Very good scans. Dmax much better than previously used scanners, digital ICE great. 36 bit is a must for serious work.

Film strip adapter SA-20 works intermittently with 6 frame strips. Also as noted by other reviewers it is quite a bit slower than the manual holder. Lubrication problem--with SA-20 (what keeps it from working reliably with 6 frame strips) is not USER servicable according to Nikon.

Finally after fighting for 2 years I have found a dry lubricant for the SA-20 (one used for windshield wiper blades on cars--!!!USE SPARINGLY if you try this yourself!!!) while the SA-20 is indeed slower than the manual holder, it does allow unattended batch scanning (what I bought the scanner for!) New Vuescan software(after market) increases productivity compared with Nikon Scan 2.51. Scanner is so much better than the Minoltas (they were older, not current models) that we got rid of three of them. Despite problems with strip scanning of 6 frame strips, still a dynamite scanner. Actual experience with SA-20 strip holder (now that I seem to have it working!!!) is as follows for low resolution scans of a six frame strip:
47 seconds to prescan all six frames and show thumbnails in window. Appoximately 15 to 25 seconds to enter pre-determined corrections through the settings window for all 6 frames including modifying orientation of all frames. Actual scanning time for the 6 frames about 6 1/2 minutes. Total time from one strip to the next for 6 frame strips is about 8 1/2 minutes. Scanner settings:
Resolution aproximately 2 meg per image 24 bit.
Digital Ice ON/Sharpen,8 bits per color,1x scan(multi sampling off)twain plugin with Photoshop 5.0 time to name, modify, and save files to disk not included.

Similar settings 2700 dpi 3 minutes per scan (scanning time ONLY).
2700 dpi without Digital ICE, 40 seconds including positioning of frame selected.

2700 dpi with Digital ICE, 12 bits per color, 16x multi sampling including postioning of frame, get a cup of coffee.....10 1/2 minutes per frame.
Computer used for times above: IBM clone 475 K-6/2
256 meg of ram. Now that I know how to lubricate the SA-20 I would buy another if I needed it.

Customer Service

Scanner replaced twice with new unit, SA-20 replaced twice also. total 6 SA-20 units, 3-LS-2000 units all these replacements dealt with the inability of the SA-20 to scan 6 frame strips) problems scanning 6 frame strips. I was not happy as it took over a year to tell me it was a lubrication problem that had to be serviced by NIKON, and their lubrication seemed to last about a week at best. NOT resolved satisfactorily by Nikon, as they would not offer a fix that would last, and which could be applied by the owner in the field.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta QS35+ (30 bit)
Minolta ScanDual (24 bit)
Epson 200 (30 bit)

*excellent sharpness and color reproduction
*close to drum scan
*ICE reduces noise and artifacts

*typical bad Japanese user manual
*seems to scan kodachrome and fuji provia very dark

You can do better scans with this compared to most photoCD work( at least that I have seen).With and epson 870/1270 you can get better prints than most labs will make!

Customer Service

*used to have on line forum
*can now reach tech support 24/7

Similar Products Used:

much better than HP photosmart.

The LS 2000 is a MUCH better scanner than the LS1000. It scans quicker and the color accuracy is greater.

The software!

When you go to change the gamma or preferences, the program locks up. Still, the problems with the Nikon software will not be noticed if you don't have to deal with certain items, otherwise it runs okay.
It is software version 2.5.

When scanning color slides, the scanner DOES make the scan more contrasty. Again, this may be a software problem as mentioned before.

The ICE feature works okay some of the time but it is not perfect. Scratches are not always removed and you still may need to spend time with Photoshop to correct them.

The LS2000 scans quicker and does a better job than the LS1000.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon LS1000.

• Excellent colour
• Excellent sharpness
• Great software (the mac software is superb. I note other reviews complain and wonder if they are using the Windows version
• Works well will Apple ColorSync

• No ICE for B&W
• ICE for Kodachromes not as good as E6 films
• Slow, but considering what it does and compared to other scanner it is just fine

Great scanner. Great software on my PowerMac G4 - the colour calibration works superbly and synchronises precisely with my printer, monitor, etc (thanks largely to Apple ColorSync). I would love it to be faster, and FireWire rather than SCSI but overall this rocks.

Customer Service

Not required.

