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The original Scan Elite 5400 from Konica Minolta took scanning resolution to
a new high with a 5400dpi native resolution that brought out all the detail
from 35mm negatives and transparencies. The recently introduced Scan Elite 5400
II takes the original features, adds some improvements, and cuts the price nearly
in half. How’s that for an upgrade?
High Quality Film Scans
Many of the flat-bed scanners available today offer film scanning as well, and
if you have mixed needs these units are capable of doing a good job. But as
with any device that serves multiple purposes, some compromise is involved.
In the case of flat-bed scanners, this is usually lower resolution and the need
to scan through a glass surface that can cause focus problems or moiré
patterns.
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Konica Minolta Scan Elite 5400 II is an updated version of a excellent
product. |
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A dedicated film scanner, on the other hand, is designed to film use; either
in negative or slide form with special holders to keep the film flat. There
are no glass surfaces to interfere with scan quality. And, in the case of the
Scan Elite 5400 II, it does this at a higher resolution than most other products
available today.
The CCD in the Scan Elite can capture 48 bits (16 bits for each color channel)
at a dynamic range of up to 4.8. Simply put, this means you’ll get maximum
detail from your negative or slide—from the darkest shadow to brightest
highlight.
The new scanner uses a USB 2.0 interface to connect to Windows or Macintosh
computers. Although you could use USB 1.1, the size of the files you’ll
be creating will soon have you tearing out your hair waiting for the transfers
to complete. Just how big are the files? How about 240MB for a 16-bit scan?
If you print at 300dpi, this translates to 17x25 with no resizing! The Scan
Elite 5400 II completes scans in about half the time required by the original
Scan Elite 5400—less than 1 minute on my system for a full resolution
16-bit scan.
Pre-scanning is quick as well, taking less than 10 seconds to complete.
Multi-Pass Scans
The Scan Elite supports multi-pass scans which, although they increase the amount
of time required to complete a scan, can do wonders for difficult images. I
scanned an assortment of negatives and transparencies with the Scan Elite at
different settings to get a good feeling for how the scanner did with a variety
of subjects. A single pass was sufficient to produce a high quality image of
a normally lit scene. For lighting situations that included a wider dynamic
range, multi-pass scanning did a very good job of pulling extra detail from
the film, especially in the shadows. In fact, to take full advantage of the
dynamic range the scanner is capable of, you’ll need to enable multi-pass.
While you can select up to 16 passes, I found that the 4x option gave a good
deal of improvement and was a reasonable tradeoff between dynamic range and
scan time. I was never able to see any improvement between 8x and 16x in the
film I scanned.
Software
When needed, you have the option of turning on any or all of the four Digital
Ice components that are included with the scanner. Digital Ice 4 includes Ice
to fix dust and scratches, ROC for color restoration of faded film, GEM for
grain reduction, and SHO for shadow and highlight recovery. These features can
save a significant amount of time in Photoshop but will slow the scanning process.
The software also includes Pixel Polish which does an admirable job of making
corrections to your images when you don’t feel like doing the work yourself.
Pixel Polish only works in 8-bit mode, so you won’t be using this for
your highest quality scans.
The DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 II easy application makes scanning a breeze.
The scanner software is in three parts, all accessed from a launcher utility,
or directly. DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 II easy takes all of the guess work out
of what to select with preset sizes for most print or screen uses. While it
gives you access to the advanced ICE correction tools, scans can only be saved
as 8-bit files with no color space selection. For full control, the DiMAGE Scan
Elite 5400 II Utility application is where you’ll have access to resolution,
multiple scan passes, full color correction and adjustment as well as other
features.
When you want more control, the DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 II Utility program will
give you full access to everything the scanner is capable of.
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