Nikon Reviews

I ordered this item on June 14th and have yet to be updated on the real shipping date. Although e-mails are said to be answered in 24 hours, I have sent three without response for days. Will Amazon ever fill this order, respond to e-mails or just cancel the order after an inordinate wait?

The supply problem with the Nikon 9000 ED scanner isn't Amazon's fault, it's Nikon's. From what I'm told by our local professional camera shop here in Seattle and more than a dozen mail order firms I've called trying to find one of these things, Nikon announced the ED9000, shipped one demo model to each of its big dealers and that was it. Nobody has seen one since and Nikon won't say when they are going to ship.

I ordered my Nikon Coolscan 9000 back on June 18th. It arrived on July 13th just as the updated Amazon shipping estimate email promised. I admit I was a little skeptical when I placed the order that I would ever see it, especialy at the price Amazon had at the time - $1804.99 I checked with my contacts at B&H in New York (I order alot from them and have come to know a few of the salespeople) - they said "no way" could the price be for a legitimate USA model. In addition to being lower than B&H's cost, Amazon was giving a shipping date way ahead of when anybody else could promise. It turned out that Amazon was about a week late on their "original" shipping date, but they kept me updated and it came exactly when they said it would.
As for the scanner, it seems to me to be just about perfect. The scans are beyond belief. Nikon Scan software is a little confusing...I might give Vuescan a try. The scanner does make a bit of noise from the stepper motor during the scan process, but this appears normal. Overall, I could not be happier with my purchase. Amazon has never given me a bad experience so far and with the new Amazon credit card, I have intrest free financing for 10 months to pay for this beauty. I'm completely satisfied with my Amazon transaction!

If you have both 35mm and medium format transparencies and or negatives to bring into the digital age, I heartily recommend the Nikon Super Coolscan 8000ED. Firewire equipped, it is designed to work easily with the current line of graphics capable computers. Its bundled software has worked well for me (using a MAC with OSX and Firewire) and features three special capabilities. (1) Digital ICE3 will gently remove scratches and dust saving you hours of retouching (it doesn't work well with Kodachrome and black and white silver based emulsions). (2) ROC will restore colors to faded slides. It really works! (3) GEM gives you the ability to affect grain appearance. For the highest resolution imaging (4000DPI) the process takes some time. You also need to make sure that you have a fairly up to date computer. Some serious computing is going on here and with file sizes in the hundreds of Megabytes, you can't run this with your TRS-80. I run the Nikon Scan 3 software separately from PhotoShop 7 so that I can run one while working with the other. Otherwise while it's scanning, it will lock up your PS from use. It comes with a myriad of trays which work generally quite well but it cannot handle stack loaders. This is strictly a one strip at a time scanner. After all, these are some serious file sizes. While expensive, the 8000ED is approaching the quality of a drum scanner without the mess and the expense. For most work this is truly going to deliver.

I think I was really awed when I scanned some black and white negatives, and got a positive for it and then adjusted the contrast and brightness, bringing out details that were not evident when I originally took the photo. I have also scanned color negatives, and made prints. I got it primarily to archive my extensive slide collection. I found that one of my slides had a scratch across a person's face. Using the sophisticated tools available with the program, I used multiple scans and the finished copy is scratch free. When using the 4000 dpi scanning setting, be prepared for some really large files. If one plans to get this, and one has a lot of material to scan, getting the largest available hard drive would be recommended. I plan to archive my slides to hard disk drive, then transfer copies as lower sized jpg files to a CD ROM. My only wish was that the program would have a way to put annotations on the copied slides; I am using a separate program to do that. I have found that my scans capture even the tiniest detail of the original slide, and one cannot ask for more than that. Some might think it a bit pricey for a scanner, but it does a fabulous job as a dedicated scanner.
I wished they had provided a complete written manual; the detailed manual is on their provided CD-ROM, in Adobe acrobat format. The Abode program is provided, but it is 153 pages long and takes a bit of time to print. A shortened manual is provided, and covers most of the essentials so a complete manual printed out is not essential.
The software with the scanner is very easy to use and the tools for adjusting the scans are interactive.
If one is using XP on their computer, an updated progam for XP is available..., and is about 15MB as a zip file. I recently scanned a 32 year old Ektachrome slide taken under the worst possible conditions (indoors, incandescent lighting, with the outdoor film). It always had a yellow cast to it, which it normally would under those conditions. Upon recent scanning (to preserve it before it lost everything) it showed embeded dirt and scratches. I used the digital ICE, and it came out sparkling clear, and the drapes which looked like yellowed newspaper became a crystal clear cream white, as it was in the room where I first took the slide. I have also scanned old slides that were badly faded, and restored the color and luster.

I use this to scan 35mm slides for digital prints up to 13x19" so I use the full 4000 ppi capability. I've found it to be easy to use and the final scanned quality to be excellent. Compared to the HP PhotoSmart scanner I was previously using, it's outstanding. The dust removal feature is awesome. The automatic color adjustment works well for some of my older, faded slides, but I wouldn't recommend it for general use. I use 2X averaging to improve noise, although it's probably not necessary. The scanner has other advanced image correction capability but I prefer to do this in PhotoShop where I have better control. Scanning speed at 4000 ppi is less than 1 minute. The final scans are definitely of publishable quality. This scanner has actually allowed me to delay my conversion to a digital SLR, although I'm sure I will eventually succumb.

I have been using the 4000 ED to capture/scan all of my old 35mm negatives (going all the way back the early 1970's). The pictures I am able to print from these scanned negatives are better that the prints made from the negatives!
My only complaint is that the unit only supports 35mm, and doesn't support medium format film.

This is truly a marvelous binocular, and unquesitonably one of my favorites. The size is perfect, it's lightweight and very comfortable to hold. And the images are breathtaking in their clarity and detail. In terms of image quality I prefer this binocular over much more expensive models by Zeiss, Leica, and Swarovski. Yes, it's that good.

The 8x32 designation means that this binocular magnifies the image by 8 times and the objective lens (this is the lens pointed towards what you are looking at that lets the light in) is 32mm. While some are drawn to 10x42 models or even 10x50, it needs to be stressed that more is not always better. Additional magnification tends to only enhance the minor muscular trembles in your hands and arms, making the image seem less stable. Additionally, higher magnification leads to a constrained field of view. While the 42 and 50mm lenses do allow more light in and thus theoretically lead to brighter images and higher resolution, this is an advantage that is seen in only very unusual circumstances. And it brings a lot more weight and bulk as the penalty. For most terrestrial observation, this 8x32 combines exceptional image quality in a light-weight, ergonomic package.

The downside is that this binocular is not waterproof. While some careful preparation should allow a user to keep safe in the field, I've had more than a few experiences in tropical forests where unexpected rains have left me thoroughly saturated. For most users and in most applications, this issue shouldn't be too much of a problem. But if you are prone to stepping off the path and going into some inhospitable areas with severe tropical rain, I'd suggest a waterproof model. You may wish to look at the Nikon Venturer series.

If you're looking for a comfortable, light-weight binocular that is easy to carry, this is the one. If you're looking for binocular with images that are astonishing in their clarity and purity of color, this is one. And if in most instances you will be avoiding situations where waterproofing is essential, it's hard to go wrong with the Nikon Superior E.

If this model was waterproof I would give it 5 stars and unhestatingly recommend it for general use over any other binocular currently available. It's that good.