Would you buy?

I've virtually decided to buy a Nikon Coolscan 5000-ED film scanner, so I'm looking around. Microglobe have them at £729, which seems to be the best price at the moment.

There's also one with no reserve on eBay, new apparently, from someone in SW London. He's got 100% positive rep.

Looking closely, though, he's been selling several Nikon scanners. The first one (in March) he advertised as "selling because he's finished scanning his slides".

Since then, however, he's sold a "never opened" Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED (the top of the range one - £1500 at Microglobe), and now another "never opened" 5000-ED.

All positively repped, but I'm smelling something of a rat here...

... any ideas what might be going on?

It does appear a little suspicious. Message him and ask why he is selling it, and ask for a serial number.

Yes, I had messaged him, and he's replied already.

He says:

"I'm an American photographer living here in the UK for many years, and I do this to make a little bit of extra cash to fund my lens buying habit! It is a US scanner which is the same as the UK version- just needs a UK kettle lead."

So mystery solved, I guess. He's basically importing them, one at a time, somehow managing not to pay the taxes, and taking advantage of the price difference between here and the US.

And if it goes wrong, it would have to go back to Nikon USA for warranty repair.

He seems pretty up front about it - I guess it's a question of, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

For that sort of money and the nature of the product (reasonable chance of a breakdown) i wouldn't do it.

My feelings too. I'd have to get it for a real steal to make it worth taking the chance.

I had one a couple of years ago. Sold it after i had finished scanning my last slides. If I would decide to buy a scanner again, i would go for the Epson Pro 750 flatbed instead. Almost as good as the Nikon Coolscan, cheaper new as the Coolscan used, and more flexible in use. You don't want the Coolscan to fail or fault at a point. Very expensive repairs. And only batch scanning possible after buying a very expensive adapter. Believe me Chris, I think you are better of with a New Epson.
Just my 2 cnts,
Martin.

Interesting to hear this, Martin.

It's negs I need it for, not slides - I've got 20+ years' worth (something between four and five thousand) to do (and I don't have the prints, so I don't know what I've got), and I'm not getting any younger.

I had a go with a flatbed scanner some time ago, and it took me ages to do two films - completely impractical. And the dust problems were horrendous.

The thing that attracts me to the dedicated film scanner is the speed, the digital ICE software, and the optical density range of 4.8, which is better than anything else I've seen.

From what I read, it is possible with saved settings to pretty much feed in a strip, press the 'go' button, and have it do everything. I realise that to get the very best scans, this approach won't be optimum, but at least I'll then know what I have, and I can go back and redo the relatively few that are worth spending time on.

Do you still think the flatbed is better for this set of requirements? Very open to better ideas...

Everything you mention above, is provided by the Epson 750 pro.And because you have no slides, the D-max of 4.0 of the epson would be enough to satisfied you. Look up the specs and tests about it, and you know what I mean.
And don't forget, the coolscan needs a very expensive batch adapter. It isn't included in the standard package.
I would not decide to quickly in favor of the Nikon. ( it is a great scanner, no doubt here.) But for batch scanning and HQ scans there is nothing that beats the 750 PRO.

http://www.epson.co.uk/scanners/Epson-Perfection-V750-Photo-Scanner.htm
Good luck,
Martin.

Hi
If you are going down the Epson 750 route, email Buyepson.co.uk and ask about another film holder. I have been using my 750 for slides and it is quick and produces good results - better than my CanonFS4000 dedicated scanner.

With an extra holder, you can be pre-loading whilst one load is scanning - saves a lot of time. A Slide holder was only £10 - well worth the expenditure

Thanks for this.

It's negatives I want it for, though, not slides. I have no slides.

I've done a lot of poking about in comparative reviews and forums in the last couple of days, and I have to say that the Nikon does seem to be coming out ahead. In quality by a small margin, but in speed by quite a large one.

My point was that a Negative holder will probably only be about £10 as well and will save lots of time. You can load 4 strips X 6 negatives in one holder.

Whatever you choose, an extra holder is IMHO a very useful extra - unless you like wandering off to make a cup of tea whilst you are waiting

Good luck

Sorry, I didn't read your post carefully enough.

So with all the digital ICE options enabled, how long does a scan take?

I realise 6x4 negs won't be the same as 4x3 slides, but can you give me an approximate idea?

If it's quick enough to be nearly finished by the time I've loaded up a second holder, I can see the second holder being very useful, as you say.

Sorry Chris impossible to answer, it depends on resolution and how much processing is done during the scan.

I just did a load of straightforward 3300 X 2000 pixel scans for my daughter but the film was cut into lengths of 4 images. The originals were frankly not worth bothering too much so they were straight scans so 4 X 4 strips (16 images) took about 15 minutes. Throw in ICE, some colour correction, contrast etc and you could talking about 45 - 60 minutes but that is a guess.

I will just do a time trial and get back to you

Thanks!!

Returning to my original question, I notice that the item in question has been bid up to very nearly the new price from Microglobe already, so it's completely moot.

However, you guys have thrown me into complete confusion over which one to get, but I do appreciate the suggestions

But I would go for a dedicated film scanner for negs and slides....

No matter how clean you get the flatbed surface you end up with a mucky scan, and I've done scans of 6x4.5 Velvia slides and the pictures just look a little bit unreal....

Suffice to say I am looking for a medium format scanner to borrow...

The Nikon interface for scanning negs/strips is pretty cool...