in search of a good nikon scanner to be used on my mountain lion mac for scanning B&W

Hi all,
I would like to buy a second hand (but working well) nikon scanner.
i have to use it with my Mountain Lion MAC, to scan B&W negatives.

any suggestion?
anyone willing to sell?

thanks
paolo

If you do find a good working Coolscan, I would suggest you buy a cheap PC running Vista so that you can use Nikonscan with the Coolscan. Just network or use an external so you can access the files on your Mac. I've personally scanned over 12,000 frames of film on my Coolscan 5000 and it scans as good as the day I bought it brand new. I've scanned over 7,000 frames of film on my Coolscan 9000 and it too is as good as the day I bought it. These are well built machines and therefore command high prices in the used market. Good luck.

Paolo, keep an eye at Ffordes in Scotland and Leicashop in Austria. Both -- but esp. Ffordes -- usually have scanners in stock. I know the Coolscans are often sold for inflated prices in the used market (in particular at ebay) but these shops try to stay within reason and don't raise prices.

What will you use the scanned images for? I'm asking because you may find that an LS-40 (IV) will be sufficient, even though it is an older model. There are reviews online (for instance this one) and it seems to perform almost as well as the LS-50 (V), which I have. To post images online, create an archive of your negatives but also to print really quite large (A3+) an LS-40 should be sufficient.

I see now that Ffordes has two LS-40s in stock for reasonable money (and a 5000 and an 8000 for much more). Ffordes offer warranty on their scanners. I only know this because I once considered buying a Coolscan 9000 from them and so checked them out (unfortunately I was too slow to react and the scanner was sold; I eventually bought it from Leicashop though). They have one staff member assigned to scanners (I believe his name is Gareth) who was very friendly in replying to questions about their stock, over email or phone. He told me they send their scanners for service before they're sold.

Cheers
Philip

Thanks, Philip. I'm already writing an email to Ffordes...

paolo

I don't know if this will interest you, but I find I get better results with scanning black and white 35mm negatives using a D800 DSLR and a bellows setup over a 4000 dpi CCD scanner. No automatic feeder, but that's not an issue for me. I wrote up my results here: Scanning 35mm Black and White Negatives with the D800E Tripping Through The Dark It's not a Nikon scanner, but tests when they were released showed the Nikon 4000 wasn't much ahead of the Canon in terms of image quality. At the prices the 5000s are going for I'd rather buy a new D600, bellows and macro lens; I bet the image quality is equivalent and the D600 is a lot more versatile (shoots pictures too). Of course if you are looking for a medium format scanner then the equation is different.

Hi Larry,

your approach seems very interesting and i'm going to try it.
I have a nikon D600; i'm planning to buy a PB-4 & PS-4 set on ebay, and i'll look for a lens or maybe use one of my old nikon-f lens (i have a 35mm and a 85mm, but the 85mm maybe is a little soft). The enlarger lend seems a very good idea.

Can you be so kind to send me the user preset you use in lightroom? i like the idea of linking the camera to lightroom!

i'll keep you informed about the results...

paolo

Paolo, I'm not sure how to export a preset from lightroom. I'm also thinking it would be best to develop your own, which is what I end up doing for almost each type of film. There are only small tweaks needed, but there are enough differences that one size doesn't fit all. Start by setting the image to black and white in (HSL / Color / B&W). Then the important part is to draw tone curve that looks good. At a minimum start with reversing the default one. In other words make it start at the upper left and go to the lower right. To refine it first turn on the clipping indicators (triangles in the histogram box). Then set the black and white points. Making it S shaped will give it a natural look. It should look something like this:

That's all I generally need to do to get it looking good enough for a starting point. But each film needs slight tweaks to the curve.

Hi Larry,

I'll try it following your suggestion.

