Noritsu Film Scanner
Donald
So you love the Frontier? You're not the first. In fact, Richard suspects that the well-known popularity of the Frontier amongst certain photogs is what steers many folks in that direction. Thing is, the top photogs are the ones that make their photos spectacular, and the scanner they choose is only a part of the equation that makes their work successful (and trust Richard, there are some superstar photogs using the Noritsu, too). We repeat, YOUR PHOTOS WILL NOT BE PRO-QUALITY JUST BECAUSE YOU USE THE SAME SCANNER AS A PRO. Same goes for your film stock and camera choices. That's why you've got to...
You'll never really know which scanner is for you until you try them out. Even then, as your style evolves and your photography techniques change, you might need to switch or use different scanners for different subject matter. So always compare the exact same frame(s) in both digital file form AND photographic print form from both scanners before you proclaim your allegiance to a certain machine.
Hi,the lab i work with got a Noritsu koki QSS-32_33 (it's written in scan metadata) . i have some questions about the scanner,
1.is QSS-32_33 just a specific model or maybe there are several scanners with this code but different scanning qualities
2.what is the highest scanning resolution for this scanner?(35mm film and 120 film)
3.Is there anybody who have worked with this scanner? i just want a help for the software or if it's pretty easy to use some tips on how to work with the software because my lab guys say that the highest quality their scanner can deliver is something like 2MP for 35mm frame that i'm pretty sure that it is like the lowest quality and i'm sure he don't know how to use it(i've suggested extra money for higher resolution but they said it's the best resolution) . so if i know how is the software interface and settings i can guide them to perform higher resolutions.
Regards
4:28AM, 29 June 2016 PST(permalink)
"2.what is the highest scanning resolution for this scanner?(35mm film and 120 film)"
On my way to pick up an order of "ultra high res" scans from a Noritsu-S2 machine owned by Citizen's Photo: 4000x6000. What they refer to as high resolution (2000x3000) is just enough to fill a modest desktop monitor and help decide if i want to take that piece of film to the next level
90 months ago(permalink)
I have never used a Noritsu scanner but have used Fuji Frontier and Pakon scanners. Form what I can make out from the Noritsu QSS 32 series brochure is that the printer section looks the same as the Fuji Frontier LP7700 ( I have one in my lab)
As I understand it the QSS 32 scanner unit should deliver 4700x3500 resolution scans from 35mm (16.5 mp) This sound very high to me but I stand to be corrected. My own Pakon scans at 2941x1960 which is about normal for minilab use.
The software hold the secret. A good operator should know how to get the best with out adding sharpening and auto correction. Also remember that when burning to CD there are different outputs for example 4 base, 8 base, 16 base.
Hope that is some help
90 months ago(permalink)
1DunPhoto::
Are these the settings in the scanner software? do you work with the scanner? where can i find the software help or the software to know how to use it?
90 months ago(permalink)
When it came to scanners Fuji always made their own hardware. If you ever come across an SP-3000 with a good selection of film masks for a good price then jump on it, its not as compact as the SP-500 but is in the region on the HS1800 for ability (may actually better it in some areas).
The problem I faced with this decision basically came down to my previous experience of home scanning. I used to scan all my photos at home. In fact about 10-12 years back I used to develop everything at home too. I stopped because I found it laborious, especially the scanning process which back then was done with an Epson v500 flatbed. The idea of going back to that horrified me. What I needed was a scanner that needed as little faffing around with as possible. What I needed was a commercial scanner.
So, I decided I wanted a Noritsu. In fact, I decided nothing else would do. Either I was going to carry on getting the scans I liked from AG, or if I could find a Noritsu scanner that was going to give me scans like the ones I got from AG, I would try to buy it. So what next? Well, a bloody long wait was what came next!
Eventually, I stumbled across the help of a chap called Tom who was successfully using an LS-600 scanner out in the states. With his advice about what software I needed in mind, I then stumbled across the U.K. importer of Noritsu gear; a nice chap called Derek at PhotoXport. He was able to supply me with the software I needed. Though it had to be ordered specifically from Noritsu in Japan.
