[filmscanners] Re: Minolta 5400

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

David,

> Need to replace a Polaroid SS4000. Googling around I see many people
> complain that the Minolta 5400 produces fine lines it some scans,
> sometimes, with some software. They look very much to me like a dud
> pixel in the CCD - a one pixel wide line running the length of the
> scan. Usually seen in darker areas. Many people report the exact same
> trouble and show images with the same lines.

I've had a very similar experience with the original Elite - I got through 4 
units
before I found one that was generally acceptable!  I tried the Elite II as well
which was very similar.  It seems to be a CCD calibration issue, rather than
dud pixel, as the lines only appear in the deep shadows (the
highlights/midtones are fine) and will blend in with the adjacent lines with
careful adjustment of the line's black point in the affected channel.

In other respects the Elite series generally perform well (hence consistently
good reviews).  I can only assume that reviewers tend not to use very dense
slides for the tests or, if they do, don't try to pull out the detail from the 
deep
shadows.  Certainly, if you only use negative film, you would never notice
these problems.

I also tries an SS4000 at one stage.  The shadows were very clean with little
noise but could not get to the deep shadow details that the Elite could.  
Minolta
seem happy to pull out everything from the CCD, even if it shows up its
shortcomings, whereas the Polaroid seemed to aim for a slightly more
restricted but more graceful performance.

If you are happy with the shadow performance of your SS4000, you might well
find that the Elite 5400 meets your needs (even if you have to abandon some
shadow detail to get rid of any CCD anomalies).

> Maybe this is fixed in a firmware update, maybe not. Who can tell me
> more?

If the problem stems from individual CCD elements being outside the ability of
the calibration to cope with, then updates to the firmware might not help.
Certainly, since this has been a common issue with both the Scan Elite and
Scan Dual ranges for several years, there doesn't seem to be an easy fix!

> From what I've read (on other lists, in other places) this is a
> scanner to avoid.

I am still tempted by it but would definately have to try it (or find someone in
the UK who would be happy to scan some sample slides) before I parted with
any hard cash.  I am particularly interested in how well the hardware based
grain diffuser works in conjunction with ICE.  With the Elite (and Elite II) at
least, ICE did cause some minor but definite loss of detail.

Another consideration is DOF.  I haven't seen anything at all about how the
Elite 5400 performs in this respect (or whether the new Nikons are any better
than their predecessors).



Al Bond

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