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Author Topic: Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?  (Read 2644 times)

TimG

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« on: April 16, 2009, 04:22:39 pm »

Does anyone know the current status of Nikon as it pertains to the scanner market?  

Read on the Silverfast forum Nikon was exiting the market, according to a Lasersoft employee.  Additional posts pertaining to the development of Vista 64-bit drivers for the LS-9000/9000ED film scanner were addressed with a canned response stating Nikon would not be updating their drivers, which would make it difficult if not impossible for Lasersoft to support it in future versions of Silverfast.

Further, a friend of mine purchased a 9000 3 months ago from Calumet - the sales rep stated it was the only one they had in stock, nationwide.  His glass carrier only just arrived (late last week).

Hoping against hope this is not the end of one of Nikon's dedicated film scanners.
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narikin

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2009, 04:56:47 pm »

Quote from: TimG
Hoping against hope this is not the end of one of Nikon's dedicated film scanners.
shame it is/was a great scanner - with the glass carrrier and wet mounting it gave really incredible results (Light years better than any Epson, and every bit as good as Imacon, if I may say, without starting a flame war) for relatively little $. Happy to own one, and it's earned it money many many times back.

cant understand why they don't release the 64bit driver, I mean how hard can that be, really?
however, the writing is VERY BIG on the wall for all film products, their day is done, scanners included.

if you have a big archive of rollfilm to ever scan, I'd highly recommend getting one now, with the wet mount carrier. Dry carrier suffers film flatness issues, and only wet glass carrier solves that and newtons rings totally, to give pro level results.
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BernardLanguillier

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2009, 06:02:11 pm »

Quote from: narikin
shame it is/was a great scanner - with the glass carrrier and wet mounting it gave really incredible results (Light years better than any Epson, and every bit as good as Imacon, if I may say, without starting a flame war) for relatively little $. Happy to own one, and it's earned it money many many times back.

Hum... we must have had different Coolscan, my Imacon is much better then the 9000 I had...

Cheers,
Bernard

TimG

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2009, 06:27:03 pm »

Quote from: narikin
however, the writing is VERY BIG on the wall for all film products, their day is done, scanners included.

Oh come on!  Really?  Where did you read that?  Seriously, do you have any hard data to back up your wild claim?
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narikin

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2009, 07:03:48 pm »

Quote from: BernardLanguillier
Hum... we must have had different Coolscan, my Imacon is much better then the 9000 I had...

Cheers,
Bernard

thats exactly what I was trying to avoid... so lets...
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heinrichvoelkel

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2009, 05:03:38 am »

I have gone through 3 Nikon 8000 (all of them faulty in an or the other way) and one 9000 scanner. Good dedicated film scanner, but just good. A careful calibrated Epson 750 will come really close. Imacon is lightyears ahead of both.

Especially the drivers. Silverscan is almost perfect on the Epson and always a bitch to deal with on the Nikon. The nikon software produced faster, better colors on the Nikon, but couldn't be installed together with Silverfast on the same drive under MAC OS X. The Imacon software ( flexcolor) does a hell of a job, great and fast to work with.

I f you have to scan tons of Negs, get an Imacon. It is faster as well.
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Carsten W

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2009, 06:25:24 am »

Quote from: narikin
thats exactly what I was trying to avoid... so lets...

The way to avoid a comparison is not to say "let's not have a flame war", but rather, not to say "every bit as good as Imacon", which is something that has often been shown not to be the case. The Epson V750 comes quite close to the Nikon 9000 though, also shown often. I have the Epson, and aspire to the Imacon.
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Carsten W - [url=http://500px.com/Carste

TMARK

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Nikon Exiting Scanner Market?
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2009, 09:24:37 am »

Film is alive and well in NYC and Paris.  Not sure about London.  

The 9000 is a home scanner for hobbyists, not a pro scanner.  Nikon discontinueing a consumer film product is no surprise, as consumers have largely abandoned film.  Sure, you can get top quality results with an 8000 or 9000 or V700/750 or Microtek 120tf, but getting there is a pain in the ass.  Really.  The Imacons are so much faster because the holders are so much better and are always flat.  Flex is better than Silverfast, in my opinion.  I rent time on a 949 when I have a lot of scanning to do and can't pass the cost of a drum scan to a client.  For low volume 4x5, 120 and 35mm I use my v750 and Microtek 120tf.
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