Using NIKON Slide/film scanner

Question

Using NIKON Slide/film scanner

I have found no suitable place to find answers to my questions about using a NIKON FIlm scanner to obtain digital photos.. Perhaps someone might make a useful suggestion??

I have had a NIKON SF-210 slide/film scanner now for a couple or three years. However, I only started using it heavily last Fall (2008) to scan my large archive of old family slides. Unfortunately, as time has passed, the software has become more and more unstable causing me to have to restart the whole process after scanning only a small number of slides. Sometimes, it will not scan even one slide before crashing. I read somewhere that this behavior may be due to the upgrades in Mac software. I've done, repeatedly, all of the usual things that I can think of like reloading the software, etc.

I can't get a response concerning this problem from anyone at NIKON and they don't have any Mac version upgrades to the scanner software on their web sites, and haven't for some time, perhaps a couple or three years. Does NIKON still support Mac products??

Can anyone tell me how to solve or to find the solution to this problem?

Thanks, Gramp

MacBook Pro 17 & old Dual G-4, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Aug 15, 2009 12:22 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Peter Russell

Level 1

86 points

Oct 6, 2009 4:14 AM in response to Bill Livesay1

Dear Gramp,

I too have discovered a problem with Nikon Scan 4.0.2 when using Snow Leopard. According to Nikon UK there are a great many users who wish to continue to use Nikon Scan with SL and regular report requests go back to Nikon Japan asking for a fix. However, according to Nikon UK again, ALL Nikon scanners have now been discontinued, so a fix seems somewhat unlikely in these circumstances. Nikon does still support Mac however, just not obsolete products! As scanners tend to have a long life, this does seem to be very shortsighted. Keep a customer happy and he will come back for more.

In the interim, I have bitten the bullet and purchased Silverfast, http://www.silverfast.com/, which is fully OS X 10.5 and OSX 10.6 compatible, although somewhat expensive. However, from my tests, Nikon Scan 4.0.2 does still work with Mac OS X 10.5.8 on PPC processors, so I am keeping one of my older G5s back for the sole purpose of scanning.

I have not tried Vuescan, but the reports seem generally favourable. Good luck!

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

218,424 points

Aug 15, 2009 1:09 PM in response to Bill Livesay1

Gramp:

According to what I've found online NIKON SF-210 is the model number for the slide feeder. What is the model number of the scanner itself? Then check to see if there are recent driver updates for that particular model of scanner.

Otherwise look into VueScan and see if it supports your model. Here's a list of the Nikon scanners it supports:

Nikon
CoolScan (LS-10)
CoolScan II (LS-20)
CoolScan III (LS-30)
CoolScan IV (LS-40)
CoolScan V (LS-50)
CoolScan 1000 (LS-1000)
CoolScan 2000 (LS-2000)
CoolScan 4000 (LS-4000)
CoolScan 5000 (LS-5000)
CoolScan 8000 (LS-8000)
CoolScan 9000 (LS-9000)
AX-110
AX-210

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Answer 3

gwjgva

Level 1

4 points

Apr 5, 2010 4:47 PM in response to Theodore Koniares

I've been using Vuescan with a Nikon LS-4000 for about six months now and have so far scanned some 4000 slides with very few problems (occasionally, it will just not scan an Ektachrome slide without completely going out of focus!). I scan at archive quality and the total time from inserting the slide to starting the next is under three minutes. I plan on producing a number of iPhoto books from these later.

I don't have a batch feeder, but the question about how/whether to use it is probably best addressed directly to the developer himself rather than here.

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Answer 4

Aug 24, 2009 5:08 PM in response to Bill Livesay1

We are having an issue with a one-year-old Nikon CoolScan V ED [LS 50 ED] slide / film scanner. It's a great scanner and there's no way we're going to give it up if we don't have to!

According to Nikon, after sitting on the phone with Tech Support for more than an hour before they answered my call, they are aware of problems with both the USB drivers and scanning software for all of the Nikon scanning programs when used with any machine that has been upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5.8.

