Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED Film Scanner

I have been using the 4000 ED to capture/scan all of my old 35mm negatives (going all the way back the early 1970's). The pictures I am able to print from these scanned negatives are better that the prints made from the negatives!
My only complaint is that the unit only supports 35mm, and doesn't support medium format film.

I use this to scan 35mm slides for digital prints up to 13x19" so I use the full 4000 ppi capability. I've found it to be easy to use and the final scanned quality to be excellent. Compared to the HP PhotoSmart scanner I was previously using, it's outstanding. The dust removal feature is awesome. The automatic color adjustment works well for some of my older, faded slides, but I wouldn't recommend it for general use. I use 2X averaging to improve noise, although it's probably not necessary. The scanner has other advanced image correction capability but I prefer to do this in PhotoShop where I have better control. Scanning speed at 4000 ppi is less than 1 minute. The final scans are definitely of publishable quality. This scanner has actually allowed me to delay my conversion to a digital SLR, although I'm sure I will eventually succumb.

This is the perfect scanner to scan, restore, and archive all of your most valuable pictures.
Easy to set up and use.
The best.

Watched this product for over a year before finally pulling the trigger on the purchase. Primarily bought this to archive my favorite photos for printing/reproduction, but recently did a batch of slides from 1955-1962 that showed the full range of typical problems, color shift, scratches, emulsion deterioration.... By and large the CoolScan handled them with aplomb and brought some marginal slides back to life (emulsion deterioration notwithstanding on broad areas of same color, e.g., sky). Digital ICE and ROC worked wonders. Scans are enormous and pull a lot of details -- including from the shadows. I was surprised how much detail remained in some silhouettes. In several instances I was shocked at the shortcoming of a couple lenses (compared photos from several different lenses, and you absolutely notice a difference in optical quality).

I owned the previous model, the Super Coolscan LS-2000, which provided 2700 dpi. I was very happy with it. As a fine-art photographer, I am now producing larger prints, thus I need the 4000 dpi the 4000 ED provides. I import all my images into Photoshop 6 or 7. It was an easy transition.

I obtain truly accurate renditions with the 4000 ED, as I did with the LS-2000. Having a calibration slide facilitates this. The firewire connection is much easier to use than the former scsi interface, although I had only a few problems with it (I used the LS-2000 on a Powermac 7300 and a G4 with a pci scsi card. I use the 4000 ED on the G4).

I appreciate the high dynamic range (4.2) in the 4000 ED. I can see more detail in the shadow areas of rescanned images (formerly scanned with the LS-2000--dynamic range of 3.6).

Recently I participated in an art show. Among my images were two large matted and framed prints, overall 24x30 inches. The prints (22x16 inches) were from Provia F 100 slide film, scanned with the 4000 ED into Photoshop 6, output onto a large-format professional printer. According to traffic, comments, and sales, the prints had impact. Needless to say, the 4000 ED was only one of the links that produced the desired product, but a strategic one!

In conclusion, if you intend to produce large prints, a scanner of 4000 dpi is extremely important, and the Super Coolscan 4000 ED may be the perfect choice. If you intend to scan slides you've taken over the years to organize into a catalog program, to post them on your website, or to create Power Point programs, you won't necessarily need the 4000 dpi the Super Coolscan 4000 ED provides.