Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Barrett Benton" 
<bwbenton@b...> wrote:

> One of my reasons for choosing Minolta's 5400 for my scanning 
> work several months back (in spite of already hearing rumors of 
> Nikon's revamped line being on its way) was the prospect of 
> largely, if not entirely, eliminating "interpolate" from my
> day-to-day work regimen, as I strongly feel that *no* interpolation 
> beats any form of interpolation, whichever algorithm one 
> chooses. So far I think I've largely accomplished this, and have 
> been happy with the results.  This is not to say the Nikon can't  
> do the job for you, and do it well.
> 

Chasseur d'Images magazine recently (Dec 2003) had a review and 
comparison of the newer Nikon Coolscan scanners (5000 and V) with the 
Minolta 5400.

The Minolta 5400 has the highest input resolution but in terms of 
pratical resolution its about equal to the new Nikon scanners. 
This is consistent with what we are seeing with a lot of scanners. 

The Epson 3200 has an input resolution of 3200dpi but its real 
resolution is around 1800dpi. And the Nikon 8000 real's resolution is 
around 2895 dpi according to tests available on the scannerforum. 
http://www.scannerforum.com/

So it seems that the Coolscan 5000 and V can now match the Minolta 
5400 size for size in term of output.

The Minolta 5400 has a tendency to go magenta (noise?) in the shadows 
and for b&w negatives it has more contrast than the new Nikon 
scanners with the result that some highlights may be blown. This 
could be corrected if Minolta offered an upgrade to its exising 
software. The Nikon Coolscan b&w scanned images demand more post-
processing since they appear softer in term of contrast (shadows and 
highlights being preserved), but not in terms of resolution or 
sharpness.

It also was noted that the new Coolscan software has been 
significantly improved. Both scanners are now faster than the Minolta 
5400, Firewire 400 version included; the difference is staggering 
when ICE is activated.

Cheers,
Andre











They noted that the Minolta has a tendency to go magenta in the 
shadows. Its b&w scans have more contrast than the Nikons but also 
have a t