Digital BW, The Print

Hi David,

That's interesting, I found the 5400 to be unrelentingly hard (contrast and grain to the max) when scanning retained-silver B&W film, and the grain dissolver only seemed to make a slight improvement. I can't fault the sharpness and for colour film, notably Kodachrome, it's a fantastic unit, but I've found that with certain hard negs it's very difficult to get a good tonal range without some fairly murderous moves with curves. That then brings out any incipient noise and grain aliasing problems, so it's a catch 22. I have several negs that look considerably better scanned on an Epson 3200 flatbed than they do on the Minolta, in terms of tonality but of course not sharpness. I've often wondered if the less directional lightsource of the Nikons would be a bit better in this respect, but I've never had the opportunity to perform a back-to-back comparison. I guess a lot of it comes down to the kind of look you're after -- for someone seeking the grainy, contrasty reportage look,
then the Minolta might be just the ticket.

Best regards,

-= mike =-

-----Original Message-----
From: David B. Brooks [mailto:fotografx@...] 
Sent: 16 October 2004 05:32
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Cc: la_native@...
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Film Scanners


Robert,

Shortly after its announcement I had the opportunity to test and report on the Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400, which appeared in Shutterbug magazine some issues back. I also tested and reported on the Canon 4000FS some months before. I have not reviewed a Nikon scanner for some time, not because I have any issue with the scanner itself as it is very fine hardware, but because the software is the worst in its class and the scanner is on that basis grossly over-priced.

The one outstanding feature, especially applied to scanning B&W silver-based film is the 5400dpi optical resolution. That is a distinct advantage not just because it will natively support making 16x24 inch by 300dpi scans, but the high resolution avoids a pattern interference problem with film grain, particularly with grainier film processed with acutance developers (low sodium sulfite formula¹s) like Acufine and particularly Rodinal. In addition, the Minolta has a Grain Dissolver feature which is actually a very fine diffusion filter, which combined with the scanners tube light source that also reduces apparent graininess and avoids highlight blocking, which can occur with some 35mm dedicated scanners with a more collimated light source (like the difference printing with a diffusion versus and condenser enlarger).

If it makes any difference, being an old f... With 3/4 of my film library in B&W, my reaction after testing the Minolta was to ask for invoice sending Minolta a check instead of returning the scanner.

Regards, David B. Brooks
Shutterbug Magazine
E-mail: fotografx@...




On 10/15/04 8:07 PM, "Robert" <la_native@...> wrote:

> 
> I'm having the darnest time getting a comprehensive comparison of the 
> Nikon LS5000 and the Minolta 5400 compared to my Canon FS4000.  I know 
> the newer scanners have lots of new features, faster scanning, better 
> bit depth, ICE x 4, etc.
> 
> What I want to know is, do either of these scanners work better with 
> B&W negatives, OR pull better shadow detail with slides, than the Canon.
> 
> I already have the Canon and can live with its limitations.  But I'd 
> consider upgrading if the image quality were noticeably better.
> 
> All comments w/b appreciated!  Thanks!
> 
> Robert Ades

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