Negative scanning ... again

I have narrowed down my choice for a 35mm negative scanner to the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED and the Nikon Coolscan V ED. The 5000 is about $425 more expensive than the V, and was wondering if the price difference will be worth it.

From the specs it would seem that the only major difference that could effect the finished product is the 5000 having a DR of 4.8 while the V has a DR of 4.2. Is this really a significant difference? Also, are there other advantages that aren't as obvious?

As long as the film transport is the same, the speed of scanning my negs isn't that big of a deal to me. I'm only interested in going with the 5000 if there would be a noticeable improvement in final output when scanning B&W negs.

Bob,

Go with the 5000.
The specs about Dynamic Range and true optical resolution are a load of horse hockey.
I'll expand on this if someone wants.

What you want is the 16-bit a-to-d conversion, which is afforded by the 5000.

Thanks Doug.

So the real difference is with 14 vs 16 bit a to d. Is this just important for color, or also for b&w?

You got it!
True 16-bit, be it color or B&W is the goods.
Happy scanning!!!

Thanks again Doug.

I ordered the Coolscan 5000 ED, and have started to organize my negative collection together while I wait for the Brown truck to arrive.

Well, I got my Coolscan 5000 yesterday and already have scanned over 200 negs. A great little machine, however the Nikon software could be a bit better. The software works, just not very intuitive and lacks a few features. For example, I'd like to set some defaults such as multi sample scanning to 4x, but the software doesn't seem to have the option.

Software aside, the results seem excellent ... only wish my original negs were worthy of this nice scanner.

By the way, does anyone know of some software products for removing scratches, etc, from scanned B&W negs? I have a copy of the free Polaroid software which works "ok", but if there is something else it would be great to know.

Bob_A, Does your scanner not have ICE ? Or does this not work with B&W negs ?

Unfortunately Digital ICE doesn't work with B&W negs. The Polaroid software is pretty cool, but it's a bit hit and miss and sometimes removes too much needed detail.

Bob, have you scanned any slides. I too am looking at a buying a scanner over sending 2000+ family slides out. I've been tasked by my family to archive our fathers and grandfathers slides. Most of them were taken from the 1940's - 1970. I will also be scanning my 600+ nature slides. I've narrowed my selection down to Canon FS-400, Nikon Coolscan V ED or 5000, Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 II w/ICE-4. From what I can tell any of the above is a lot less $$ than sending them to a lab.

The family shots will probably not be printed bigger than 8X10" are they? Here's a cheaper alternative that you might consider. I can copy 5-7 slides in the time it takes a scanner to do one.

PhotosGuy

How do you get negs to work with this cobble?

I'm not copying negs, but it would just be a matter of making a holder for a strip of 6 of them, wouldn't it? Maybe using an open or glass neg carrier from an old enlarger so you could just pull them through?

The physical process can be done.

I was hoping for an answer on how to do the color ballancing.
Ever scan a neg as a positive and try to get it close to what the print looks like?
All sorts of fun.
The negative scanning function of scanners takes care of this issue, which is rather complex. This is why you can't produce a reliable profile for a negative scanning situation.

You mean color negs? I'll bet that someone has a PS plug-in for that.

There are, but they just aren't up to the task as comparred to stand-alone scanning applications. Mainly contrast and color cast issues.
Not too sure why other than the need to convert a negative scan to positive in the post-process end of things has not been needed since film scanning software takes care of the issue.