Seriously, once the driver file hack is done, it really is as simple as plug it in and it works.

Find someone familiar with driver installations, and it is literally a five minute job to sort it out.

Seems you have to be a registered member to get to that thread. To save the bother of all that, is that an .inf file hack like the one I used?

The Nikon scanners work just fine on 32 bit versions of Windows, but not on 64 bit versions. Compatibility Mode was the first thing I tried when I had the same problem, and it doesn't work.

However, it can be done.

One option is to install a virtual machine on your computer, and run 32 bit Windows on it, and install the Nikon software on that.

The other option is a hack that makes it work properly under Win 7 x64, and that's the way I went.

This solution worked very well for me.

However, it refers to the 5000, not the V ED.

However, in that thread there are links to an old Photo.net thread on the same topic, and someone there has achieved much the same thing with the V ED.

Go to page 4 on that thread, and note the post from William LaPree. He got it to work with the V ED with a minor additional hack.

The instructions in the link I used are clearer than the Photo.net ones, but I reckon William LaPree's solution will work for that too.

If you find it a bit overwhelming, I'll send you a hacked file with the relevant line added if you'd like to PM me your email address.

I use a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED. I scan mostly negatives - I'm about a third of the way through the 10,000 I took from 1984 to 2007.

I can do slides too - if they're 35mm, and it's really only a few you want doing, send em to me, I'll do them for you for nothing except the postage.

If it's more than a few, it would be nice to be able to recoup a little of the grand or so I invested in the kit.

PM me if you're interested.

PM sent

No, sorry, hadn't noticed it was a classified

Good to hear. Nice guy isn't he

I should probably elaborate.

They're based in the back room of a model shop, and the only place that comes close in the untidiness stakes is my own office. It's a complete mess.

As I say, for cameras, perhaps. But for lenses, especially expensive ones where cleanliness and precision are paramount, I'd hesitate a long time.

Fair play to them, when I was looking into getting my 17-70's AF sorted out, they said they didn't have the equipment and wouldn't touch it.

For the right job, they're probably fine, and I know they have a good reputation. But lenses probably aren't the right job.

You might try this guy...

Alan Marlow in Shepperton.

He's done work for me twice in the past, nice guy, reasonable prices, I've been very satisfied.

He only lives a few miles away from me, so I've taken stuff round for him to have a look. He fixed the iris an old Sigma 400mm prime I used to have, that went suddenly wrong, and also cleaned up a mirror lens I had a treat.

Has anyone actually visited Asahi photo?

I have. I'm not sure I'd let them touch a lens I own. An old film camera that needs a CLA, perhaps, but anything important, hmmm...