Very sharp as others have mentioned - but more importantly the added dynamic range (i don't know if it is really 4.1, but whatever it is it is quite better than the ls2000).

The build quality is quite nice as is the finish - improved negative feeder over the ls2000.

4000dpi is a huge plus over 2700 for those who want 11 X 14 prints and larger - and of course the added dpi will not hurt for smaller prints as well.

The nikon 3.0 software is a wonderful upgrade. The additional multi sample selections are a nice bonus - it DOES make a difference - esp in shadow detail - when scanning black and white film I was amazed at the difference between 1X and 8X - the artifacts were diminished as the multi sampling increased.

the control with the 3.0 software is very nice and the new layout is a breath of fresh air from 2.5 - everything is easier to get to as all the menus are seperate from the preview window.

So far I have scanned close to three hundred images in and the scanner has not crashed once - knock on wood (it did stop a couple times when I ran out of memory - once I upped the memory allocation to 75mb of ram - it worked fine) - but it does hog the memory :) - I am using it on a mac by the way so I do not know the stability for the pc.

using the firewire interface is also an added plus

memory hog - which is not a weakness per say just an excuse to buy more ram :)

Quite slow with 16X multisample and digital ice on - but worth it!

An excellent scanner - considering the price for film scanners just a few years ago - the price is very reasonable for the quality advancements that have been made.

Customer Service

have not used

Similar Products Used:

ls2000

very fast when post processing options are turned off

resolution and dynamic range

a bit expensive

Very good product build. It comes with an extra Firewire card for those who still don't have the interface.

When creating large image files (40 - 60 MBytes) the Nikon Scan 3 software needs lots of RAM. Don't bother opening such files in the Nikon software. It takes ages. In Photoshop (needs lots of RAM again) it takes about 7 to 10 seconds (on my Mac).

Very fast scans when post processing options are turned off. When digital ICE and GEM (which work wonders on scratchy and dusty images) are turned on, scanning an image can take over 15 minutes.

The included Nikon scan software is pretty good.

The scans aren't as good as I hoped they would be, but see for yourself: http://www.nagabyte.com/coolscan/

Customer Service

Plugged it into my Mac, installed the software and had no problems.

Similar Products Used:

agfa snapscan

Compact, solid build, resolution, dynamic range

Nikon 3 software crashes very often. Nikon has to do something about that.

This is an excellent scanner. With the firewire scans take less than a minute at 65 mb. The supplied firewire card was very easy to set up. Scans do take sometime when Digital ICE applied, however it is worth every extra minute as it does an amazing job on getting rid of dusts and scratches.

I have a Pentium III 600 pc with 256mb ram and use Photoshop 6 and I am ver happy with the prints I get from my HP 970cxi printer. Coolscan 4000 may be an expensive investment but will definitely pay off as slide prints are especially expensive where I live.

The only negative point is the software which too often crashes especially when I want to activate Digital GEM and ROC. I tried VueScan software and it worked fine with no crashes at all.

Similar Products Used:

None

Easy setup, quality of scans, digital ICE

Buggy nikon scan 3.0 software under windows 2000 SP1 and Photoshop 6.0.1

I have never had a film scanner before, but this one appears worth it. No problems installing the supplied Firewire card, installing the software, and doing the first scan. The manual is pretty good, except in the area of discussing color management options. I love the quality of the scans. Shadows are dark before adjustment, but there is actually quite a bit of detail that can be pulled out in photoshop. For me, the bugs in the software are more of an annoyance than a problem in practice. If I do a scan at 16X multisampling, 14 bit depth and digital ICE on it takes about 15 minutes. Before doing
the next scan (from within Photoshop using the twain driver) I close Nikon Scan 3.0 and then restart it (takes about 10 seconds). This prevents virtually all of the problems crashing the program and photoshop. For those doing batch scanning it might be more of a problem.

Customer Service

24/7 availability is nice, but the denial of bugs is annoying. I called Nikon tech support before purchasing. They assured me that crashes were only a problem for those with "marginal" configurations (e.g., only 256 MB RAM). Of course, I am able to crash the software fairly easily on my new 1.2 GHz Athlon with 768 MB RAM.

Similar Products Used:

None

Super easy firewire setup, Digital ICE, Full verson Genuine Fractals 2.0, Great scans.

Terrible Nikon Scan 3.0 on Win 2K, crashes almost every other scan.

Great scanner for the price as compaired to a drum scanner or a $10,000 Imacon scanner I don't think I or manny can see the $8305.00 scans.

When ???? or (should I say if) the scanner software is fixed the LS-4000 is a awsome deal for the true 35mm photo user, the scanner scans negs great so are the slides, but if you want or need the best sharpness (see http://www.pytlowany.com/nikontest.html) try a glass slide mount, I will try a Gepe, all I have is a Anti-newton type (not sure how well it will scan) I will report back my findings..

