>
> Hi all,
> I'm thinking of buying a new scanner (now I have a Microtek one, 1800
> dpi).
> I will probably choose one between the Canon FS4000 (used) and the Minolta
> Scan Elite 5400 II.
> I have only slides (some Kodachromes too).
> Hints and tips welcome.
>
i have the older scan elite 5400 but I mainly scan slides and some
kodachromes
its okish for me using vuescan, I find the saturation low and the edge
definition is not what I hoped for. Few slides look truly sharp without
photo shop unsharp mask even though most of the shots I take look fine
under a light table and are taken on a tripod with appature and mirror
prefire @ f8 or f11. The infra red cleaning is a nice feature and the scan
speeds using usb 2 are quite fast. @5400 dpi 48 bit colour you will make
large files! 200MB 48 bit color and 250 ish if you include the infra red.
Its well built - mostly metal but does get a little hot with long sessions
4 hours or more. The slide holder allows you to quickly change slides
without ejecting the holder - nice feature. Its scan quality is better
than the scan dual 4 which is noisy and has no IR channel. I have no
experience of the n?k*n to compare it to. I find that it takes a while for
the cathode inside to warm up and become stable. Getting the exposure
right is a bit of an art. Increasing the exposure time on the scanner can
quite quickly make light colours white and increasing the exposure a
little more results in whites becomming noisy light blue/greys. e.g. at
exposure 1.3 whites are fine and by 1.5 there is slight clipping and by
1.8 its bad...
at exposure 1.3 you lose the last 2 or 3 wdeges on an IT8 slide colour
calibration target even @ 48 bit 16 scans. Some flare evident in bright
white areas next to dark areas.
Summary good at extracting detail from light areas of the slide, some
flare, poor at shadow detail over the last half a stop on the slide, edge
sharpness and saturation not enought for me. IR cleaning is very useful
slide holder allows fast swapping of slides.
disclaimer:
This is my experience of the *original* scan elite 5400 the mark II may be
quite different. Also no medium format means I have outgrown it.
Regards
James
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