First Impressions

Polaroid Sprintscan 120 Review 2017
Polaroid Sprintscan 120 Review Videos

This report is of a brief hands-on test of the new Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 EDscanner. ThePolaroid Printscan 120and theNikon 8000have been eagerly awaited during the spring of 2001 as they both potentially represent the first high-quality yetaffordablemedium format film scanners to be made available to photographers.

In mid-July 2001 my colleagueIan LyonsofComputer Darkroompublished a review of the Polaroid PrintScan 120 scanner on his web site. Ian thinks very highly of the Polaroid. This left the other shoe to drop. What would the Nikon 8000 be like?

Polaroid SprintScan 120 - Film scanner - 2.35 in x 3.55 in - 4000 dpi x 4000 dpi - SCSI / Firewire. Find answers in product info, Q&As, reviews There was a problem. Good news for every Polaroid SprintScan 120 owner. LaserSoft Imaging’s development department has figured out how to run the scanner with SilverFast on actual Macintosh operating systems 10.5 and 10.6 and on Windows Vista. Item 6 Polaroid SprintScan 35 Model CS-2700 High Resolution 35mm Film Scanner 5 - Polaroid SprintScan 35 Model CS-2700 High Resolution 35mm Film Scanner $120.00 +$36.75 shipping.

Just a couple of days later I received a call from Vistek, one of Canada’s largest professional imaging equipment dealers, saying that they had just received their first Nikon 8000,and would I be interested in having a look at it? After the better part of an afternoon testing the unit, here are my initial impressions. Please note that that’s all these comments are‚initial impressions.

Specs

I won’t detail the unit’s specifications here. You can read them by going to the Nikon site and clicking ondownload specs. The key points are that the scanner will handle film up to 6X9cm in size, including 35mm. It ships with three film holders; mounted 35mm, 35mm film strip and 120 roll film. There are optional glass carriers for all formats available as well. Windows and Mac software is provided, and the interface is an IEEE 1394 connection (Firewire). If you are running a PC that does not have a Firewire card, you will have to install one. There is no facility for a SCSII connection.

Scanning resolution is 4000 DPI and Density Range is rated at 4.2. (I always take this spec with a large grain of salt, as there is no industry agreed-upon standard for how it is measured. I have seen scanners with low DMax specs perform better than ones with high manufacturer’s claims. Don’t buy a scanner based on reading the spec sheet!)

In the U.S. the scanner ships with the full version ofAltamira’s Genuine Fractals 2.0. This software isnotincluded in the Canadian package. I don’t know at this time what Nikon’s plans are for Europe, Australia and elsewhere. Retail price is “around” USD $3,000.

The 8000ED can save scans with a number of different profiles, including Adobe RGB and Bruce RGB. This is the first time that I’ve seen a scanner ship with this wider gamut profile.

Point of Reference

Regulars to this site will know that my reference scanner is the Imacon Flextight Photo. This is arguably the finest desktop scanner for medium format and 35mm film yet available. In my experience only a drum scanner can produce better results, and then not always and not by much. Ian has reported that the Polaroid 120 competes quite nicely with the Imacon but that the Imacon pulls ahead in ultimate quality. I was curious, of course, to see how the Nikon would compare and so this test includes a comparison with a scan of the same transparency on both the Nikon and the Imacon.

The Unit

My first impression was that this is quite a large box, over 19 inches in depth. The Imacon on the other hand is tall rather than deep, so it fits on a desktop with a bit make alacrity. On the other hand the Nikon is not as heavy as it looks, though the weight isn’t really an issue unless one is planning on moving it between locations frequently.

Set up went smoothly. The software was installed and the scanner connected to a Mac via the IEEE 1394 connection (Firewire). Very straightforward. I didn’t spend much time with the manual. It looks basic and not terribly detailed. It is in multiple languages. The most glaring issue with the documentation, which had me and everyone atVistekchuckling, is that the manual calls what we refer to in the English speaking world as “medium format”, as “Brownie”film.

Now, maybe that’s what it’s called in Japan. But I haven’t heard the word “Brownie” used in photography for about 40 years. To refer to what essentially is a professional format film size as “Brownie” says something very curious indeed about Nikon, a company with pretensions of being international in their marketing. Common guys. Stop cheaping-out and hire professional translators.

The Film Holders

My first and really only negative comment about the Nikon 8000’s mechanical design, is the film holders. The unit ships with holders for mounted 35mm slides, uncut 35mm film strips and Brownie (oops‚medium format) film. I didn’t use the 35mm holders during my test. My issue though is with the 120 holder, though the 35mm holder had a somewhat similar design.

120 film is loaded into a channel that is secured on either side by folding gates. These gates snap into place with protruding pieces of plastic fitting into matching holes in the base. The fit is so tight that I was really quite fearful that I was going to break them when closing. Opening them was even worse, requiring real force. My concern is that in addition to appearing to be perilously close to requiring breaking force to open and close, eventually these fittings will wear and become less secure‚ just the opposite problem. It really wouldn’t have been all that difficult to design a locking fitting.

Two appreciated design features of the holder are rubberized edge strips that nicely hold the film in place during loading, and a sliding mechanism that applies tension to 120 film, stretching it width-wise to reduce buckling and improve overall focusing accuracy. This seemed to work quite well as no soft-focus areas were detected on several scans.

Polaroid Sprintscan 120 Review 2017

I was disappointed to see that the maximum scan length for medium format is 9cm. This makes it impossible to scan 6X12cm or 6X17 panoramics.

The Software

The scanning software,Nikon Scan 3.0,appears to be similar to that provided with the other current Nikon scanners like the 4000ED. I had no opportunity to explore this software in depth, but it looks competent. I did not test any of the “extra” features such as their ICE technology for removing dust or GEM for reducing film grain. Others have commented on this software on various forums around the Net and if you’re interested a search will turn up lots of opinions, both pro and con.

Comparing The Scans

The primary quandary that I faced in doing a comparison with the Imacon was that the Nikon is a 4000 DPI scanner while the Imacon Photo is 3200 DPI. I had three choices. Scan with the Nikon at 3200; res-down the Nikon 4000 dpi scan to match the Imacon; or compare scans that had a 25% difference in resolution. I decided to res-down the Nikon scans for my primary comparisons but I also referred to the original 4000 dpi scan when subjectively evaluating resolution.

This photograph of Mt. Hillers in southern Utah was taken in April, 2001 with a Mamiya 7 II and 65mm f/4 lens on Provia 100F.

Nikon 8000 Imacon Flextight Photo

The above are the test scans. This represents about 75% of the full frame as shot. I cropped the very bottom of the frame as it was uninteresting. These appear to be cropped ever so slightly differently, but that should make no difference in the evaluation. Otherwise they have been scaled to the same resolution.

Both scans are with all software adjustments set to either neutral or automatic. No sharpening or colour correction have been applied either in the scanning software or in Photoshop afterward. If you click on each of the pictures above you will see 10″ wide versions, again uncorrected.

Nikon 8000 Imacon Flextight Photo

These two frames are crops at 100%; Actual Pixels. Any enlargement beyond this is empty and leads to pixelation. This would produce a 28″ X 40″ print from the Nikon at a printer resolution