NOTE: The Nikon Scan 3.1 WILL NOT BE OUT UNTIL JUNE 15 2001!!!!! What a disappointment from Nikon to have a GREAT scanner but bad buggy software for Windows 2000....

Customer Service

I will say for a beginner or a newbe GREAT..

Similar Products Used:

Nikon LS-2000, HP Photosmart scanner

Great dynamic range
High resolution
Color correction very accurate for slides

As expected very slow scans if all features turned on and hi-res scan required

A good alternative to expensive commerical drum scans. Scan times are around 40 minutes for a strip of 6 slides on my machine - PC, 500MHz, K6-2, 380 Meg Ram, Windows 98SE. The software is buggy, but then again Windows products are total crap anyway. I intend eventually to put my 4000ED on my much more stable Linux system which does have firewire support. My system frequently hangs after a single scan, but if I scan an entire strip it is fine. I have Vuescan and have used it with the scanner. However, I cannot manipulate the ICE3 features from this app. The scan works very well. It hangs sometimes, but I frequently can scan for most of a day without problems. I bought my Scanwit 2720 to try out scanning and am very happy with my choice of the 4000ED. I ran a commercial darkroom for a newspaper so I think I have very high expectations for good film scans.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

ScanWit2720

Oustanding resolution
ICE software
Ease of use with ver. 3.1
FireWire
Great dynamic range

3.0 Nikon software VERY buggy

This is the film scanner I have been waiting for. Great dynamic range, sharpness, color accuracy and the bundled correction software make this scanner a great product. Negative or positive materials originals look great. The ICE/ROC/GEM software works as advertised. The ICE software does soften the image a tad, but a quick hit of unsharp mack in PhotoShop fixes that. The new version 3.1 NikonScan software works much better than the terrible 3.0 version. Scans rival and surpass drum scans. FireWire speeds things along nicely. Very complete package of film holders leave little to be desired other than bulk film roll holder.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

first good film scanner

This is an update to my previous review. I've had this scanner for over 2 months now and have quite a bit more experience with it. Thanks to a kind soul who read my first review, I was finally able to get my hands on the latest Nikon Scan 3.1 software. I'm happy to report, I have only crashed once or twice after HUNDREDS of scans with this new version. My productivity increased ten fold! The colors are better, the scans seem faster, and I can actually put in a tray of slides and walk away from it! Before I was manually feeding 1 slide at a time and then restarting the software every 3-5 frames after it crashed.

Now that the software is up to par, I don't think this thing has any weaknesses other than maybe kryptonite..

I've scanned about 1000 - 1200 slides and negatives in the past 2 months. The new software is more stable, faster, and more true in color than the first version. I'm able to do max resolution scans with ICE in about 3 minutes per frame. Without ICE, it's under 1 minute no problem. Overall, I give it a perfect score.

My setup is:
Dell Dimension XPS T600r
600 MHz Pentium III
512 MB PC100 SDRAM
30GB IBM 7200RPM ATA100 HDD (x2)
Windows 2000 (No service packs installed)

Customer Service

My peave is that they have this great fix and seem to be holding out on all of the people that are having trouble with their new $1500+ scanners. Let the software patched flow more freely I say...

Similar Products Used:

CanoScan FS2710 - This product was great too for the price $450 at the time. The quality of the scans are not anywhere NEAR that of the Nikon 4000!

Great scans - easily shows deficiencies in technique, lenses, film, etc. But, if you have a good photo this scanner will do it justice.

software - extremely buggy; scan times not anything close to claimed speed - usually a few minutes for a 4000 dpi scan with ICE on (almost a necessity - amazing how much dust slides pick up)

Great scanner - but desperately needs a software fix. I'm running the photoshop plugin on a dual G4 Mac - giving photoshop 256 Mbytes to play in and it crashes often. I've discovered one thing to do, and one to not, that really make it run smoother. First - quit and restart Photoshop between scans. Second - never try to change the folder that Photoshop originally picks as the location to save the scan. These two measures have helped a lot - no crashes since I implemented these.

Similar Products Used:

None

Great resolution, powerful features (ICE/ROC/GEM),
rich control, easy of use and reasonable price.

Buggy software, which crash easily (even 3.1). ROC usually shift blue and green. Software is very CPU hungry (other software just *STOP* when scanning is in progress).

I am only a home user but having a high demanding on quality. It compare with my previous Minolta Scan Dual is just hell and heaven. My Scan Dual alway put me in pain as it never give me a correct color scan. ICE is also an unbelieveable feature which save me great deal of time.
The great resolution let me know well which film is good or bad (grain).
I also appreciate ROC and GEM feature, but ROC always give me a blue and green shift.
I really want to try the roll-film (40 continuous film) loader but it seem to be too expensive (hearing that over US$450).

Similar Products Used:

Minolta Scan Dual