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Nikon’s Coolscans are still the bestFebruary 8, 2008 After being the printer service technician last weekend, I switched hats to be company scanner operator for my projects this week. I don’t scan film very often these days (though I still have thousands of frames of film that I would like to scan). When I do scan film, I find myself impressed with the quality of scans from my Nikon Coolscan.In the interest of full disclosure I must tell you that I worked on the software that ships with the Nikon scanners; I wrote the built-in Help system. As nice as that is, no one ever uses the Help screen system, I fear.  The Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED scanner allows me to scan film up to 6 x 9 cm. It's the best scanner I have ever used. Today I was scanning from 35mm film strips from a consumer camera. The film is about 17 years old, and in good condition. It was still wrapped in the sleeves that came from the lab (back when we used film). Despite its proper storage though, there were many small scratches and bits of dust that did not come off with a light cleaning. And, the negs were incorrectly exposed – the camera was spooked by backlighting in almost every frame. I have the larger Coolscan 9000 ED, which can scan film up to 6 x 9 cm. I used to shoot with Hasselblad medium format cameras, so this scanner makes it possible for me to translate my library of transparencies into digital images. It is excellent for this purpose. Nikon was the first company to adopt the Digital ICE technology developed by Applied Science Fiction in Austin, Texas. The technology scans the film with an additional infrared sensor in the scanner, and then the Nikon software makes a “defect map” which, after the scan is complete, is subtracted from the image removing nearly all dust, scratches and other flaws. It is nothing short of miraculous. The photos I scanned today would have required about 20 minutes of retouching each. WIth ICE turned on, there was no retouching necessary. I scanned, saved and was finished. The Coolscans (35mm Coolscan 5000 ED and 6 cm. Coolscan 9000 ED) are not the fastest scanners on Earth, but having run a variety of scanners from a variety of manufacturers, I still think they are the best film scanners ever made. I have owned a lot of scanners – including a Crosfield 646IM – and I argue that the Nikon scanners are better (this comment usually causes some controversy among drum scanner aficionados). Considering the net effect of the scans, the results are more commercially acceptable more often. Resolution, you say? Yes, I admit the Nikon scanner can’t deliver quite as large a scan as the Crosfield. But, when I scan at full resolution (about 67 MB for a 35mm transparency) I can see the grain, and what is the point of more resolution when I am already scanning more detail than there is grain in my images? With the Digital ICE technology (Kodak bought Applied Science Fiction a few years back and now applied Digital ICE to its motion picture scanners) and the superb quality of the scanner, I have a winning combination. Another big advantage is that I can put the Coolscan on my desk. The Crosfield took two air conditioned rooms! The only catch... Nikon’s “cool” software is not yet compatible with Apple’s most recent operating system – Leopard. I have checked the Nikon support site, and there is no update available now. I hope that Nikon’s software geniuses can get that done soon. For my thoughts on the best flat-bed scanners, read my blogs in the coming days. Posted by Brian Lawler on February 8, 2008 | Comments (10)               
February 11, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best tahoejeff commented: I would have to agree that Digital ICE is a huge timesaver. I bought an older Nikon Coolscan on ebay a few weeks ago and have been digitizing all of my old 35mm negatives. It takes me about 11 minutes to preview and scan a 4 image strip of negatives.
February 11, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best CRHammond commented: I use Vuescan available at www.hamrick.com to run my both scanners: a Coolscan 5000 and a Epson V700 on a Windows XP system. There is a Mac version of Vuescan available that is compatible with Leopard. A driver is also available (comes with the install) for many scanners that are no longer supported by their manufacturer.
February 27, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best Brian Lawler commented: Thank you to both Tahoe Jeff and CR Hammond for the comments. I am looking into the VueScan software for another Nikon scanner where Leopard is running. I have heard good things about it, and hope it solves the problem for the short term.
April 11, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best karenbf commented: The CoolScan came out in 2004 - does anyone know if Nikon is planning to come out with some newer models this year?
April 11, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best karenbf commented: The CoolScan came out in 2004 - does anyone know if Nikon is planning to come out with some newer models this year?
April 16, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best Brian Lawler commented: I have had a chance to try the Vuescan software since making this blog entry. It's really nice. I don't know why Nikon has been so slow getting a Leopard-compatible version of Nikon Scan out the door. And, no, I don't know if they plan to make new models available (though I hope they do).
September 16, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best the1nigel commented: I've just bought a Nikon Coolscan V ED and am dismayed by the absence of Mac OS Leopard compatible software to interface with my Powerbook.
September 21, 2008
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best Brian Lawler commented: Hi Nigel,
May 19, 2009
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best Marc Ferguson commented: Hi Nigel,
May 24, 2009
In response to: Nikon’s Coolscans are still the best Brian Lawler commented: Nigel's question is a good one.
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