Konica Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Design : 7.0
  Features : 7.0
  Performance : 7.0
  Image quality : 7.0
  Overall score: 7.0 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Jeff Dorgay
• Edited by:
  Rebecca Viksnins
• Reviewed on: 10/28/2004

While less popular in the pro and prosumer photo market than Nikon, Konica Minolta makes its fair share of imaging products. Case in point: the Dimage Scan Elite 5400 35mm film scanner. With a manufacturer-rated optical density of 4.8D and an optical resolution of 5,400dpi, the Scan Elite 5400 offers good scan quality and speed for its price. However, there are a few hurdles standing between it and the adoration of the pro market.

Hardly bigger than an external hard drive, the Scan Elite 5400 takes up just 6.5 by 2.6 inches of space and weighs about five pounds. To help move all that data, there's a FireWire and a USB 2.0 port on the back of the scanner. You'll find three buttons on the front of the 5400--Power, Eject, and Scan--and a dial for controlling manual focus. Also in the box are 35mm-film and slide holders, which allow you to scan several frames in one go. Konica Minolta rates the Scan Elite 5400's optical density at 4.8D--exceptional for a scanner at this price. (Nikon rates the similarly priced Coolscan V at just 4.2D.) From within the Dimage Scan utility, you can tweak exposure, hue, saturation, and color. Unfortunately, the software is really disappointing. We experienced significant delays when applying changes. Also, Dimage Scan has one of the worst interfaces we've seen. It's bogged down by too many menus and poorly worded options. Konica Minolta could stand to give it an overhaul.

While the Dimage 5400 produces very good scans, with excellent dynamic range and shadow detail, it isn't capable of the sharpness we saw from the Nikon Coolscan V, which features Kodak's Digital ICE4, the latest version of the technology. (Kodak offers Digital ROC and Digital GEM for Photoshop via its Web site, but you can't get results as good by postprocessing.) The Dimage 5400 features the original version of Digital ICE for dust and scratch removal, but unlike Nikon's Digital GEM implementation, its Grain Dissolver is less effective at removing noise from high-ISO films. It tends to blur images rather than remove grain. The 5400's autofocus isn't extremely precise on the initial scan, but it gets points for the manual control dial. The company even added a feedback slider to help you make finer adjustments.

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Recent user reviews

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• 5.0 stars

  10 out of 10 people found this helpful

  "Amazing results; breathtaking color"

  by MJohn on April 13, 2005

• 1.5 stars

  5 out of 5 people found this helpful

  "good scans when the buggy software works"

  on January 12, 2005

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  "The ONLY way to make mega-sized files!"

  on January 12, 2005

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Reviews from around the WebPowered by alaTest

• alaTest.com

  Editors' rating: 81

  Summary: alaTest has collected and analyzed 137 reviews of Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 from international magazines and websites. Experts rate this product 75/100 and users 72/100. Comparing these reviews to 35578 other Scanners reviews gives this product an overall alaScore™ 81/100 = Very Good.

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• digitalartsonline.co.uk

  Editors' rating: 80

  Summary: What prevents the 5400 II from getting a Best Buy though is the software. The Dimage Scan software is horrible - it seems like it's trying to hinder what you're doing and annoyingly quits if you cancel a scan. For this reason, it's still better to pay ...

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• newbie.org

  Editors' rating: 100

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