Nikon Super CoolScan 5000 ED Film Scanner by Nikon
|
Our Price: $5,999.00 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $2,599.99 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Nikon Super CoolScan 5000 ED Film Scanner
Digital camera Review: Nice Scanner- Software unstructured & Outdated
Summary: 3 Stars
As everyone says, the scanner is fairly small, nice. It makes the typical noises that scanners make and produces nice results--the problem is the software. It's horribly unorganized, crashes and lacks support for systems made after 2003.
Windows XP x64 bit's Beta release was September 2003, and if my research is correct this Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED was put on the market nine months later (June 2004) yet as old as that is-- I'm forced to run it on a 32bit XP box as there is no support for ANY x64 bit Microsoft Operating system! In October 2008, Microsoft reported of all the hits to Microsoft Update, 20% of those were x64 bit platform.
The only PC I'm running with 32bit software is my Dell E1705 w/2Gig Ram. It has a clean install only a few months old with updates in place.
Nikon Scan uses Nikon Super Coolscan in a separate 'always on top' window to do the actual scanning. To select what negative to scan, you must click a unmarked vertical bar to open a small box showing numbers (from 1 to 6 by default). If any "Post Processing" options were previously used, the "Tool Palette 1" window must be open in order to avoid time consuming calculations (faster if ran on a x64 machine breaking the 2G barrier). All "Post Processing" options must be unchecked for each negative (group selection only grays out the selection boxes). There is the ability to disable "Digital ICE" from the preview in the Preferences window but not for the other Post Processing tools. Now you can initiate the Preview by clicking the said marked button. You may notice you are up to four windows open after the "Progress Window" pops up. Next close the small unmarked negative selector box as it is blocking the preview area. Adjust your crop area. Now restart this paragraph for each and every subsequent negative you wish to scan from this strip. Now re-check any "Post Processing" options you desire and re-select "Enable Digital ICE" as it seems to disable itself if you dis select Post Processing items. Now scan your first image <grin>. Repeat as necessary for subsequent images prepared.
Periodically after a strip of 4 negatives is inserted, the software doesn't acknowledge it's existence. The only way to get the film out is to cycle the scanners power switch-- but don't do that if you have unsaved images or they will be lost. After cycling the power on the scanner the PC responds with an error saying it cannot find the scanner with the only option being "OK", when you click it, all Nikon software closes dumping your work into lost bit land. This is in addition to the multiple crashes daily, at random-- sometimes after a set of scans, causing me to have to do the work over again.
Saving can be tricky too: Saving images is conditional on one of two things: 1. Your scanner finishes all scans; or, 2. You left an image open from a previous scan you just did (after opening the program of course). Why does the save option gray out if you close all your previous scans?
The Preferences window is accessed by pressing the "Perfs" bullet but you save them by clicking "Settings" drop down menu. Why are they split?
The Digital ROC ability works but at the lowest setting is way too strong.
Some people complain of bubblegum software that is too pretty to be efficient, while others complain of an overly complicated control screen. This software is both. When you spend over eleven hundred dollars on a piece of equipment that is so specialized, one would expect more professional, structured software.
This is not to say it's all bad, after the unorthodox controls are mastered the scans are quite nice. This is a piece of hardware aimed at computer savvy people, the software should reflect this. Four windows per scan is absurd. Even with dual monitors there is way to many clicks to get an image saved. Give me the ability to disable all image processing to see a preview. Don't block my preview. How about a maximum of two windows. Look at Sound Forge for an example: Integrate the Progress window-- anywhere. Consolidate the ability to set preferences and save them in the same applet. "Tool Palette 1" seems like an after thought. Let's put it with the other pre-scan options-- as part of the Super Coolscan window itself. As these changes will not drastically change the appearance as much as make it more fluid. Oh and don't forget the x64 bit thing.
Digital camera Review: Nikon CoolScan 5000 ED
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm switching from a Polaroid SprintScan 4000 to this Nikon unit because of what I'd heard about the imaging quality of the latter. So far, I'm impressed, especially with the in-system dust and scratch remover with the color images. I do do a lot of b & w scanning and printing, so, in that realm, there's no great difference except that the manual handling of b & w film strips is a bit tricky (with the Nikon). All and all, I'm very pleased with my purchase.Digital camera Review: Nikon CoolScan 5000 ED
Summary: 5 Stars
All I can say is the product works great, and that I could not ask for a better out come on the end product. Keep up the good work. NIKONDigital camera Review: Nikon Disappoints Again
Summary: 3 Stars
Until it arrived - and this device is hard to find even on Amazon - I didn't realize the Coolscan 5000 can only scan one slide. One slide! Even my much cheaper Konica-Minolta Dimage IV came with a four-slide adapter that fed the scanner. The 5000 comes with a 35mm film adapter, but that only accepts two to six-frame strips of film. It's a problem, but as usual Nikon as an expensive solution: the SF-210 that stacks up 50 slides to automatically feed the 5000. Amazon has a new SF-210 for $424.95 - or used for $399.95. Another annoyance that surprised me was this USB 2.0 scanner cannot be plugged into a USB hub, it must be plugged into the computer directly, and no other USB devices can be used while you are using the scanner. The manual says on page 22, "The scanner may not function as expected when used with other USB devices. Should the scanner not function as expected, use the scanner with all other USB devices disconnected." Speaking of owner's manual, the manual on the CD, when copied to my hard drive and opened, keeps referring to the paper manual with advice like "for details, see the owner's manual." What! What's the point of putting an owner's manual on a CD if it's not the same manual? Beware of the Nikon Coolscan 5000. You can scan those old slides a lot cheaper.Digital camera Review: Nikon Super CoolScan 5000 ED Film Scanner
Summary: 5 Stars
It took awhile to get used to scanner, but the learning curve is quite steep. I have an iMac PowerPC G5 and have not had any problems. The manual feed works well especially if you have to make minor adjustements to restore old slides. It is a time consuming process but the results from the 5000 ED are amazing.