Hello I want to understand the diffrent light sources in the diffrent film scanners (LS-2000,Elite) Is there an output diffrence is anyone of them more reliable or not

-- Sammy (hazanrotem@hotmail.com), May 17, 2000

Answers

I wouldn't make the light source the basis for choosing a scanner, but to attempt to answer your question:

I understand that some Nikon scanners use LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) as the light source. All the others use a specialised high-frequency/high-voltage fluorescent tube utilising a mixture of noble gases.

The fluorescent tubes have a definite life-span of a few thousand hours use, and tend to die gradually. LEDs have an indefinite lifetime; that is, they might last for decades or die tomorrow, but they have a fairly consistent output as long as they're working.

The output from LEDs is almost purely monochromatic, and I would expect the scanners response to the dye layers of different film types to vary quite drastically because of this. Fluorescent tubes have a broader output in each of the red, green and blue bands, and shouldn't show this effect as much.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), May 18, 2000.