Why did Nikon Discontinue the Coolscan scanners?

[R Shaffer]

I see that Amazon has a few used Coolscan 9000's for $3500-3800. I'm really thinking of pulling the trigger on one. Atleast they have a 180 day warranty, better than ebay. I've been watching these on ebay for about a month now and at first the average price they were going for was around $3000. Not I'd say the average price is $3300. It's amazing how valuable these things are right now.

This was a major factor when I decided to just buy a medium format digital back. I could continue shooting with my Mamiya 645pro and buy a Coolscan 9000 or I could buy a Mamiya ZDb back new from B&H for $3600. I upgraded my 645pro to a 645 AFDII, which added another $1k. I have to say I really love shooting MFD, no regrets at all. I just picked up an old 80mm macro with extension for under $50 so I am going to try gerri-rigging a slide duplicator.

 

[donbga]

x2...

at least not in the context of a big company like Nikon...

Nikon isn't a big company.

 

[donbga]

The reason is simply the demand is very low.

+1. Which means film sales are dwindling, especially in the professional market.

 

[cooltouch]

If I had to buy a 35mm film scanner at the moment I would seriously consider a high-end DSLR instead. Bellows, bellows lens, slide duplicator. For duplicating slides the solution would be inferior in resolution and dynamic range to a Coolscan 5000, but would be exempt from the "flare" problem which is quite annoying. One could take two exposures and blend the two. A bellows lens should be decently good for this kind of work. Results could be comparable to a "proper" scan for most uses. With negatives I suppose the comparison would be even easier. And you can use your high-end DSLR to take pictures, too.

This has been precisely my argument for some time. Except the difference in resolution between a "high-end DSLR" and a Coolscan 5000 will be minor. The CS5000 has an optical resolution of 4000 ppi. A high-end DSLR, like a Canon 5D Mk II, for example, with its 21 mp sensor, will produce images that are effectively the same. The 5DmkII's maximum resolution is 5616x3744, and since a slide is 24mm x 36mm and assuming your rig is capable of 1:1 duplication, this means that 3744 pixels are being recorded per 24mm, and converted to inches we get 3744/24mm x 25.4mm/inch = 3962 pixels per inch. Call it 4000. Plus, you have the big advantage of shooting in RAW mode with the Canon and of being able to vary exposure levels. By this I'm referring to the way I light my rig for slide dupes. I have a flash mounted to a light stand and I can vary exposure by moving my camera + rig closer or farther away from the flash. And I don't know about you guys, but I've become a big fan of Adobe's Camera Raw and the sorts of manipulations I can do to an image before I translate it over to a .tif or .jpg. It pretty much eliminates any dynamic range issues between the two systems, although I must admist that, even before I began using it I didn't see dynamic range as a particular issue when duping slides. As for the lens, I prefer to use a macro lens with my setup -- it's an old Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5, but it's absolutely tack sharp, especially at f/8, which is the aperture I use when I dupe slides.

Duping B&W negatives is about as difficult as falling off a log, but duping color negatives can be a bit tricky, trying to get the color just right. With most color emulsions I've tried, it isn't all that difficult, but with Ektar it has been very difficult. I'm still working on the best approach for Ektar.

 

[Les Sarile]

Dead Link Removed also offers used Coolscans with money back guarantee. If you don't believe there will be a new Coolscan introduced, I highly suggest you get the Cooslcan as there was never as good a scanner in performance or price range.

I still actively use film but I think I could probably ask a fortune to scan film for others if I wanted to particularly if they have a scan from any other source to compare to - except possibly from a well run real drum scanner.

 

[rallen]

I think that Nikon discontinued the Coolscan film scanners because of licensing issues with Digital Ice made by Applied Science Fiction (a really cool name if you ask me) which was bought up by Kodak. What a pity these scanners are really great they could release a new batch I have my Coolscan 4000 working on Windows 7 64bit perfectly.