I'm now scrounging around, there is a friend who has several rodenstock lenses; i'll look for a 75 mm focal lenght. Is that correct?

in a previous post, you wrote that you are tethering your camera to lightroom, so each shot goes directly to library.
where is the relevant command?
thanks,
paolo

Paolo,

The 75mm lens I used is optimized for 1 to 1 reproduction, not enlarging. So other 75mm lenses probably will not work quite as well. If you are going to use an regular enlarger lens I'm not sure which would be the best. I tried a lot of them and was happy with the results from my Nikon 50mm f/2.8, Nikon 80mm f/5.6 lenses, Schneider 80mm f4 Componon-S and 80mm f/4 Rodagon; but the Rodagon D is noticeably better than the others. I don't remember what was second best (but I think the Componon S). Look for lenses optimized for small enlargements. This table will give you an idea of the Rodenstock line, Rodenstock lenses for enlarging and reproduction or http://www.rodenstock-photo.com/mediabase/original/e_Rodenstock_Printing_CCD_43-62__8230.pdf. From this I would avoid the Rodagon W and Rodagon G lineups. Presumably the shorter focal length lens may also be more appropriate so I would stick to lenses less than 80mm.

From Nikon http://savazzi.freehostia.com/download/manuals/El-Nikkor enlarging lenses.pdf or http://www.galerie-photo.com/manuels/el-nikkor-enlarging-lenses.pdf.

The 55mm f/2.8 Nikon AIS Macro was also very good and mounts easily on the bellows. This is probably the easiest choice, and the lenses can be found for not much money. For all the macro lenses you will need an adapter to mount them on the bellows. Search for "m39 to nikon adapter".

In Lightroom go to File / Tethered Capture / Start Tethered Capture. From there you will get some options to fill in. Hit OK and then hook your camera up to the computer with the USB cable. You can take the image with the button on the screen, or the release on the camera. If you pick a Develop Setting it will be applied as you import, or you can change that later.

Larry

Hi Larry,

I have tried your suggestion, and it looks VERY promising!

I have found a second hand bellows, added a 50 mm. nikon lens, a slide adapter and a flash working in TTL.

it is still a crude contraption, and there will be a lot of optimizing work; but right non i'm able to scan lots of negs very quickly, and the resolving power is such that i can see the grain perfectly!

thanks for the advice, and as soon as i'll be able to fix all the small problems i have now, i'll post some images to you.

My biggest problem is: how to move the negative roll exactly one frame, without having to open the negative holder all the times.
Using a flash for illumination is eliminating all the problems related to mirror vibrations, and i can keep the aperture at around F11; but i cannot see the frame when i move it, unless i open the holder...

thanks again

paolo

Paolo,

Glad to hear its working for you. I found that the flash worked very well, but you need a light behind the film holder if you want to be able to check the framing. Looks like you could just lower the goose neck light you have. I just set the framing a bit loose and can slide the film easily enough that I don't need to open the holder.

With the TTL flash and negatives try to adjust the exposure to the right. You probably need some + exposure compensation. This will help you get noise free highlights. It's not as important for slides.

Hi Larry,
i have done some testing: HP5 exposed at 400, developed in Rodinal 1+50 standing (une hour, one inversione at 30 minutes)
It was my intention to have some grain... and i've got plenty!
then i used my nikon d600 with the bellows, a 50mm nikkor, the slide/film holder and a SB-700 flash in TTL mode.
i had to apply a +1,3 stop correction, and then the histogram was even and spread all across in lightroom (tehtered)
Using lightroom in tethered mode is fantastic!
i inverted the negative in lightroom as per your suggestions. Too bad that lightroom does not have an Invert command!
I think that i'll use more 35mm. film, now, i scanned a whole roll in a few minutes and the focusing was very good, while the tonal range was not bad at all.
i'll attach some photos...
thanks!
paolo

Oooops! the photos did not upload....

hi Larry,

the photos did not upload... i'll try again.



cheers,

paolo

The images look good. It's amazing how much grain Rodinal can bring out, but it looks like you got even more than normal. I guess that's the result of the stand development. It's a nice effect.