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Review Date
December 6, 2008
Overall Rating
 1 of 5
Value Rating
 1 of 5
Used product for
More than 1 year
Visitors rate this review
2.50 of 5, 4 votes
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Reviewed by
reefdiver
, Expert
Price Paid
$850.00
at ?
Photography Experience
21+ years
, Outdoor
Summary
Used it infrequently over a few years, scanned a few hundred negs/ slides. Nice results enlargable to 16x 20. Loader mechanism stopped working. Similar to others reporting. The extended warranty company gave me a couple of hundred $, pro-rated. Nice results, not durable, now obsolete.
Strengths
nice quality scans
Weaknesses
poor quality build
Similar Products Used
fujitsu, xerox, & other scanners
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Review Date
October 9, 2008
Overall Rating
1 of 5
Value Rating
1 of 5
Used product for
More than 1 year
Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 4 votes
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Reviewed by
paal
, Expert
Price Paid
$650.00
at mpx.no
Photography Experience
21+ years
, Outdoor
Summary
Bought this scanner half a year after it hit the market. At the time it was at the head of the pack with respect to specs.
It produced 200 scans the first 3 months I used it, and I really liked the options that where built into the software to control the scanning, both one slide at a time and in batch mode.
Then suddenly it started having problems with the feeding mechanism. The scanner has been "looked at" several times. And I'v managed with numerous restarts and resets to scan another 80 slides.
Last time I called the local tech support they gave me the plain truth: parts no longer available, error could lie with several components: stepping motor, one of the IC-boards, or any of the mechanical components that are part of the feed mechanism. They said they had had a large number of cases on this model. And now they'v stopped servicing them. They could have a look at it but they'r advice was to save the packing and postage for a new scanner, most probably there was nothing they could do due to lack of parts.
Strengths
Good quality images, easy to use software.
Weaknesses
CRAP build! This turned out to be a very expensive investment at 286 scans durings its lifetime it works out at just over 2USD per scan!
Better off using a scanning service, save time and money ;-)
Customer Service
Honest and outspoken, well I got to talk to the guys who actually made the repairs, and they gave me the plain facts :-(
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Review Date
August 15, 2006
Overall Rating
 5 of 5
Value Rating
 5 of 5
Used product for
More than 1 year
Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 1 votes
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Reviewed by
Rob
, Professional
Price Paid
$0.00
Photography Experience
6-10 years
, Other
Summary
I have used the 5400 for more than two years. It is capable of producing exceptionally detailed scans with very high dynamic range and excellent color rendition. I have tried Vuescan, but found it more cumbersome than the Minolta software. I believe that the 5400 is only a small steip below drum scanners.
Strengths
Amazing scan quality once you master the technique.
No mechanical problems after more than a thousand scans.
Weaknesses
Flimsy film holders.
Slow scanning speed, especially with color negative film. Transparencies, even at 5400ppi, are acceptably fast. I rarely use multi-scanning, because I have found little benefit. Using Digital ICE or Grain Dissolver really prolongs scanning time.
Customer Service
None needed
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Review Date
May 16, 2006
Overall Rating
 3 of 5
Value Rating
 4 of 5
Used product for
More than 1 year
Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 1 votes
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Reviewed by
littleM
, Expert
Price Paid
$829.00
at B&H Photo
Photography Experience
21+ years
, Other
Summary
I bought this a few years ago because I wanted to scan hundreds of negatives. After some initial problems with the feeder, the repaired unit has worked consistently. I used the Minolta software (mostly) and Silverfast, but I preferred the Minolta software (your results may vary). While the unit can scan quickly, to really get the most from the negative the unit needs to run multiple passes. This process can take 40 minutes per negative (or longer). However, it gives results that, at 5400dpi, show the grain in Portra-NC160 and Portra-T100. Interestingly, the grain acts as a low-pass filter when the image is resized to 4000dpi. Enlargements nearly equaled color printing the negative in detail.
B&W was another thing. Due to the lack of Digital ICE, B&W scans not only showed “all the warts” but more grain than imaginable. I have Panatomic-X negatives that were developed in Microdol-X that scanned grainy (I can traditionally print them to 11"x14" with no sign of grain). I suspect that it has to do with the CCD sensor. I have been told that the only way to get a good scan from B&W is with a drum scan ($$$$), and the 5400 is making a believer out of me. This is unfortunate.
Overall, I am pleased with the unit for what it is, and I would recommend it (or maybe the newer version) to anyone with 35mm color negatives. As for film/5400 verses digital, I believe the Nikon D2X or the Canon EOS 1Ds surpass the traditional media (except for B&W) in quality. That means the next generation of prosumer digitals (12MP) should be there too.
As for nit-picking, the unit is temperamental about feeding the film carrier. It is not a show-stopper for me, but then neither was the Hasselblad film back with those titanium shutters (a potential $500 ‘oops’). Be careful.
Strengths
Auto focus and multipass scanning
Resolution
Digital ICE
Weaknesses
B&W scanning -- too much CCD/grain
Feeder is finicky
Similar Products Used
Epson
Heidelberg
Customer Service
OK at best. The unit had to go back twice because it came back broken on the first pass.
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Review Date
November 12, 2005
Overall Rating
5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
3 Months to 1 year
Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 3 votes
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Reviewed by
Heinz Anderle
, Expert
Price Paid
$600.00
at internet electronics
Photography Experience
11-20 years
, Outdoor
Summary
Presumably the best 35 mm film scanner for slides ever built, capable to resolve Kodachrome slides in both grain and density. I would recommend to use it with VueScan with slides, and especially with B & W and color negative film because the Manufacturer's software handles negative films only moderately well. A pity that the scanner isn't manufactured
Strengths
High maximum density, low noise and single-pass multi-readout capability enable the scanner to capture details even in darkest shadows not only of normal E-6 slide film, but also of Kodachrome slides. CCD noise can be averaged by single-pass multi-read-out scanning. The elegant look of its slim metal case is an exception from the sober design of most computer peripherals.
Weaknesses
Inherent CCD blooming adjacent to bright areas becomes noticeable with the manufacturer's software amplificating the CCD signal instead of increasing the exposure as done by VueScan. Dimage Scan software has obviously been designed for slides.
Similar Products Used
Acer/Benq 2740s
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