filmscanners: NikonLS-3510AF

[Richard.Starr@valley.net (Richard Starr)]

Hi,

It's great to find this list since I've always wanted a film scanner but
couldn't afford one.  Recently I took a chance and nailed a Nikon LS-3510AF
scanner on Ebay for very cheap.  It was untested so I was hoping I could make it
work.  As it turned out, the thing is disabled, though I have managed to make
some fine scans with it.  My research indicates this was a very expensive and
highly respected machine in its day, and is capable of higher resolution (3275
dpi) than most current models.  Small sections of a slide at this resolution are
really quite amazing.

To make a long story short, the drive motor for the film stage doesn't always
run correctly.  I replaced it with one from the motor manufacturer (expensive)
but there was no improvment.   Sometime the motor runs at the wrong speed or
irregularly or stops when it shouldn't.  Most of the time it runs correctly when
actually scanning so the images are good. But this old bird is a three pass
scanner (RGB) and the color registration is never perfect in preview or in
scans.  When I realized that color registration is an easy thing to fix in
PhotoShop, the scanner became a useful tool though sometimes quite tedious to
use.  

I'm afraid that service for this machine, if I could find it,  would cost more
than buying a new, modern one.  So I'm looking for someone who knows this
machine well enough to suggest a fix or who can locate a service manual.  (Try
getting hold of Nikon for any sort of help.  I tried their 24 hour support line
and it rang for half an hour at three in the morning.)

I would also love to find an original film carrier for it.

(If it matters, I am driving it with a SuperMac 500 603e/200 computer OS 7.6.1
or 8.1, Photoshop 4.01.  The scsi
connections are correctly terminated.)

I would be grateful for any help.

Rich