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For those like me who put off the purchase of a good slide scanner, it is too late. Nikon quit making both the Coolscan 5000 and 9000 a couple of years ago and the only alternative is a less desirable flat bed scanner. However, good scanners are still available on Ebay, but for an price up to three times the original. They are worth it. I chose the Coolscan 5000 because it appears to be more directly set up for slides while the 9000 handles a variety of formats. The Coolscan 5000 is precise and creates an accurate digital depiction of the slide it is scanning. A stack loader type devise can also be used to process them because the scanning process does take time. The scanner includes digital ice to clean dust and specks off the slides, but using canned air is recommended. The software takes some learning, but it is easy to obtain clean, sharp and satisfactory results. There is a specific setting for Kodachrome which was my main slide film. The only drawbacks are that it does take some time to scan each slide, more than just a few seconds, and the machine makes a bit of noise. These are minor issues. I am very happy that I finally obtained one, but be sure to check the machine when it arrives. Through experience from a non-Ebay vendor, I found that rough handling due to poor packaging can damage them.Read full review
This is a brilliant scanner for 35mm slides, even really filthy slides are restored to photos as good as digital, if not better. I was able to use vuescan software with the scanner which downloaded online for about $50US (try the freeware 1st) to replace the Nikon software which doesnt work with recent versions of windows or OSX. The SF210 multiple slide feeder is well worth the investment if you have several hundred plus slides to scan, you can leave the machine to scan 50 slides in one go. The 5000 coolscan is the best investment I have made in ages.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I have been after a Nikon Coolscan for a long time. I shied away from them when they were available new as they were quite expensive. Now they are discontinued the price for a secondhand unit is as much as old retail and the demand, if anything, has risen. That said, I decided to jump in as I wanted to have access to the best quality scan available to convert my slides and negatives into digital format. I am still learning how to get the best results out of the scanner but it has delivered exactly what it has been manufactured to deliver. As with all Nikon products the quality is excellent and if you are looking for a way to convert your archives at the highest level I would not hesitate in obtaining one of these units.
I'm not finished with the project yet of transferring 10,000 slides to digital images, but overall, the machine works pretty well for volume scanning. Once in awhile, you get a slide jam. Through research, I found that this machine was the nearest item for home use that had professional quality results. Because it's a discontinued product, I had to run it on an XP computer (not Windows 7). However, this item is still readily available on EBay.
This device is as advertised. It does a great job of scanning in detail, and the optional settings provide the opportunity to tailor the image according to the situation - too bright, too dark, wrong ASA film used, etc. I have scanned only slides at this point, but plan to use it for 35mm negatives as well as other size negatives. Overall, I am pleased with this purchase.
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