review: Nikon Coolscan 5000/ w/ SF-210 Slide Feeder

Well not really a review of the Nikon, Coolscan 5000, but some more observations.

1. I had to trade in my original slide feeder (it eventually stopped being recognized). The second feeder is more reliable.

2. I've now figured out how to tweak the settings to get the best possible scans. Don't believe the scan time posted on the literature. With all the settings on so that an average slide is processed for dust and scratches, it takes 2-3 minutes/ per scan. So doing a batch of 50 is s l o w.

3. Vuescan software (http://www.hamrick.com/) plays much nicer with your machine (no crashes, it's multi-threaded so it can walk and chew gum at the same time, and it's not such a horrible processor hog), but the files it produces are slightly less nice. If you are scanning for the web, no problem, but if you are scanning for print, the Nikon software makes better images. At least that's my initial conclusion. With some tweaking of the vuescan software things might get better. Scanning times are just as slow, but image processing is a bit faster. If I get motivated, I might do some side/side comparisons with clocked speed tests.

4. The scanner does a shockingly good job with overexposed slides. With some tweaking in photoshop you can really make good images out of slides that you might have otherwise thought were wast. Underexposed slides are more of a problem.

5. If your slides aren't terribly dusty you can try importing them without dust reduction and then batch fix the images later in photoshop using the free Polaroid dust and scratch remover. Free download from their website.