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Where to buy Nikon Coolscan V LS-50 ED
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CNET Editors' review - Nikon Coolscan V LS-50 ED
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CNET Editor's rating: 8.2 out of 10
Reviewed by Jeff Dorgay Review date: 10/14/04 The good: Outstanding film scans; great software; easy to set up; intuitive scanning interface. The bad: Manual focus is hard to use. The bottom line: Unless your stuff appears regularly in National Geographic, this may be the only film scanner you'll ever need. Since their introduction eight years ago, Nikon Coolscan film scanners have been popular among digital media enthusiasts. The Coolscan V's outstanding 4,000dpi scans keep that tradition intact. You'll find cheaper film scanners, but for a model of its quality, the Coolscan V is a pretty good deal for amateur photographers and creative pros on a budget. The Coolscan V sits upright, and at 6.8 by 3.8 by 12.4 inches, it's about the size of a typical box of software. Setup is straightforward: Just install the drivers on the included Nikon Scan 4.0 software disc, and tell the Setup Wizard which of the 12 supplied color spaces you prefer to work with (Adobe RGB is a popular pro choice). Then connect the scanner to your machine via USB and start scanning. The Nikon Scan software is very easy to use, with all of the major adjustment controls in plain sight. As with all of the other film scanners we've tested, you can use the bundled software by itself or work from within your image-editing program of choice. Dealing with a lot of old photos? The Coolscan V integrates Digital ICE4 technology from Kodak's Austin Development Center. It consists of Digital ROC, which enhances the color in faded photos; Digital GEM, which minimizes grain; Digital DEE, for optimizing contrast and exposure; and the veteran Digital ICE to remove both dust and scratches without degrading image sharpness. Test scans of faded photos came back to life with ROC, but use GEM with care or image sharpness will suffer. Coolscan scanners have always used Nikkor ED (extralow dispersion) glass, and the V is no exception. The glass, combined with an optical density that Nikon rates at 4.2D gives the CoolScan V the power to handle extreme contrast in both slides and negatives. In our test scans, Digital DEE worked miracles with images that were grossly underexposed, punching up details in shadows that would have normally just gone to black. Noise was limited. The average 10MB-to-20MB scan comes in at just less than a minute, with Digital ICE adding about 10 seconds to the total process. For the ultimate in quality, try the Multi-sample Scan option, which rescans your image from 2 up to 16 times, and then averages out noise and other artifacts. In our test scans, we got the best compromise between time and quality at a 4X sampling rate. It's very difficult to adjust the Coolscan V's manual focus, and in our test scans, we didn't see much improvement when we fiddled with it. Fortunately, the autofocus made up for these problems, providing scans that were very sharp the first time around, unlike the Konica Minolta Dimage 5400's, which often required additional tweaking and rescanning. Nikon provides exceedingly well-organized technical support options via its Web site. You'll find searchable FAQs, manuals, and the requisite firmware/software updates. If you have a specific question that isn't listed in the manuals or FAQs, you can e-mail tech support by filling out a fairly detailed online form. There's no phone support, unfortunately. (Originally posted on CNET Reviews)User opinions - Nikon Coolscan V LS-50 ED
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Good6.2out of 10
Average user rating from 10 users
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9 out of 10 - Spectacular 90 out of 100 users found this user opinion helpful. 3 out of 10 - Poor 130 out of 155 users found this user opinion helpful. 9 out of 10 - Spectacular 45 out of 45 users found this user opinion helpful. 6 out of 10 - Good 35 out of 35 users found this user opinion helpful. 4 out of 10 - Mediocre 15 out of 20 users found this user opinion helpful. 9 out of 10 - Spectacular 10 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful. 9 out of 10 - Spectacular 15 out of 25 users found this user opinion helpful. 8 out of 10 - Excellent 10 out of 15 users found this user opinion helpful. 2 out of 10 - Terrible 3 out of 10 - Poor 0 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful. Full specifications - Nikon Coolscan V LS-50 ED
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Manufacturer:
Nikon Inc.
Part number: 9239
Manufacturer Info - Nikon Coolscan V LS-50 ED
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