Scion Reviews

I had previously reviewed this product and was very unhappy with the cartridge. However, since then I have not had any problems and I am have also installed a second Rhinotek as a replacement and it works fine. I am not sure why I was having problems with the first cartridge, but the problems seemed to resolve themselves and the new cartidge is problem free. Colors are great and no difference in performance than the... Epson products. Had I not had some of type of problem I would now rate this product at 5 stars. I am reserving that extra star to see how their cartridge performs over time. Right now I am very satisfied with it and I would reccommend it - ....

The money I spend on color cartridges is outrageous. They last about 2 seconds and cost an arm-and-a-leg. I tried this because of the low price, and I couldn't tell the difference from Epson.

I am using this product on an Epson printer and the quality of the prints are excellent.

My experience with Rhinotek B/W and color ink cartridges on an Epson PhotoEX (6-color inkjet printer) was a disaster. Clogged print heads are a major problem, especially with black, but also with color. I lost more time and money on wasted paper and ink (cleaning cycles) than I could have ever saved on this so-called cost-effective alternative. Going back to original Epson cartridges solved these problems immediately.

Bottom line: Stick with Epson ink for optimal results and lowest cost per print.

This completely clogged. No matter how many head cleanings, I can't get anything black to print. It must have congealed or something. Would not buy again. Would strongly suggest to you if you're not planning on using all the ink at once, do not buy this ink.

Printing quality was as good or better than 'name' brand. Unfortunately, the cartridge lasted for half as many pages/jobs as the Epson equivalent.
I got what I paid for.

Despite dramatic improvements in digital photography, film is still preferred by many photographers. For them, the Polaroid SprintScan 4000 (...) combines the highest resolution in a desktop film scanner with fast performance, excellent image quality, and a remarkably easy-to-use interface.

The SprintScan is a 36-bit film scanner with an optical resolution of 4,000 by 4,000 ppi and dynamic range of 3.4. By comparison, the top resolution of the Nikon SuperCoolScan (...) is 2,700 by 2,700 ppi, with a dynamic range of 3.2.

Matte-black and compact, the SprintScan comes with a SCSI-2 interface, a cable, a controller board, and AdvanSys's Super SCSI setup utilities. Also included are two carriers for 35-mm strips and slides; an optional APS film adapter is available.

The unit also ships with a quick-start guide and a single page with instructions for installing under Windows NT. The main documentation is a 74-page PDF file. Though useful for novices, the documentation lacks detailed explanations and scan tips for pros.

Setup and installation are relatively simple, so long as you follow the recommended sequence of events. For instance, you must insert the film carrier after (not before) the driver loads, or the computer "loses" the SCSI connection.

Although the Mac version can be installed as a Photoshop plug-in, the PC version is not Twain-compliant, so you can't scan directly into any application. Also, no provisions are supplied for creating scripts, saving images in 12-bit color, or preserving customized settings as default values.

Scanning with the SprintScan is fast and easy. The PolaColor Insight interface is intuitive and offers an impressive variety of manual and automatic tools.

The SprintScan took only 20.4 seconds to scan a 12.8MB slide. But this blazing speed is somewhat tempered by a 49.5-second auto-calibration routine and by the time needed to name and save a file and then open it in an application. Image quality is excellent and holds up even when magnified. Colors are accurate and tonality is very good.

Though the Polaroid Sprint Scan 4000 has occasional limitations, its image quality is superb. The scanner leapfrogs over the competition in price, ease of use, and most important, high-resolution scans.

Do you need the SF-200? The question is, are you going to scan a whole batch of slides? Or are you scanning a few slides? Do you have the time and patience to hand-feed all the slides you will scan?

For batch work, the SF-200 is absolutely essential, like the ICE Cubed software that comes with the Coolscan 4000 ED. WITH these two powertools, you can quickly capture and enhance thousands of slides quickly.

Does the SF-200 work perfectly? No. It jams now and then. That's too bad, because since it jams from time to time, I am constantly checking and listening to make sure it doesn't.

Does the ICE cubed software work perfectly? Nearly. It works wonders on old, scratched, poorly lit slides. But in it's quest to clean up and color balance your ancient slide collection, it sacrifices a bit of sharpness. Some people prefer to leave the heavy processing off, and then rescan the problem slides. That's what I do. It saves time, and gets good results. But my favorite photos have been enhanced with ICE3 in a way that would be nearly impossible for all but the most talented Photoshop artists.

You will probably want to dust off your slides before you scan them. You can do this with a 1" camel's hair brush, and/or a couple of cans of pressurized air. Beyond that, if your slides have fingerprints, or other material on them, you can clean that with PEC-12 photographic emulsion cleaner and a lint-free cloth. PEC-12 is from Photographic Solutions, Inc. in Buzzards Bay, MA. This powerful cleaner dissolves goey junk on the slide, but not the slide film! Use it for you problem slides. That's what I know about pre-cleaning (which the Nikon manual does not mention).

For my purposes - scanning thousands of old slides - the SF-200 and ICE cubed are ESSENTIAL to my use of the Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED. If you need to scan batches of images, get the SF-200. Ebay it when you're done.

You can load 50 35mm slides into this feeder and just let the scanner run while you do other work. Given, working on other applications while the scanner is going is really slow, but if you need to do so, you can!

Every once in a while, the feeder will jam, but it is extremely easy to follow the instructions to unjam it. The possibility of jamming increases if the slide has a damaged cardboard mount, or a really thick plastic mount.

Here's a hint, number your slides in pencil before you scan, and you will be able to double check your work easier.

I have had the same problems with my scanner as others have had. Starts off by making wonderful scans. Then after a while scans become a little foggy. Try calling Nikon to have a tech assist me or info to send the scanner to be checked out was drawn out and frustrating. I cant believe that Nikon, a world leader, has such...poor customer service. I bought Nikon becasue of all the wonderful things I had heard about the company, but when it comes to support, forget it. I hate to use such harsh words, but they simply [is bad]. Here I sit with a scanner that makes foggy scans and NO ONE to assist me. $2000 for this? I've been taken, but I only get taken once. I will spread the word and hope others who are in a similar situation will do the same. It's simply not fair.

I have to say that when the scanner works, it works beautiful and when it doesn't it becomes a total mystery. You start to receive funny error messages like "Cannot focus on slide" or the screw is still in the unit. Tech support is gravely lacking ! They took away the discussion board which really helped, so now you have to call tech support.

I love the unit when it works, I also have the 50 slide feeder which works 97% of the time. The software and tech support need to be upgraded.

I see where others seem to have problems with this scanner and Nikon's support. My experience has been excellent. The folks who have had "fogging" experiences probably had dust on the lens... left the door open without an attachment in the access slot. The other problems were probably from not following the user guide and moving the machine without the transport screws in place. (very explicit instructions) The automatic functions work if one sets it in software. Nikon has improved their software to be very intuitive and there is a variety of ways to make adjustments now. When they put out the new LS-4000 and 8000 scanners with new software, they made the software compatible with the LS-2000 scanner too. It's compatable with all the new computer operating systems which the other manufacturers (so I've heard from users) haven't done. I have never had any problems with this scanner but when I needed service with a different Nikon product, I did a search for service and found it right away. When I have called customer service (24/7) toll-free number and went through "voice maze" to get to the right department, was on hold for about a half minute before I got to talk to a real person. I asked my question and she asked me to hold while she found an answer. She was back on the phone with my answer in a few seconds. Other calls to their customer service had the same sort of results. I can't speak for the experiences of others but mine was excellent. When I upgraded from the LS-2000 I bought an LS-4000.