Nikon Coolscan LS50 35mm Film Scanner ( 4000 dpi )

For the time being at least, old fashioned film still provides the ultimate in quality. Here, in the Nikon Coolscan, you have a scanner to match the best that 35mm film can offer. Well, almost. A top end Kodak lab machine will take you just a little bit further - but the price to own one is beyond the reach of most mortals.

In terms of technical specs, this scanner turns in images which are 4000 dpi, which equates to 5500 pixels across the 35mm format. This exceeds the true resolution of almost any digital camera currently on the market (well, ok - Kodak again do something in the silly-money zone). Note that this is the scanner's optical resolution - loads of flat-bed scanners will offer you really any resolution you want, but that would be interpolated, therefore adding no more data. What's more, the Nikon turns this in at a very respectable 14 bits per channel, which is 2 bits, and therefore 4x, more than their digital SLRs. 24 bit colour, which is commonly referred to as 'true colour' is just 8 bits per channel. If you are a photographer, you will notice the difference. You'll also notice the difference once you start playing around with the image in Photoshop.

The technical specifications, though, don't really do this equipment justice. By scanning directly from 35mm negative or transparency, you are acquiring far more data than you ever could if you scanned a print. This is partly because the image has only been through two lenses - your camera's lens and the scanner's lens - instead of three for a print - the camera, the enlarger, and the scanner. It's also because light is passing directly through the image, rather than merely being reflected off it. Furthermore, the Nikon lens in the Coolscan is seriously high quality.

I used the Coolscan for about two years in a professional capacity. I was working for one of the main arts bodies in the UK. We used it for print and advertising, and got consistently excellent results. When I left, I bought for myself a cheaper negative scanner by another manufacturer which boasted similar technical specifications. It was a total disappointment - so bad that I stopped using it after a month and bought a digital camera instead.

The Coolscan is still three times the price of some of the cheaper negative-scanning alternatives, and seven times the price of a cheap flatbed scanner. If you are a casual photographer who wants to turn some of your negatives or slides into digital for use on the web or printing with an inkjet or colour laser, you will probably find that these cheaper alternatives are fine. On the other hand, if you are using the camera as part of your paid job, then you will regret for ever (as I did) paying money out for anything less than this.

There _are_ other options. Heidelberg make dual flat-bed/ transparency scanners which can achieve equivalent quality. But they tend to be about three times the price. A good choice if you have other quality scanning requirements, but expensive if you just want to scan 35mm film.

If you need medium format, then there really are no other choices at this price point - Nikon's multi-format equivalent is more than £2000. But then, if you are shooting with a Hasselblad, you've probably already got used to the idea that _everything_ costs £2000 or more. Again, the Heidelbergs can help you out, but not really for much less than this.

Back in the old days, we used to pay about five pounds an image to get things scanned to this quality. Back in the old, old days of drum scanners (some people still swear by them) we would have paid up to two hundred pounds to get things scanned at this quality.

So, love your digital SLR - but, if you really want the max, get out your old Nikon, Pentax or Olympus, shoot some film, and put it through this scanner. You won't be disappointed.