While there is a program update on the Apple support site which will take your scanner software up to 4.02, both 4.0 and 4.02 cause

Exception Type: EXC BADACCESS (SIGBUS)
Exception Codes: KERN PROTECTIONFAILURE at 0x000000000000004c

and the program immediately closes and gives you the option of sending the error report to Apple.

The Nikon rep I spoke with said he has taken hundreds of reports on this error and the development team is well aware of the issue.

Ben

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Answer 5

Sep 3, 2009 1:37 PM in response to code cowboy

Yes, I've been using it with the SF-210 feeder for about 4 years now. Vuescan works great, well worth the cost, but the feeder itself can be rather temperamental at times. Nikon really needs to do a whole redesign and rethinking of their batch system. I've always wondered why Kodak hasn't ever come out with a film scanner that would take their ever popular carousels that you could just plop on top and start it up, just like the slide projectors.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

218,424 points

Aug 15, 2009 9:16 PM in response to Bill Livesay1

You have to choices: 1 - see if there's an updated OS X driver for the 5000 scanner; 2 - give VueScan a try. There's a demo version available. Good luck.

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Answer 7

Aug 25, 2009 12:13 PM in response to Ben Ziola

I have a Nikon Coolscan 5000 and have been using VueScan with it for years. It works great. Has a little bit of a learning curve, but I will never use Nikon software again. Just my 2¢ FWIW.

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Answer 8

Jan 7, 2010 6:51 PM in response to Joseph Slonaker1

Joseph Slonaker1 wrote:
Yes, I've been using it with the SF-210 feeder for about 4 years now. Vuescan works great, well worth the cost, but the feeder itself can be rather temperamental at times. Nikon really needs to do a whole redesign and rethinking of their batch system. I've always wondered why Kodak hasn't ever come out with a film scanner that would take their ever popular carousels that you could just plop on top and start it up, just like the slide projectors.

At work I use a Nikon LS-400 with the SF-200 batch loader. The Nikon software doesn't work well and I want to use Vuescan, but cannot find the setting in Vuescan to do batch scans. Can you please help me with this?

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Answer 9

Dec 24, 2009 12:13 PM in response to Peter Russell

I am using the Nikon Coolscan V (LS-50ED) USB connection with:
intel MBP 15" (2.8Ghz)
OSX 10.6.2. (Snow Leopard)
I am just using the standard (on disc) Nikon Software upgraded to version 4.0.2 via internet. The app says it is a *Application (PowerPC)* under the info section, so I assume that it is running on Rosetta. (the Genious did my upgrade to 10.6 so I don't know if he installed Rosetta or not, but I assume so.)

Everything seems to be working fine (as this is my first experience with scanning slides and color correction). Was a synch to set up. I am not the Ace though. I have only been using the slide scanner and not the film scanner yet (though I am soon to try).

FYI there is a flickr group of nikon scanner users. I found some of them helpful too.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/74221125@N00

In particular I found this thread useful:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/74221125@N00/discuss/72157613737155159

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Answer 10

Aug 31, 2009 11:21 PM in response to Joseph Slonaker1

Have you used it with the SF-210 batch slide feeder? I'm considering buying the 5000 with the batch attachment but given the cost, I want to be absolutely sure and Nikon certainly offers no help on their web site. I'm running 10.5.8.

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Answer 11

Aug 15, 2009 6:42 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks you Old Toad: You are very correct. The scanner itself is the "Super Coolscan 5000". I had absent-mindedly simply copied the slide feeder number when typing.

Gramp

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Answer 12

yeldarb

Level 1

0 points

Apr 20, 2010 5:35 PM in response to Joseph Slonaker1

Would you mind contacting me and sharing tips about how you used the SF-210 feeder with VueScan. I tried to get it to work and was told by the VueScan author that it wasn't supported.

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