Esses Photography » plustek http://www.esses.co.uk Photography by Richard Hopkins Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:18:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 A new scanner – Nikon Coolscan 4000ED http://www.esses.co.uk/2009/09/a-new-scanner-nikon-coolscan-4000ed/ http://www.esses.co.uk/2009/09/a-new-scanner-nikon-coolscan-4000ed/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:30:06 +0000 Lifechooser (admin) http://www.esses.co.uk/?p=82 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.

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