I wish to purchase a 35mm film scanner. The Nikon LS2000 seems to be the most discussed in my search of the net... Does anyone have realtime experience with this machine or the new Polaroid 4000? Thaks, Paul Herd 7/9/99 Herd_paul@promina.org

-- Paul Herd (Herd_paul@promina.org), July 09, 1999

Answers

There is a review of the Polaroid 4000 at: http://luminous- landscape.com/digital1.htm#Scanner

-- Steve Rosenblum (srosenblum@maybaum.med.umich.edu), July 12, 1999.

I have a Polaroid Sprintscan 4000. The more I use it the better I like it. Part of this is getting to know the machine and what adjustments to make. A straight scan gives just about the same tone as a slide has although I sometimes like to enhance the colors. The adjustments in the software doesn't have the finesse of some of the programs like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (I use Paint Shop Pro) but cuts to the chase and works well. The 4000 ppi allows you to select a portion of a slide or negative and get great resolution. I rarely use the whole frame. The 4000 ppi functionality is really dependent on the film quality. Kodak gold 200 or 400 probably doesn't even require 2400 ppi but quality fine grain film really allows the SS 4000 to excel.

The LS 2000 is supposed to really be good in the dark areas, especially with the multi scan feature. I might have more dark area noise but I feel that I am getting the detail available. Besides, Ed Hamrick is supposed to be implimenting his Vue Scan software for the SS 4000 which might employ multiscaning (I think he did this with the SS Plus 35) to reduce noise when needed.

Probably either scanner is a good choice.

-- Robert Johnson (rjjohnson@silverlink.net), July 20, 1999.