As for the troublesome software, I went through a similar adventure trying to get a Minolta ScanMulti medium format scanner to run. I wanted to run it off my Mac, but it would be almost hopeless getting an adapter to the SCSI input on the scanner. Fortunately, I still had an old Dell Windows 7 computer at home that I was about to surplus. I found abandoned SCSI cards at work, installed them and various drivers, installed the 1999 or 2000-vintage Minolta scanning software, and lo and behold, the thing worked. Since then, I bought SilverFast in a version that had been made for the ScanMulti. Moral, keep an old computer around for the just-in-case. Cheers
I just posted a comparison between scanning with the Noritsu LS-600 and with a Canon 5D Mark IV. The results are interesting. You can check the article on my blog. -comparison-canon-5d-mark-iv-vs-noritsu-ls-600/
Great article.
I closed my photo lab in 2009 and we had been scanning film since 1995 so I was feeling a lot of your same emotions.
Of course the software issues were not one of obtaining them but actually having them run in a stable manner.
I have a ton of negatives that I want to scan and think of getting a commercial scanner just because I know how much better they are than any of the consumer scanners.
The last consumer scanner we tested was a Nikon LS 1000 that was widely praised as a superb scanner. After setting it up we found the scans were woefully inadequate unless one set the scanner for multi-pass scanning and that took forever. Negative scans were useless as Nikon was entirely clueless about color conversions for negatives.
We did have a Kodak 3570 as our first scanner and it was superb for negatives. The only shortcoming was its max of 18MB files that, in truth, were not a huge penalty.
One of the most commonly asked questions we get at our lab is: what is the difference between the Noritsu scanner and the Frontier scanner? Which one is better? Which one is right for me?
Here at Carmencita Film Lab, we use both the Noritsu HS-1800 scanner and the Fuji Frontier SP3000 scanner to digitize your film work. Both of these scanners can achieve amazing results, but the decision as to which one to use on your film scans will largely depend on your personal preference.
Deciding on which scanner is best for your film scans is entirely up to you. If you are uncertain of which scanner you prefer, we encourage you to have a roll scanned on both the Frontier and the Noritsu to see which result suits your preference best.
At Carmencita, all our black and white scans are run through the Noritsu scanner. The Noritsu allows us to get a more neutral image tonality to begin with. In difficult scenes where the details in the shadows need to be lifted or contrast overall to be reduced, we find that the Noritsu produces much nicer results. The Noritsu also offers much more control for shadows, highlights, auto contrast, and sharpening. The Frontier scanner was really designed to scan color negative, not black and white film or slide film due to its natural contrast curves. If your lab does scan black and white film on a Frontier, watch out for those deep shadows; you might be able to spot detail on the negative that is not present on the scan!
We will recommend Noritsu, every time. The Frontier can be capable of achieving acceptable results with slide film, but it takes significantly more work to get there and the scene must be well lit and well exposed, to begin with. The light sources between the Frontier and the Noritsu are different in intensity, however, the Noritsu manages to produce more accurate end results, more efficiently and quickly. Also, with the Noritsu, you will be able to appreciate the differences in the fine grain of slide film that would be lost with the grain reduction algorithms of the Frontier.
You may even find that you might need to switch it up and use different scanners for different subject matters or photography techniques! Either way the best way to find out which scanner is right for you is to try them both or contact us here at the lab to get some help on which scanner is right for you.
The Noritsu can enable some tone-mapping on the luminosity channel to save some hard contrast situations but is not as heavy as in the Frontier. That is the main key difference for us that creates lovers and haters of the scanner at par. Pay attention to both images and go back and forth, you will start to see the rabbit in the hat ?
The Noritsu scanners produce surprisingly good scans- not great ones. Certainly, scans from the Noritsu scanners WOULD NOT compare favorably to drum scans for critical work, like making big enlargements. Then again, with the Noritsu scanners, we scan a whole roll of 36/35mm or 120 in fairly high resolution to a CD for something like $8 for an uncut roll. Obviously, you will pay significantly more than $8 for a drum scan of a single image.
Similarly, scanning at 4000 d.p.i., 16x multi-sampling and 14 bit depth, I can tease somewhat higher resolution, somewhat better color and greater tonal range out of films scanned with my Nikon LS 8000 scanner. Then again, the Noritsu scanners can scan a whole role of 120 film in 5 minutes or so, while my LS 8000 can take 45 minutes to scan a single 6x7 cm color negative at maximum quality.
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