[filmscanners] high-iso scanning: minolta 5400 or nikon LS-50 ??

["simpy" <simpy@xs4all.nl>]

Hello,

I've been using a Minolta Scan Dual II to scan my films for the past
year. However, I had the unit on loan and recently had to return it.
Therefore I'm in the market for a new scanner. Based on my experience
with the DS2, it should

1) have an IR channel. With the DS2 I have noticed that dust spotting is
not my idea of fun...

2) deal better with grain in images. The DS2 scans often came out
horribly noisy (much more than prints or other scans). Probably due to
grain aliasing with my ISO 800 films?

The demand of an IR channel essentially narrows down my choice to two
models: the Minolta 5400 and the Nikon LS-50 (the canon fs-4000 being
older, scsi and with less than wonderful software). Based on some
research on the net and in magazines, I came up with the following
shortlist of strong and weak points of each of these units:

Minolta 5400
+ resolution (maybe less grain aliasing ?)
+ grain diffuser
- sloooow
- lamp drift over time

Nikon LS-50
+ recommended over the Minolta by Ed Hamrick, author of Vuescan, for
having better colours and channel separation
- shallow DOF
- worse Dmax for B&W (according to test in ColorFoto 3/2004)
+ light stability because of LED lightsource


Of course which scanner is best will greatly depend on my usage of the
machine. I shoot negative film almost exclusively, the majority of rolls
being high ISO colour film (400-1600). In addition I have a decent
amount of older B&W material, most of it also in the ISO 400-3200
region. Slides are less important. I regularly shoot one or more rolls
in bars and on parties and would like to be able to batch-scan most of
the images with reasonable results. Of course I don't mind spending
extra time on the _good_ shots.

Does anyone have experience with one or both scanners? Suggestions
concerning aspects I overlooked, overstressed or otherwise
misinterpreted? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Simon


PS - For those of you who read both the filmscanners mailing list and
comp.periphs.scanners , I apologize for double-posting this message.

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