Konica/Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400

and any thoughts on the scanner itself will be appreciated…

I’ve got one Paul. Its a very good scanner for the price and gives great results when multi scanned. The film strip holder does give you almost 100%.
The only problem I have with it is that there’s no support from the manufacturer any more and so there’s no OS X Leopard software available :-(
However, Vuescan will work, but doesn’t support ICE, but have their own version of it (haven’t used it so can’t comment).

If anyone has software which works with OS 10.5, I’d appreciate a heads up!

Edmond

The film holder was better than the Nikon I used to use, and you do get more of the neg. However, there is no holder for XPAN. And I don’t have 10.5, so can’t comment on software.

Cheers John.

Thank you both. I think by the time I get a new computer with 10.5 I’d probably get a new scanner at the same time….. but until then I think this scanner’s gonna do me fine with my old computer.

Is it ‘pretty much’ the same as the Konica/Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400II? That’s what I use. If it is/close to the same rig as mine I’ll let you know what I think of it, the good and the bad.

Edmond – As I just stated, I’m not sure if that scanner is the same as mine, but if it is are you having problems getting the proper drivers? It took me a long time to get the damn thing to work on my macbook, I thought I was going to have to keep using it on my PC (which I do anyways).

Hi Nigel,
Alas, its not the same. I’ve tried a demo version of VueScan which works with OS 10.5 but doesn’t have the full functionality of the original Minolta software.

I have 5400 Ver 1. As far as software no complaints using it with Vuescan and Mac 10.4. I have noticed some problems with the holders not holding sharpness in the corners. Not as a rule though. I think its my own carelessness.

Heard the 5400 V 2 changed something and does not do as good a job scanning B&W. Think I read that over on photo.net

Great scanner. Too bad its not made any longer.

“Heard the 5400 V 2 changed something and does not do as good a job scanning B&W” Wish I knew that before I bought mine. I got mine a couple years ago when I didn’t know anything and my photo Prof. said I should look into the 5400II. Although I’m pretty happy with the results I get, but that’s probably b/c I haven’t used the first version. If I had known anything about scanners when I bought it I would have gotten something that lets me do MF film.

OK the scans are good & the holder is good giving more of the neg, great, but my god it is SLOW!!

Seems like there are not new cheapest choices below imacons.

A tip for Coolscan owners: Buy one of the old plastic filmstrip holders (originally made for the older Coolscans) and you can easily file out the neg carrier.

It’s like taking a file to a Bessler neg carrier all over again.

Did that with my old Nikon scanner James, sure it worked well but it made the film holder very flimsy. My nagging about speed of the Minolta aside, the carrier is great, almost 100% coverage of the neg & the way it locks the film down is handy when it comes to curly film….. but for the scanning speed.