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 Nikon Coolscan III LS-30 Film Scanner Review
Pros: Automatically
removes flaws, excellent color depth and range, high resolution
Cons: Clumsy software,
mediocre shadow detail, Digital ICE doesn’t work on B&W images.
The Bottom Line The right
choice for people who are picky about their images and don't want to spend
more than $1000. Hard to use; not for casual users.
Recommended: Yes
Summary
I’m an amateur photographer who shoots a couple of rolls a month. Until I
bought the Coolscan, I would have film developed and printed, and I would
scan the 4x6s in using a flatbed scanner. I didn’t like this method, though,
because I was paying about $16 per roll for developing and printing… and
never looked at the prints after they were scanned in. The scans never
turned out well, either. The images were never as sharp as I wanted.
The Coolscan III has met my expectations. It saves me about $13 per roll,
because I don’t need to get prints made—I just need to get the film
developed. This costs about $2.50 per roll (or less). If I want a print, I
can upload the scanned images to one of the many sites on the Internet that
digital camera owners use. By allowing me to work directly with the
negatives, I’ve improved my photography. The scanner’s great detail shows
every flaw in my technique.
Hardware
After a great deal of research I bought the Nikon Coolscan III (LS-30)—I
chose it because of the price, resolution, and defect removal (ICE). It’s an
external SCSI device. I didn’t already have a SCSI card, so I installed the
Adaptec card that was included with the scanner. Setup went fine with
Windows ME and my Dell Dimension 4100. If you’re using plug-and-play, you
shouldn’t have any problems.
Software
The hardware setup is actually easier than getting the software to run. If
you’re one of those guys who refuses to read the manuals, I’ve got good
news: there aren’t any manuals. Nikon’s minimal documentation around the
scanning software applies to an older version. They include PhotoShop LE (a
‘lite’ version of the software), but they don’t give you instructions for
using it with the scanner.
Well, after a few minutes of poking around I managed to get some film
scanned. Maybe I’m not the brightest kid, but I’ve been using this software
for about two weeks now and I’m still figuring things out. For example, you
can control-click thumbnails in the NikonScan software to preview or scan
multiple images simultaneously. If it tells you that in the manuals, I
couldn’t find it anywhere.
Performance
Nikon says it takes about 20 seconds to scan a single frame in. That’s not
what I’ve experienced—it’s typically about two to three minutes to preview
an image, adjust the colors, and scan it in. You do have the option of batch
scanning in an entire negative strip, and saving yourself some time. But, at
some point, you’ll need to adjust and crop each image for it to be usable.
The scanned images don’t automatically look like your prints, because
developers automatically crop the image and adjust for under/over exposure.
This is your job now, and the additional control over your image is the
greatest advantage of a film scanner.
The 2800 dpi resolution creates 25MB images of about 3700x2500 pixels. There
are some 4000 dpi consumer film scanners available, but I can’t imagine that
the additional resolution would be useful. 2800 dpi shows the grain on the
ISO 400 speed film I use. ISO 100 speed film looks much better at very high
resolution, but the detail in the image is limited more by my technique than
the scanner. Unless you use professional lenses, slow film and a tripod,
2800 dpi will extract every piece of detail from your film.
Color reproduction is excellent. Shadow detail could be better, but you’d
have to spend more than a grand on a film scanner to do any better. The
image correction (Digital ICE) is fantastic, but only works on color film.
Scan in a few images with it disabled and you’ll immediately understand the
benefit. If you don’t chose the LS-30, definitely choose one of the other
(very few) scanners that supports ICE.
Here's an example of the detail extracted from a 35mm negative. This
photo was taken on Fuji Reala ISO 100 film, with a Canon Elan IIe and Canon
100-400mm L IS lens. The shot was handheld around 1/90sec, so some the
lack of sharpness can be attributed to the technique. This scan was done at
2800dpi. The first picture shows no reduction in size, and the second
shows you the full frame to give you an idea of how small a portion of the
picture the first represents.
 And
here's the shot-full frame:
 If you do buy a scanner, spend a couple hours educating yourself at
http://www.scantips.com.
