Nikon Coolscan IV ED

Duceman · Oct 2, 2022

There was a Nikon Coolsan IV ED locally for sale on Craigslist the past couple of months. On a lark, I sent the seller an offer, about half of what he was asking. Seller accepted my offer, and I picked it up earlier today.

TBH, I didn't do any research on this whatsoever. A little over 10 years ago I had borrowed one from a friend of mine, but that was used on an old iMac. I don't know if there are any drivers/software that will work with my current computer setups--I have an HP machine on Windows 10 and an iMac running OS12.6.

Any pointers?

reddesert · Oct 2, 2022

That's a good scanner. I believe it is a USB scanner, not Firewire, right? It will work with Vuescan on a Mac without any other drivers. Probably also with Vuescan on Windows.

Getting the old Nikon Scan software to run on a system later than Windows XP will be a trial. There may be people who have done it but it's going to be a special case.

Duceman · Oct 2, 2022

I guess I do have an old machine with Windows XP. Worst case scenario, I could try hooking it up to that. That machine is air gapped so as long as its physically running...

Duceman · Oct 2, 2022

reddesert said:
It will work with Vuescan on a Mac without any other drivers.

Looking at the Vuescan page for this scanner, it says that one "...can use this scanner on Mac OS X...." I suppose I should confirm with Vuescan that it will also work with Monterey (OS 12).

Nikon CoolScan IV ED Scanner Driver & Software | VueScan Scanner Software

Want to keep using your Nikon CoolScan IV ED on macOS Monterey, Windows 10, and more? VueScan has a built in Nikon Scanner Driver - so it works even without a driver.

www.hamrick.com

reddesert · Oct 3, 2022

It should work. I've trialed Vuescan with a Nikon USB scanner on my current Mac, which is Monterey (OS 10.14) only a couple of versions previous. Essentially Vuescan is the driver (interface to the scanner) , and the OS interface to the USB bus ought to be stable. Anyway, the good thing about Vuescan is you can download it and verify that it works for free. You just have to pay for it to get the annoying watermark off your scans. Silverfast might also work, and some people like it better, but I have not tried it and the licensing terms for Silverfast are much more onerous than Vuescan IMO.

chriscrawfordphoto · Oct 3, 2022

The Nikon Scan software it came with will not work on modern Macs; it only works on old ones with PowerPC processors (G4 or G5). I'm a Mac user with the similar Coolscan V; it works great on my Mac with Vuescan. It works great on Windows with Vuescan, too.

The Nikon scan software may be usable on Windows. It was made for XP, if I remember right (I know it works on XP because I had an XP machine when I got my first Nikon scanner). I think you have to make some modifications to make it work on Windows 10; google it for info.

I would just use Vuescan, though. It works a lot better. The Nikon software was always buggy and crash-prone.

BMbikerider · Oct 3, 2022

I quite happily use a similar scanner hooked up to a XP based laptop. It works very well too and so long as all the other 'add-ons' and unused programmes are removed, it is surprisingly quick. Certainly quicker than my Epson 600 flatbed working at the same resolution, plus the ICE software that comes with the scanner works better than the same installed in the Epson.

The icing on the cake for me is that it will scan in RAW (Nikon's NEF) format and although primitive when compared to the latest RAW files that come with the latest cameras will recover a huge amount of detail (Especially in the shadows) that otherwise would be lost using Jpg's.

As for the Nikon software it has always worked for me and without any undue faults of crashing etc, the only real difference that I can find is the Nikon software does tend to produce more grain in plain areas of sky that examples I have seen with view-scan

pkupcik · Nov 4, 2022

I used to have the same scanner and used the following instructions/notes to set it up on Windows 8, 10, etc. If it doesn't work for you, just use an older laptop with XP or setup a virtual machine on your PC.

1) Install the NikonScan software

2) Connect the scanner

3)Reboot following these procedures:

FotoClub Inc - How to Disable Driver Signature Enforcement to allow installation of Windows 7 Printer Drivers on Windows 8

web.archive.org

They disable requirements for Win8 to reject unsigned drivers.

4) Go to device manager, find the device and update the driver by pointing to NksUSB.INF file. This file should be on the installation CD or maybe in the installation folder on C drive, don't remember.

Troubleshooting if your Tools Palette disapears:
1) uninstall Nikon Scan
2) Manually delete any leftover files
3) Run RegSweeper.exe (on original CD under utilities)
4) Reinstall

jtk · Nov 4, 2022

Congratulations on finding that Nikon IV. Nikon did wonderfully well with IV and V.

You can find spare FH2 film carriers online...an extra can speed-up your film handling and might come in handy as a backup.

Ignore negative allegations about Nikonscan software. I don't think it works with PC iterations after Win 7, but Vuescan serves my Nikon V perfectly with current PCs, such as Win11.

Nikon Coolscan IV ED

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