Similar Products Used:

Agfa DuoScan
Agfa Snapscan
Agfa Arcus
Epson Perfection (haha) 610

Very high Quality Scans from a Desktop. Scans allow for large poster size enlargements with very little distortion - you see film grain, not pixelation.

Nikon Software compared to Silverfast is weak. Scan times are longer than Nikon advertises, but worth the wait.

Probably the best Desktop Scanner you can buy. With Silverfast Software, even better. Expensive if you are a hobbyist, but worth the dollars if you need the resolution. The ICE speeds up Photoshop work, but does not eliminate all the defects - especially for large prints. Combined with the Epson 1270 - if you are careful, better results than most labs.

Customer Service

Not required

Similar Products Used:

HP Photoscan

Digital ICE
Strip film holder
2700 dpi

Seems slow, maybe because of SCSI interface

An excellent scanner for my needs. I haven't done print enlargements with it but I
like the ability to make my own high-res scans for desktop backgrounds, Web publishing
etc. I haven't had any problems with the SA-20 film strip holder like some other
reviewers had, but I've only put 20-30 film strips through it so far.

Things I've noticed so far: I had a great deal of difficulty getting my few B&W scans to
autofocus, but this may have been my own misunderstanding of the UI. I had a film
strip jam in the SA-20 once due to a misload; this results in a long wait while the scanner
times out, then you have to remove the SA-20 and pull the strip out manually (it seems
that it shouldn't be difficult to have the SA-20 eject on command even for a misfeed).
I also haven't yet figured out how to do batch scans with the Nikon Scan 2.5 GUI, but
I'm sure I'll get it eventually. I have a number of other complaints with that GUI as
others have noted, so I'll probably investigate VueScan, SilverFast etc.

Overall excellent features for the price and I won't be getting rid of mine any time soon!

Customer Service

not needed yet

Similar Products Used:

none

good color
good contrast
good and very useful ICE
useful multi-sampling
scan negative very well

still can't scan darkness very well

i bought this used scanner, which was 2 year old. to my surprise it is still functioning very well, and just don't find any problem. its image quality is amazing. the minolta scan dual II cannot be compared at all.

Customer Service

nil

Similar Products Used:

minolta scan dual II

Superb color rendition once the color managment is set up. best scanner for cross-processed work. nearly as sharp as the imacon photo (i've used the imacon for a year at work) fast scan times for all resolutions. good detail in shadows.
batch scanning

could be better in darker areas. can be a little on the blue side. Auto levels not always right. multi-pass scanning slow but worthit. limited to 6 frames. no unsharpmask controlls, no ice on b&w

I bought one cheap second hand and i haven't regreted it yet. I nearly bough the new 4000ED but it didn't seem to match the quality, especially off neg, i got extremeley dark scans.
I have used it successfully for a high profile project at college, where i needed to produce high quality scans. I was going to use the bosses Imacon but when i compared the two, the color quality off the nikon seemed better, without unsharp masking the imacon was only marginally sharper, but of course the imacon had the advantage with the darker slides.
Overall i'm more than pleased with it, I have produced straight scans which people think have been tweaked, but are shocked when i say i haven't done anything to them. if you are thinking of buying one cheap, i suggest you set your color matching up very well, that way you'll get the best from it

Customer Service

poor, nikon UK are awfull at customer service

Similar Products Used:

imacon flextight photo,
kodak rfs 3600,
canon 2700f

Superb color management,
sharp scans,
digital ICE

Price

Provides excellent scans with good color rendition once it is set up properly. This unit is much better compared to the Canon scanner in terms of the color( I had to manually fix each scan with Photoshop with the Canon and it eventually drove me nuts!). I have been very pleased with the scans so far.

Customer Service

None needed so far

Similar Products Used:

Canon FS2710

marketing

everything else

I did EXHAUSTIVE testing. Nikon's specs and the general ratings that you will see of this scanner have almost no relationship to its actual performance. The scanning software is also a bad joke as it is more of a game than a tool. The Polaroid Sprint Scan Plus is MUCH faster, scans deeper, cleaner (less noise), and sharper. The Nikon also shows HORRIBLE bleeding. Yes, I am picky--that is why I get paid. If you want something better than the Polaroid, get a Howtek Scanmaster 4500, as they are now relatively inexpensive. One last tip: With the Polaroid, scan at a native resolution (or an even multiple thereof) and then resample in Photoshop.

Similar Products Used:

Polaroid Sprint Scan 35 Plus, Microtek, Howtek