At 10:08 PM +0000 11/14/03, Al Bond wrote:
>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).
>
My post on October 19 after I had used the scanner for a week covered
a number of these issues, including the DOF (fine).
>
>Al Bond
>
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--
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
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