Amount Paid (US$): 725
Interface: SCSI
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| i need a xp driver for my Nikon Coolscan III LS 30 plz help. donny.waldner@yahoo. com (4/27/2009, 1:42 PM) | | i need a xp driver for my Nikon coolscan III (LS 30) plz help me (4/27/2009, 1:40 PM) | | I need a win 2000 drivers for my coolscan III (LS-30)
can somebody help me? thank you. robertozorzi1952@ali ce.it (11/1/2008, 9:14 AM) | | iadnqh uhlwyefx hzavydq gveo oqxp pqgy benlgpu (10/5/2008, 7:00 AM) | | you may have problems with the scsi card I ended up buying a cheap LSI card that worked well on XP(LSI logic53c810)or your aspi may be corrupt search for "aspicheck".The driver for the scanner is installed with NikonScan or you can use Vuescan which gives you more options also.Good luck (5/27/2008, 5:36 AM) | | Hello,
Can anybody send me the winxp sp2 driver (or link) for the coolscan III? (sebloret@yahoo.fr) (5/4/2008, 6:48 AM) | | Sorry, but what is kimerikas?
Jane. (3/25/2008, 8:45 PM) | | Hello! great idea of color of this siyte! (8/8/2007, 6:00 AM) | | Seems like a common request... Where can I get Windows XP SP2 drivers for Coolscan III thanks? (Or it might be the iomega SCSI converter I'm having problems with, any thoughts?) ian_morton@hot mail.com Thanks (7/11/2007, 8:15 PM) | | Hi, as per the usual request can someone please direct me or send me the Windows XP sp2 drivers for coolscan III? Thank you, ek_gooner@yahoo.co.u k or fm@harleystreetsmile .co.uk (7/9/2007, 1:23 PM) | | Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! yhqrsswjuoyqia (6/22/2007, 8:30 PM) | | hi, i'm about to purchase a Coolscan 3 what drivers do I need and where can I get the software for the SCSI card? Thanks (5/20/2007, 11:19 AM) | | Can anybody send me the winxp sp2 driver (or link) for the coolscan III? HELP please!!!(ppkyriak@g ooglemail.com) (4/25/2007, 1:23 PM) | | Can anybody send me the winxp sp2 driver (or link) for the coolscan III? HELP please!!! (4/25/2007, 1:22 PM) | | I need to scan only 35mm slides, but want good quality images. I have an imac G5. I'm not the quickest computer/techno study. Bottom line: good price, good images and fairly simple to use. Any help out there?? (1/15/2007, 5:07 PM) | | If you need I can send you Nikon Coolscan III driver. occhipippo@libero.it (12/12/2006, 2:50 AM) | | I am trying to install a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000. I need a driver for Windows XP Prof. Any advice on where to find it? zanella@ccsu.edu (10/27/06) (10/27/2006, 6:22 PM) | | Hi! I am about to buya a Coolscan 3 for $100. I just want to convert my slides to CD's. I have an imac with Tiger. Do you know if this scanner will work for me? I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I want good quality. Am I going to have to buy software and cables ect.? Can anyone help me?? How outdated is this scanner?? meaganraback@mac.com (10/10/06) (10/10/2006, 12:43 PM) | | PLEASE can you e-mail me the drivers for my nikon coolscan 3 scsi scanner, i can't find them anywhere! ka.turban@web.de (10/5/2006, 3:22 PM) | | Where can I get/download a driver for my Nikon coolscan III (8/2/2006, 3:39 PM) | | its bloody rediculous. You pay that much for a piece of hardware and the buggers decide to discontinue support. I'm also looking for a solution, allbeit almost a year later. (5/4/2006, 4:51 AM) | | Is there a bulk scanning tray which works with the Nikon Coolscan III (LS-30)I have a couple of thousand slides I should like to convert to digital images - thank you. (10/23/2005, 1:53 PM) | | Tony good reading, I'am in the market for a scanner, and just this short review has helped me a lot. Undecided between the Konica Minolta Dimage Elite 5400 II and the Nikon Coolscan V LS-50 ED ? Any advice ? Lou Dover, NH (9/16/2005, 9:38 PM) | | Can someone also please tell me where I can find the software for the Coolscan III that will work with Windows XP. Thank you annabran@hotmail.com (9/8/2005, 8:50 AM) | | Did all the right things: Service pack1, driver 3.1.2, ASPI layer 4.7.1: But my Nikon ls 30 doesn.t work under xp (it did work all right with '98. Suggestions???? ansenpeter@wanadoo.n l (7/21/2005, 2:52 AM) |
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