Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
I'm in the market for a new negative scanner, and looking for user's 
experiences with the new Minolta which has just reached the retailers 
here in the UK. Has anyone had any experience of this machine yet? 
I realise that resolutions of over 4000 are of debateable advantage, 
but I'm looking  particularly for information on the dMax in actual 
practice as opposed to advertising fantasy figures.
Thanks,
John Adey

Hi John, 

no I have no personal experience with it, but have read some online 
sources, and one said they have measured a real world dmax of 3,8 
which should be enough for b&w negs.
I will go for a DSLR very soon, but for some special occasions I 
would like to continue to shoot and print film, specially b&w which 
has a different look on film than on digital. But also if I dont want 
to carry around the heavy DSLR, lenses and battery recharging 
adapters, digital wallet for storage in my holidays (welcome to the 
digital age!), my ascetic but excellent Konica Hexar will be like 
being free again 

But the real sensational part on the Minolta is not only the 
resolution but the price. Its hardly more than a 2900dpi Nikon LS40 
(which I have used sometimes).

While its true that 5400 dpi is kind of overkill on 35mm negs, it 
frees you at least from the task of having to find the optimal up-rez 
tool - one can forget genuine fractals with it. And down- sizing is 
always easy and will give you some extra sharpness.

So I will actually wait the first more substantial reviews but I am 
ready to buy...

regards Bernie

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "dequnicey" 
<johncadey@n...> wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm in the market for a new negative scanner, and looking for 
user's 
> experiences with the new Minolta which has just reached the 
retailers 
> here in the UK. Has anyone had any experience of this machine yet? 
> I realise that resolutions of over 4000 are of debateable 
advantage, 

> but I'm looking  particularly for information on the dMax in actual 
> practice as opposed to advertising fantasy figures.
> Thanks,
> John Adey

Hello John,

>I'm in the market for a new negative scanner, and looking for
>user's experiences with the new Minolta which has just reached the
retailers here in the UK. Has anyone had any experience of this
machine yet? 
> I realise that resolutions of over 4000 are of debateable
>advantage, but I'm looking  particularly for information on the dMax
>in actual practice as opposed to advertising fantasy figures.

I just ordered one yesterday.  Been waiting for it to be released. 
Daniel in this forum got one last week and gave a brief and positive
preliminary report a few days ago.  I'm taking a chance as an early
buyer because Minolta has a good track record with their previous
models, and I figure it's got to be at least as good as any other 4000
dpi model out there, and possibly better, with the latest technology
and software and so on.  I need something for 35mm.  I'm happy with my
flatbed results for 4x5 and 120 negs, but the 35mm results are poor. 
My 35mm scans on a friend's 4000 dpi Nikon make a huge difference, so
I've been convinced that it's worth it.  I was ready to buy a few
months ago but saw a notice for the 5400, so I've been waiting.  One
nice thing is the smaller vertical footprint.  Space is at a premium
here and this will fit in very nicely.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm