sharp, high resolution, better than a 5MP digital camera

old, slow, old software, no TWAIN, No Digital ICE, manual touchup focussing

I got an original Coolscan (LS10) used just this past week. It is no longer supported by Nikon, but there are some rudimentary drivers on their webpage at www.nikon-image.com. I have been eyeing digital cameras for years, but they do not have the ability to get an A4 300dpi printout quality. I have even tried scanning 4x6 prints and thought that was okay, but the moment I scanned my negatives and slides at 2700dpi on the Coolscan, I knew that this was the ONLY way to go fully digital. Digital cameras are not yet at the point where they can match the resolution of scanned film. Although lens technology has been improving steadily at a frequent pace, the quality that 35mm SLR lenses put onto film are probably within the 5-8MP range. Also, you don''t get the chromatic abberations of the lenses on digital cameras and their sensors- for some reason, a film scanner seems to be much better at this. The output of the LS10 looks great, but I still have to do lots of touch up with all the dust and scratches on my film. It is well worth it since I do touch up on anything that I print at A4. The US driver (4.14?) is not as stable as the UK (1.21) driver (all on the nikon-image site). For the amount I paid, I feel that this is the only way to get a decent high resolution image from a camera. Oh, also, the scanning times are pretty slow- about 7 minutes for a 2700dpi scan, but I don''t scan everything, just what I want to print. I used to scan my 4x6 prints, but have found that my 35mm film holds much, much more image information. I''m guessing that 4x6 prints (since I used to scan them at 200,300,600dpi) will hold no more info than a 1-2.2MP camera and depending on the way it was printed, it may have lost most of the detail in the shadows and highlights. The most remarkable thing is that (since I am looking directly off the negative), I see how good my lenses are despite how they look in prints (screw all those lens reviews you thought you could trust). 35mm cameras and lenses are pretty good from what I have seen- and for sure much better than the current crop of digitial cameras

Similar Products Used:

None

Super fast scanning and preview, ICE works amazingly well. Very flexible.

Difficult to set up, supplied with the wrong cables, difficulty of use with Win 2000. No drivers available. Not supplied with SCSI card.

Excellant value for money, totally reliable, flexible and easy to use. When set up.

Customer Service

none

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Flastbeds with adapters, useless..

Easy installation, good included software, great film carrier module, fast scans, excellent scan quality and automatic dust/scratch removal; Vuescan turns the LS-30 into a LS-2000!

None seen after 100+ slides scanned, and 20ish negatives.

It's relatively expensive, but from what I've read of other people's problems or frustrations with dense slides, it is worth the extra. The ICE really works. I am more than satisfied.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

None--first film scanner

Price (for a scanner with ICE).
ICE - it works even on scratched slides.

ICE doesn't work with B&W neg's.
Poor supplied instructions. Experimentation and research help more than the supplied manual.

With the supplied Photoshop LE and an old(ish) Epson Photo 700 printer I can get (almost A4)prints that even other photographers can't seperate from a darkroom effort. It has taken a lot of paper, ink and time to get the three stages of scanning, Photoshop, and printing working togther at this standard though.

Customer Service

Never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

None.

Nice film scanner for the price. It's around $799 now.

Had to re-install the hardware and software once. None other than that.

Nice. Nothing out of this world, but it performs well and does what I need it to do. Best scanner for the price. Great for anyone who wants to scan 35mm.

Customer Service

I hear its good. Not my experience though.

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Olympus scanner.

Digital ICE to remove scratches and dust. Can correct color with curves before importing into photoshop

Only 10 bit scanning with 3.0Dmax. Can only export 8 bit to photoshop.

Every post I've read was a happy user like myself. Lot's of help for problem from happy users. How can you go wrong.

Customer Service

Tech support very helpfull

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None

This scanner has been extremely easy to use and fairly intuitive. An affordable option to the more expensive Super Coolscan which is nearly identical except for its ability to create a 3500 dpi vs the 2700 dpi image. If you are not preparing images for high end reproduction this scanner is all you need.
The ICE technology is extremely useful on scanning print negatives which invaribly end up slightly scratched.

The documentation is a bit inadequate and for a Nikon product that is truly surprising. It became fairly intuitive to use quickly though. A small peeve is that when scanning multiple print negatives (up to six at a time) one cannot set the "Clean Image" function to on. A bit frustrating.

This is a perfect scanner for someone wishing to create a digital portfolio of both print and slide work. Affordable and easy to use. The device is fairly small but very sensitive to travel with. Very good quality to price ratio.
If you plan to use your scanned images for the web or just electronically you do not need to spend your money on the more expensive Super Coolscan.

Customer Service

Have not used it.

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Agfa Snapscan and the Umax (both flatbed scanners)

Excellent colour saturation,
and the 'Digital Ice' technology
reduces scratches sufficiently
for all but the most demanding
applications.

It's possible to accidentally
resize the thumbnail window so
small that you can't see it (and
so you can't grab the border to
resize it). The only way to recover from this is to totally reinstall the software.

Excellent value for money at a street price of around $800, especially with a $150 rebate program. The 2700dpi is just enough to create an 8x10 print on a 300dpi printer, which is a distinct benefit when compared to 2400dpi scanners.
The supplied NikonScan software is reasonable (especially the newer version 2.5), although the documentation leaves something to be desired. Like most consumer-level film scanners a full-resolution scan (including prescan) takes quite some time.

Customer Service

N/A

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HP Photosmart (S10)

Very nice scans, high resolution and the ICE technology is great. Have made very exceptable scans for prints up to 16 X 20.

The documentation is useless! I had to find the answers to most questions on the web.

Very pleased. If you already have scanning experience you love this. If this is your first film scanner, be prepared to do a great deal of research on the web to master full capabilities.

Customer Service

Scanner has been trouble free. Service has been good when I called with a specific question. But, the poor documentation requires more than what a service rep. should have to answer.

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None

Fast, excellent colors, good resolution, hot-swap-able slide to film holder, easy to install and the digital ICE really does work very well (big time saver)

Pricey, needs more resolution, NikonScan software cannot batch scan, tends to emphacize grain

My first film scanner, and I great experience so far. I would buy again without a doubt; I am glad to have paid more for the ICE. With this scanner, a Epson 870 printer and Photoshop, I am producing photo quality prints of very high quality. Truly impressive!

Customer Service

None needed!

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None, my first scanner