I've had this scanner for a couple of days now and I've had very good results from it.
Scans are significantly better in terms of resolution and DMax than my previous Nikon Coolscan IV. However, mechanics and feeding are erratic to say the least. 1) On my XP box the unit only works intermittently, more often it doesn't work at all. Symptom, Software can't talk to the scanner, even though XP can recognise the scanner and the diagnostic test works. 2) On a Win2k box, the scanner works well, though I only have USB 1.1 on the machine so its very slow. The unit comes with a metal pin which is designed to poke through a hole in the casing to close the door if it gets stuck! Ouch. I can imagine the atmosphere in the room when engineering suggested this particular fix to the "door stuck problem." I expect someone missed their christmas bonus. Overall, looks good for optical performance, gut feel is that systems and mechanical integration is average. This is different from the Coolscan (which I sold) which was high quality throughout. As well as scan time, the machine seems to spend a lot of time "setting up" for scans. If I had more 35mm to scan, or more cash I would be inclined to stick with Nikon and get the 4000ppi Nikon scanner. I think that this machine is a bit slow and hairy for a tight production workflow, but it's great for the occasional use of 35mm as in my case where I largely need to scan old material. Overall, the optical quality at the price makes up for the other shortcomings, however I would be concerned about the longer term reliability of the product. This experience is similar to that of the only other Minolta I bought. Some years back I bought one of the consumer scanners, in that case the overall quality feel was missing and focus was non-existant. I have tried using the 16x multi-sampling mode. Start it going, go and paint the house, come back is the workflow I used. The results were pretty stunning and I would be happy printing the result up to 20x30" Probably a more negative view than the other reports. But I am planning to keep this scanner as the optical quality cant be matched this side of ?1000. Paul Freeman www.architecturalimages.co.uk m: +44 (0)7973 165 360 -- ____________________________________________________ Message scanned for viruses and dangerous content by <http://www.newnet.co.uk/av/> and believed to be clean =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
