Philip Pemberton wrote:
>Hi,
> I'm currently in the market for a film scanner. At the moment, I'm looking
>into getting a second-hand Minolta dImage Scan Dual III, a Nikon Coolscan
>LS-2000 or a Nikon Coolscan IV ED.
>
> Does anyone here own or use any of these scanners? What are your opinions
>on it?
>
> I'm really only interested in something that has better scan quality than
>my Epson Perfection 2400 Photo (which is a great little flatbed, but for
>negative scanning it's a bit poor - focus is dire, and you lose a lot of
>detail). Resolution-wise, 2900dpi or thereabouts would be fine. Feel free to
>make any other suggestions, but my price limit is (at the absolute most) £200
>so don't go suggesting a Minolta dImage Elite 5400 or anything like that. I'm
>working off a student budget so don't really have much to spend.
>
> Interface-wise, USB would be great, but SCSI is OK too assuming I can get a
>cheapish SCSI card for it.
>
> If anyone on-list is selling a scanner broadly similar to the ones I've
>mentioned, please let me know offlist. I'd prefer to buy from someone in
>Europe, if only because the nice folks at HM Customs and Excise have been
>getting better at picking out expensive items and charging VAT accordingly (I
>have no problem with paying VAT, what I object to is the obscene 'handling
>fee').
>
> I'm also toying with the idea of buying a copy of Hamrick Software's
>"Vuescan" scanner driver. I've read a few reviews and played with the demo,
>but I'd like to hear from people who use it. Do you think it's worth the
>money? Is it better (in terms of scan quality and accuracy) than the driver
>that came with your scanner? What scanner are you using with it?
>
>Thanks.
>
>
Philip
I have a Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 which I was looking to upload to eB*y
but I'd be happy to sell it on to someone on this list first. The
scanner comes complete with an Adaptec SCSI PCI card and cable and works
fine in Windows XP etc (you just need to install the Adaptec ASPI
drivers from
http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/support/scsi_soft/ASPI/ASPI-4.70/. No need
to use the drivers that come with the Polaroid software - in fact, I'd
advise against it as they're fiddly to do).
It has the original manuals as well as the Polaroid scanning software
(which I don't like at all) and also a fully licensed copy of Silverfast
AI (version 5) that was bundled with the scanner. Silverfast is quite a
complex and powerful piece of software, but I've mostly been using
Vuescan more recently, and the scanner works fine with that. The whole
package basically in very good condition and includes the holders for 4
slides or 6 * 35mm negatives. It can scan at up to 4000 dpi (which does
create huge files) but you can select other ranges via the appropriate
software if you don't need such large file sizes.
Anyway, I know you wanted to be contacted off-list, but I'm not sure
whether you'd be interested in it, and I'm also not sure what these
things go for these days so maybe the listees can throw in some numbers.
I was thinking of somewhere around £150 for the scanner + SCSI
card/cable + software, but if that's outrageous then I won't be offended
:). I cost me around £250 a couple of years ago.
Oh - I'm based in the UK (NW England) so shipping won't be high, and
though my local council sometimes acts like a banana republic there
shouldn't be any customs and excise duties ;).
More details on the scanner can be found by googling. Here are a couple
of links that I found just now:
http://sol4.net/ss4000.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/scanners/polaroid_4000.shtml
Paul
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