscan. I still had to perform some minor Photoshop touch up but the results were fantastic.

[Nigel]

I'm seeing the Coolscan V getting marked down.

Any one think it is signaling end of life??

Good Luck

[aj]

Possibly shops are clearing stocks?

As said a Nikon tech/rep told some time ago that the 5 generation would be the last generation. I am not sure if and or they stop manufacturing soon. These machines scan all there is in a negative or slide? No need for even better ones.

The larger number sales presumable are fading and sales may flatten out. The back log of scans is be scanned by now. Now they should cater for the group of photographers who work with film. Still or again Wonder if this enough.

[Nigel]

Here are some first impressions. I bought a Nikon Refurbished unit from Adorama. It was cheaper than a new unit and had free shipping.

My scanning has been done at much lower resolutions than the 4000dpi it is capable of.

Chromes:
Great. 300dpi 14bit TIFFs look stellar with ICE. Without ICE they look great but you can see dust.

Color Negs:
Great/Good. 72dpi 8bit TIFFs are easy to do, take little time and provide great proofing scans. Color is a bit softer but it could also be the film I choose. 300dpi 14bit TIFFs are just as nice as the chromes with more latitude and detail on the extremes.

B&W Negs:
Good. 72dpi doesn't show dust all that badly. Easily scans for proofs. Higher resolutions show dust for sure. But, the low res scans will provide everything I need/get from my lab and I save bucks.

Overall the speed isn't bad unless you are going for ultra high res scans. At 300dpi and lower the scanner is decent. With chromes it is not a problem at all since I will be scanning 5 or less from a roll.

All in all my first impressions are that it was an excellent purchase.

Good Luck