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10 out of 10 people found this review helpful
5.0 stars
"Amazing results; breathtaking color"
Pros: Exceptional detail in, and clarity of, images
Cons: You'll also need photo editing software (e.g. Photoshop).
Summary: I bought one of these when it was first released onto the Canadian market (~June 2003), and I'll NEVER use a flatbed scanner again. The image quality it produces is outstanding - so much so that I've had to switch to fine grain film (Konica Impresa 50 ASA) to take full advantage of its capabilities. If you set the color space profile of this scanner to Adobe RGB, the color saturation and range are spectacular.
I scan at full resolution, maximum color depth (16 bit) and with the multiscan on 'full' all of the time (and them burn the scans onto CD): this produces image files of 233.5 megabytes. I use the manual focus option for best results (for images I'll print). I scan from the Minolta scan software into a directory on my computer's hard drive; then, when I'm done scanning, I edit the images in Photoshop CS. I don't open Photoshop before scanning, because that ties up RAM in the computer that the scanner needs in order to work as quickly as possible - even if you close Photoshop before scanning (you should reboot before scanning if you've had Photoshop open). I don't scan from inside Photoshop because I often scan 4 images at a time (when archiving entire rolls of film: I just set the scanner up, leave it running, and do other things while it scans). Since each frame scanned at the maximum settings is 233 megabytes, scanning a strip of film can overload a computers RAM and crash the operating system (wiping out the RAM-resident scans) IF you are inside Photoshop, which 'accumulates' the scans in RAM until they are all done. Scan from the Minolta scan software, into a directory: each scan will be saved to the hard drive as it is finished, before the next one is started.
I haven't heard anyone ever mention that having all the settings of this scanner turned to full (with Digital Ice engaged) results in scan times of ~1.5 hours per color image... or ~2.5 hours if Photoshop is holding RAM space the scanner needs (on my machine, anyway: an Athlon XP +2700 based system with 2 gigabytes of DDR RAM). Everyone talks about 1 minute scan times, which it will certainly produce at lower settings. I have photos I love, that in some cases took me days of wilderness hiking and hours of setting up and waiting for just the right lighting... and I really don't mind waiting ~1.5 hours to have a digitized version of any of those photographs that I can put on a CD and never have to think about re-scanning. I am of the opinion that this is indeed a professional quality scanner: because, when you want professional quality results, it is the end product that matters - not how much effort goes into obtaining quality results.
I started developing and printing black and white film in 1974, at the age of 14: I have A LOT of film to digitize and I couldn't be happier with the results this scanner produces. I do edit all of my scans in Photoshop: for instance, I convert the color profile of each scan to LAB color and sharpen the "L" channel (luminance; black-to-white image elements) to undo the minor "fuzziness" associated with any digitizing of images (I use Power Retouche's "Gentle Unsharp Mask" plug-in filter for that).
Again, this scanner is exceptional: if you shoot film or have a film archive, this scanner provides an excellent base for a digital darkroom. It's software won't replace professional level image editing software BUT, professional software is never going to be capable of anything over and beyond the quality of image that you bring into it; and this scanner produces image quality that makes using professional image editing software worth what that software costs.
John M.
www.OriginOfWriting.com
