Konica Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 Film Scanner (35 mm)

Pros: I'd compare it favorably to a 50 thousand dollar scanner! (I'm not kidding.)
Cons: Quality scans may take quite a bit of time (but it's okay with me).

For years, I was using a Polaroid Sprintscan (and a hand-me-down at that) to make my 35 mm scans. More often than not, I was amazed at the fine results that I got. Then I upgraded my computer system (Macintosh) and could no longer connect the ...

Pros: Image processing, intuitive software, image quality
Cons: Batch mode is of little use (see text). Clumsy carrier loading.

Scanner History on my system: I've had a number of flatbed scanners and the first HP S20/S30 PhotoSmart scanner. The flatbeds with the slide attachments did not give the results I wanted, and the HP was, at the time I bought it, OK. I have hundreds of ...

Pros: Sharp, excellent dynamic range, ICE works, good price, fast, good looking unit.
Cons: There is a trace of noise and flare/bleed but nothing to worry about.

Overview The Minolta Dimage 5400 scanner is a 35mm film scanner that can convert slide film, black and white film and colour negatives into digital image files. It has 5400 DPI resolution, excellent dynamic range, and a hardware implemented dust a ...

Pros: THE BEST SCAN QUALITY today. Sharpness dynamic range like you've never seen before.
Cons: Slow, no real batch scanning compared to the LS5000. But sharper and more sensitive.

I've tested it briefly on my worst slides and negs, but not used it long enough to tell exactly what it's worth on a long term use. I own the Dimage Scan Multi Pro, an amazing 4800 dpi medium format 35 mm scanner. This one seems old compared to the ...

Pros: Fantastic scan quality Price is right Software has a lot of useful features
Cons: Sloooow

The bottom line for this scanner is that the scan quality is incredible, but if scan speed is a primary concern for you, you might as well stop reading now and look at some more expensive and faster scanners. I won't bother describing the hardware, ...

Pros: Quality results, cheap, good features and software, slim.
Cons: A little slow and perhaps a delicate machine.

I have a large photographic collection and I license my work through a website. I use to pay for PCD file scans of each image but that allowed my clients a maximum print to A4 at 300dpi. I use to pay about NZ$3.50/US$2.00 per scan which is quite cheap as ...

Pros: clean scans
Cons: slow,noisy,slow,slow.

If you got nothing else to do all day,all night and all week, this is the scanner for you. The scanner is slow,big-time slow. It takes anywhere between 6 minutes to 15 minutes for a negative, 8-10 minutes for a slide. It generates between 7 MB to 233 ...

Pros: Great scans, if you put in the effort.
Cons: OK customer service. Tough to learn how to use with Vuescan.

By now, you have read the other reviews of the Minolta 5400. You know that it can be coaxed to give very good scans. You know that focusing correctly is critical for good images. You probably also know that the Minolta software is less than satisfactory, ...

Pros: Good optics.
Cons: Mechanically deficient.

Setup and operation are straightforward. Everything you need to get going is in the box. I was primarily interested in batch-mode scanning as I had over 100 rolls of film I wanted to digitize for archival. Unit worked well for a while, then began ...

Pros: Sharpness, bulk loading, speed at 2700 dpi is plenty fast
Cons: inconsistent color accuracy, blue-tinting, unclarity of software

I appreciate the slide and negative loader on this scanner. I can scan four slides at a time, and go back and forth between it and other projects. When you scan slides, though, make sure you set it to expose for slides in the preferences because setting ...

Pros: Excellent hardware.
Cons: Lousy software compatibility with G3 and OS 9.1

Got my new 5400 and had trouble installing the software on my G3 running OS 9.1. Crashed when attempting to install all available software. Succeeded installing just the scan utility and plug-in. Scanned two slides successfully, excellent quality although ...

Pros: Small, clean design, convenient buttons onthe outside which fire up the software on your computer.
Cons: Scanning time on my G3 is long with full resolution and ICE. Manual is minimal.

So far I have been quite impressed with this scanner. Scans are big and beautiful. It will push your computer and my Mac G3 is feeling its age now trying to process these 200MB files. ICE does a great job but can make a scan take 20-45 minutes (a G4 or G5 would definately shorten this time). I have seen a review that told of the alignment being slightly off so that the crop wasn't quite square. This is true and angered me at first till I found the simple solution of tapping all the slides down to the bottom before inserting tray into scanner. Downloads to the computer are speeded up further with USB 2.0.

Preview scans and EasyScans are fast.

Manual could be a little more informative and a web site for sharing worflows/techniques and updates would be a smart move for Minolta.

Pros: Great scans, software easy to use, my 70 year old mother can figure it out.
Cons: Unreliable.

I have had to send this unit back twice for servicing in less than 4 months. Both times involved the loader. It would not load the film, or eject it. I scanned about 20 slides with it when I first got it. Then I did not use it for a few weeks. When I went back to use it, grinding noises and it would not load correctly. Once it came back from repair, I was able to scan about 500 slides. Now after not using it for a month, it completely refuses to work. Apparently I am not the only one experiencing these problems. This is not a reliable unit. Not recommended.