Nikon - Film Scanners

Film Scanners

Nikon's digital capture line also includes a successful range of dedicated scanners for a variety of formats, including Advanced Photo System (IX240), 35 mm, and 60 mm film.

• (1988) LS-3500 (4096x6144, 4000 dpi) SCSI
• (1992) Coolscan LS-10 (2700 dpi) SCSI. First to be named "Coolscan" to denote LED illumination.
• (1994) LS-3510AF (5000x5000, 3500 dpi) SCSI. Fitted with auto-focus lens.
• (1995) LS-4500AF (4 x 5 inch and 120/220 formats, 1000x2000 dpi, 35mm format 3000x3000. 12bit A/D. SCSI. Fitted with auto-focus lens.
• (1996) Super Coolscan LS-1000 (2592x3888, 2700 dpi) SCSI. scan time cut by half
• (1996) Coolscan II LS-20 E (2700 dpi) SCSI
• (1998) Coolscan LS-2000 (2700 dpi, 12-bit) SCSI, multiple sample, "CleanImage" software
• (1998) Coolscan III LS-30 E (2700 dpi, 10-bit) SCSI
• (2001) Coolscan IV LS-40 ED (2900 dpi, 12-bit, 3.6D) USB, SilverFast, ICE, ROC, GEM
• (2001) Coolscan LS-4000 ED (4000 dpi, 14-bit, 4.2D) Firewire
• (2001) Coolscan LS-8000 ED (4000 dpi, 14-bit, 4.2D) Firewire, multiformat
• (2003) Coolscan V LS-50 ED (4000 dpi, 14-bit, 4.2D) USB
• (2003) Super Coolscan LS-5000 ED (4000 dpi, 16bit, 4.8D) USB
• (2004) Super Coolscan LS-9000 ED (4000 dpi, 16bit, 4.8D) Firewire, multiformat

Nikon introduced its first scanner, the Nikon LS-3500 with a maximum resolution of 4096 x 6144 pixels, in 1988. Prior to the development of 'cool' LED lighting this scanner used a halogen lamp (hence the name 'Coolscan' for the following models). The resolution of the following LED based Coolscan model didn't increase but the price was significantly lower. Colour depth, scan quality, imaging and hardware functionality as well as scanning speed was gradually improved with each following model. The final 'top of the line' 35mm Coolscan LS-5000 ED was a device capable of archiving greater numbers of slides; 50 framed slides or 40 images on film roll. It could scan all these in one batch using special adapters. A single maximum resolution scan was performed in no more than 20 seconds as long as no post-processing was also performed. With the launch of the Coolscan 9000 ED Nikon introduced its most up-to-date film scanner which, like the Minolta Dimage scanners were the only film scanners that, due to a special version of Digital ICE, were able to scan Kodachrome film reliably both dust and scratch free. LaserSoft Imaging's scan software SilverFast features a similar technique (iSRD) since end of 2008, that allows every Nikon film scanner to remove dust and scratches from Kodachrome scans. In late 2007 much of the software's code had to be rewritten to make it Mac OS 10.5 compatible. Nikon announced it would discontinue supporting its Nikon Scan software for the Macintosh as well as for Windows Vista 64-bit. Third-party software solutions like SilverFast or Vuescan provide alternatives to the official Nikon drivers and scanning software, and maintain updated drivers for most current operating systems. Between 1994 and 1996 Nikon developed three flatbed scanner models named Scantouch, which couldn't keep up with competitive flatbed products and were hence discontinued to allow Nikon to focus on its dedicated film scanners.