2 Sep 2009
A new scanner – Nikon Coolscan 4000ED
Over the past year, I’ve shot 3 rolls of Kodachrome, and a few weeks ago I sat down to scan them with my not so trusty Plustek 7200. After faffing with drivers (again) and software for an hour or so, I finally managed to start scanning.
What came out was a world of disappointment. The scanner just can’t handle Kodachrome, and even on films that it can manage, the quality is just appalling. The sharpness is good, but the colours and contrast sucks.
So, I’ve bought an expensive second hand scanner instead. It’s a Nikon Coolscan 4000ED which I bought from a friend. I’ve only spend 30 mins with it, and scanned a few random slides to see if it works well, and I’m really pleased.
Here is a gallery of some of the Plustek scans, with their Nikon counterparts. The Nikon scans are as is, without setting the scanner up properly, or calibrating anything, or even blowing the dust off. I can’t wait to spend some time getting the scans perfect tonight.
The odd numbered photos are Plustek, the evens are Nikon
I’m a very happy bunny. Time to buy some more film.
All photos were taken with my Pentax ME Super, on Kodachrome 64 with either my 50mm f1.7, or 28mm f2.8 pentax lenses.
You don’t think the new scanner is rather plugging the blacks?
thricenightly
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:37 ampermalink
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘plugging’. The blacks are coming out black now, rather than a washed out grey, and I can’t see that any detail has been lost. Compare the old scanner photos, and you can’t see any detail there either.
Lifechooser (admin)
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:44 ampermalink
Thinking again, perhaps you mean that the photos are too contrasty. The scans are quite accurate, kodachrome is a very saturated and contrasty film, and the blacks do come out very black.
Lifechooser (admin)
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:32 pmpermalink
“Plugging,” in printer terms, means putting down too much ink and so losing the details. The term also applies to digital images, although the mechanics of it are obviously rather different.
If you can honestly compare the blacks in those photos and say you can’t see any difference then I guess it’s not a problem.
thricenightly
September 4th, 2009 at 1:14 pmpermalink