Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/12/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jim, Wile I'm not familiar either with the Canon or the Microtek, I have a Minilta DSE 5400. These scanners are capable of extremely good output when they work well; unbeatable resolution this side of a drum scanner or an Imacon (you can actually see the *real* grain pattern of some films with this one!)superb dynamic range (real 3.8, theoretical 4.2), fast scans --my present unit does full res scans of color negs with ICE and Grain Dissolver turned on in under three minutes, the optical quality is superb, the film and tranny holders are very well designed and hold the film flat, the price is good, the footprint is small... summing up, when these are good they are superb. However... BIG CAVEATS FOLLOW. These units are quirky and the quality control is lacking. My first unit failed after five weeks of light use. Since I don't live in the US but in Mexico, I had to go through a lengthy, involved and expensive process to re-export it to the US and then pay again import duties. However, those are special circumstances but horror stories everywhere abound. Some, electromechanical failures like my first unit others about incompatibility or the scanner not being found by some systems (Mac OS-X seems to have a problem of compatibility). Check the Photo.Net forums, specially Digital Darkroom and Minolta. The manual is somewhat obscure and fails to emphasize sufficienly some big no-no's regarding installation and operation --for example, that you should under no circumstances attempt to insert the film holder is the pilot light is not steady. The software is, depending on your expectations, from barely adequate to grossly underdesigned and quirky. I had to cough up another substantial amount of money for SilverFast. Some folks do allright by using Hamrick's VueScan ($49) but I've never been able to fathom its workflow. A lot of users of this scanner I know are in fear of the long term reliability; something that you don't hear from owners of other models. This is my fifth scanner and I had never been worried silly about any of them being out of warranty. I have a friend that swears by the Canon 4000 and I've seen beautiful output from it but have never used it so I cannot give any advice other that it's on sale at Adorama for $499. I hear it's being phased out. Maybe being substituted for something with better specs... Good luck. - --Jorge. * * * www.jorgemtrevino.com * * * - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Laird" <digiratidoc@earthlink.net> To: "LUG" <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 1:55 PM Subject: [Leica] OT: Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 > Anyone on the list using the Minolta 5400 scanner? I've decided to leap > into the digital world and buy a film scanner and of course I can't decide > which scanner to buy. I've narrowed my search down to the CanoScan FS4000, > the Minolta and the Microtek 4000t. Any opinions would be greatly > appreciated. > > > - > Jim Laird > digiratidoc@earthlink.net > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html