NOTE: I orginally wrote this for a QTVR list I'm on but Dirck thought it would be a good posting for this space too.

A footnote: Nikon never showed up at MacWorld either. No booth, no reps, nothing. (This will make sense after reading the review.)

For all of you out there thinking of buying the Nikon LS 2000 scanner all I can say is DON'T! Not until Nikon comes out with new software for the thing.

I tried it out today up at TIME (they bought one, and are not very happy with it - it's so bad the Pix Tech wizards won't use it, they'll only use the LS-1000).

I really don't know where to begin, but if you are like me and thought "hey, the 2000 can do a strip of 6 negs at a time, what a time saver for QTVR" forget it! Yes, it will scan strip of negs all at once. You need to set the settings for each one, one at a time, adjust each one (with NO number settings, either a curve, or bar adjustments) then tell it to scan all six. How they expect the settings to match each time for even scans is beyond me.

Not only is this a pain, but just try and fine some settings or preferences. The interface was re-designed by someone in Japan with no knowledge of what we want or need. It looks more hi-tech than the LS-1000 interface but is useless in professsional situations. I really don't need an interface that looks like a lightmeter!

There's more - a lot more, but you get the picture, (well after some VERY long scan times!) I'm in NY now and planning to go to MacWorld in the morning, Nikon has some explaining to do.

I'll even ask if they have a better neg holder for the LS-1000!

PF Bentley TIME Magazine

-- PF BENTLEY (pfpix@honolulu.net), July 09, 1998

Answers

Thanks for the warning. I was planning to buy the 2000, especially after seeing it demonstrated at the Wash. DC Photo Show last week. But now have doubts. What film scannerwould you recommend. PS Cannot afford drum scanner.

Thanks Maurice Wolf International Fine Art Photography Maurice Wolf International Fine Art Photography.

I am a rank digital beginn

-- Maurice Wolf (mwolf@interlawyers.com), September 14, 1998.

I've been using the LS-2000 for a few weeks now and have grown to like it a lot. The plug-in software isn't exactly a step backwards, more like a shuffle to the side, a redesign that doesn't help but doesn't really hurt either. The extended range of the LS-2000 means a better scan from a transparency (or a think negative) and the multiple-scan option (1X, 4X or 16X sampling means that if you've got the time it'll do a better job than the LS-1000. I find it to be about the same speed as the LS-1000 (and I don't have a G3 machine yet.) BTW. If you want a different neg holder for any Nikon scanner you can always use the plastic FH-1 holder made for the original Coolscan. You can even file it out to get those sexy black borders.....

-- James Colburn (jecol@aol.com), October 06, 1998.

Are you guys nuts? I've had an LS-2000 since they hit the market. I've upgraded the software and the firmware and have used it to scan originals for double truck ads. I routinely scan and use the scan for output at 12 by 18 inches on a Fujix printer and the colormatch and sharpness is superb. You must: Use the latest Mac G4. Allocate at least 256 megs of D-Ram to the host application (photoshop). Carefully calibrate your monitor and your system. Your color will be much closer that with just about any other scanning and the high memory allocation gives you 28 megabyte scan times of around 30 to 40 seconds. If that's not fast enough, you need to cut down on the Espresso. This is a superb machine and it requires that you make a little effort to get it right. Your review (obsessing about the strip adapter) is a disservice to working photogs.

Something about New York must dull the techno capability

-- Kirk R. Tuck (ktuckphoto@aol.com), November 19, 1999.