[filmscanners] Re: Scan Dual IV vs Scan Dual II

["Arthur Entlich" <artistic@telus.net>]

I can only answer half your question, but I have some idea of the
changes that Minolta made between the two.

In it's time, the Minolta SD2 was considered good value, however, it was
not without its flaws.  They had a problem with quality control which
led to what I coined "lazy sensors" which meant streaks or several one
pixel lines would show up on scans, these lines showing up in different
places on different colors (RGB).  I was never able to determine if the
problem with software calibration of the sensors in question, dirt on
the sensor, defective sensors, or what.  The other problems were a
somewhat noisy blue sensor, and a light source which tended to emphasize
dust and grain.

By SD3 improvements were made in most of these areas.  The A/D converter
provided was bumped up, the software was improved upon, calibration was
better, the lazy sensor problem seemed to disappear and they offered a
more diffused lighting option, and some extra tools in software to deal
with dust and grain.  In the SD IV, They increased the resolution to
3200 dpi from 2820 dpi, the A/D converter is now 16 bit, the software
allows for multiple-sample scans, and they lowered the price to
something ridiculous, and they claim to have better optics as well, it
is also now USB 2.0 making it faster.

The unit is now distributed by Konica-Minolta after Minolta required a
bail out financially.  This is probably a good thing.  With the current
price of a bit over $250 US, it is probably the best film scanner value
once again, and it is considerably improved from the version 2.

Art


Berry Ives wrote:

> Okay, does anyone have experience on both the Minolta SD2 and SD4?
>
> If so, please share that with me. I've read the specs already.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Berry
>
>
>
> -

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