[filmscanners] Minolta Elite - UK Clearance prices

["" <al@greenspace.freeserve.co.uk>]

Hi folks,

Last year, someone spotted that Morgan Computers (www.morgancomputers.co.uk)
were selling the Minolta Elite for UKP 299 (including VAT).  The price has 
fallen again
(probably because Minolta have introduced the Dual III) and is now at UKP 211
(including VAT).

I originally had the Elite, had issues with it which warranted first a repair, 
then a
replacement, then an upgrade to an Elite II and, when I had issues with that as 
well,
finally got a full refund from Minolta.

Despite this rather chequered history, I always like the Elite and thought it a 
better made
unit than the Elite II.  To cut a long story short, I couldn't resist the Elite 
at this price and
got one. Thankfully, this one is a "keeper".

This price is less than half the UK price of the Elite II and UKP 90 lower than 
the new
Dual III.  The old Dual II is now being discounted but even its price is higher.
Admittedly, these newer models do have lower shadow noise than the Elite but
multisampling does wonders, albeit at the cost of scanning speed.

Although the Elite II is a 16 bit scanner, in my experience it didn't seem to 
extract
shadow detail etc in slides much better (if at all) than the original 12 bit 
Elite.  It looks
like the new Dual III is simply a cut down version of the Elite II but without 
ICE3.  Since I
am a fan of ICE, the Dual III didn't appeal.  And, for my purposes, the 12 bit 
Dual II
certainly didn't offer any advantages over the Elite.

So, if anyone is looking for a cost-effective 12 bit 2820 dpi SCSI scanner with 
ICE (and
can live without GEM and ROC included in ICE3), I can't think of a better 
option than
the Elite at its current price.



Al Bond

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