Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED Film Scanner Review

The scanner (which sits at approximately 20 inches deep, 10 inches wide and 8 inches high, weighting 9 kgs) is big in size, big in performance, and big in price.

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Principal features

• Nikkor ED high-resolution lens – excellent quality
• Choice of auto and manual focus
• Analog/Digital Conversion: 16-bits per colour
• Optical Resolution: Up to 4000 ppi
  Max scan size 4000 x 5904 for 35mm negs
  5905 x 4032 for 35mm slides
  8964 x 13176 for 6 x 9 120 film
• File size: A 35mm colour slide scan produces a 136MB file
• Colour separation via RGB LEDs
• IEEE 1394 Firewire interface
• Scan Image Enhancer
• Digital ICE4
• Digital ROC
• Digital GEM
• Digital DEE

Its UK price tag is about £2400. This is not a cheap toy by any means, and clearly aimed at imaging professionals.

The LS9000 has the latest Digital ICE4 and comes packed with Digital ROC, Digital GEM and Digital DEE and Scan Image Enhancer (these features are summarized below). More to the point, the LS 9000 will handle a broad range of film formats, thus appealing directly to the multi-format pro photographer whereas, for example, the Coolscan V ED is APS/35mm only.

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Film Formats
Carriers provided:

• FH-835M 35mm slides 1 to 5 slides with plastic mounts*
• FH-835S 35mm film 1 or 2 strips of 1-6 frames
• FH-869S 120 film** 1 to 4 frames 6x4.5**(also used for Electron microscope film) 1 to 3 frames 6x6
  1 to 2 frames 6x7/8/9

Optional carriers:

• FH-869M 120 slides 1/ 2 frames 6x4 – 6x9*
• FH-816 16mm film 1 to 3 strips of 1 to 20 frames
• FH-8G1 Medical slides 1 to 3 slides 26x76mm; 00.8-1.5mm thick
  * Mounts from 1.0 to 3.2mm thick
  There is also an optional 120 film carrier with glass (FH-869G) and one that permits limited rotation of 120 format film to eliminate tilted horizons etc (FH-869GR).

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Speed
Bear in mind that apart from initial boot-up, the LS9000 has zero warm-up time. I tested scan times against times indicated in the Manual. Clearly processing will be impacted on the specs of the PC/Mac in use:

preview scan (single): 13 to 40sec depending on features engaged
preview scan (batch of 5 slides): 1min 30sec
basic scan: 35sec(manual states 40sec)
with ICE: 50sec (manual states 57sec)
with ICE and DEE: 1min’ 30sec
with ICE, DEE, ROC, GEM and SIE: Manual states 3min 5sec

The 9000 ED has a large-diameter Scanner Nikkor ED lens, a 3-line CCD image sensor, and LED light source with rod dispersion. All of these have, according to Nikon, been improved for enhanced image quality with faster scanning speeds. Compared to ordinary glass, Nikon´s ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lens elements are claimed to be superior in edge-to-edge sharpness, definition and contrast, as well as colour registration, saturation and accuracy.

The LED light source is a key feature as it eliminates the warm-up time associated with many scanners that use halogen or fluorescent lamps. Nikon’s COOLSCAN series are the only scanners to employ LEDs as their source of light. LEDs are a stable, precise maintenance-free* light source. Consequently there’s no risk of film suffering heat-related damage. LED illumination also assures stability in colour characteristics, which contributes to faithful reproduction. The LS 9000 ED requires about a minute and a quarter to boot up (the manual states 2 minutes), but after that it’s ready to scan as often as you need. This too is a major positive feature of the Super Coolscan.

* Although maintenance free, if (or when) dust gets into the scanner and on to the lens then the whole box needs to take a visit to Nikon for cleaning. User maintenance is not a feature.

Now a quick run through the use of the machine:

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Set-up
The LS 9000 comes with power cable(s), fire-wire cable, and a fire-wire card in case your PC doesn’t have one. (Super-cool thinking by Nikon!) It also comes with Nikon Scan 4 and Nikon View software. There are two buttons at the front and two sockets at the rear. Simple. One of the buttons is the power on/off, and the other is the carrier eject (though it can also be ejected using a button in the scan software control panel). One of the sockets is for power and the other is the firewire connection.

Load the software CDs, plug in the power, link the fire-wire and turn on the scanner! That’s all it takes. It took me a few minutes only to unpack the kit and complete my first scan.

There is a manual, and a quick set up guide … all logically laid out … and in various languages.

Scanning

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Loading the film
I found that the film holders took getting used to in two respects: (1) the fasteners used to secure 35mm film in its carrier (FH-835S) I found - and still find - are fiddly to release and feel fragile. This apparent fragility applies equally to the clips on the 35mm slide carrier (FH-835M). However the carriers do hold the film accurately; (2) all film carriers have to be pushed into place “just right” – not far enough and it doesn’t engage – too much and you can cause damage to the carriage mechanism. These are minor issues but ones that, as invariably I have to re-load the carrier when it hasn’t engaged, I find waste time. To be fair, with more use I will become more adept.

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Open up Nikon Scan.
Nikon Scan has a control area, a preview area, an information area, two buttons (preview and scan) and a thumbnail drawer tab that permits you to select which of the images you wish to work on. Scans can be made individually or as a batch.
To preview a batch you need to hold the Ctrl tab and select each frame in turn.
The drawer stays open when you are previewing a batch, but can be closed. The screen view above shows the Scan controls and Tool Chest.

One annoying issue arises if you have less than six frames in a strip of 35mm negative film as you have to remember what is the next frame number when selecting an image to scan. Otherwise the scanner tries unsuccessfully to focus before putting up an error message.

The control area allows you to eject the carrier, to focus the scanner, to adjust exposure, to zoom in and out of the image on display, to save, load or reset scan settings, to select the film type (Positive, Neg Colour, Neg Mono, or Kodachrome), set frame size, select colour or monochrome, open the preferences dialog, and to open the Tool Chest. There is also a Help button.

If you have the scan window fully open then the Tool Chest disappears from view whenever you do anything in the scan window – so its best to resize the scan window before you start work to allow the Tool Chest window to appear alongside.
Scanned images will come up in a separate Scan 4.0 window in the background, so in total there are three principal windows to work with: Control, Tools, and Image.

If you have fresh, clean film that has been well-exposed then you won’t always need to engage the ICE/ROC/GEM/DEE extras that REALLY add time to the scan process. Older, or poorly exposed, images will need to use these features, and the experienced eye will gauge how long a particular scanning project is expected to take. Points to note:

1. Digital ICE does not work with monochrome unless it has been C41 processed.
2. Digital ROC, GEM and DEE do not work with 16mm film
3. Using Digital ICE, ROC, and DEE with medical slides may result in noise, so Nikon recommends that these features are not used with medical slides.

The information panel shows the setting selected for the scan, plus the orientation of the image. Orientation can be changed at which point the “R” rotates in the control panel as a reminder.
You need to check the set-up prior to each scan: Slide, Negative or Kodachrome and RGB or Mono, and then run the preview process. I occasionally forgot to switch from mono to colour!

To start, click the Preview button. The scanner then drones while it captures the image(s). You can run a batch pre-view, and can then scan each image individually, or also as a batch. In either case you have control over the settings for each image individually.

Image of Control area of Scan window with "natural" scanned image with dust and scratches.

Once you have the preview you can decide what changes to make (and can view the “before” and “after” images in the “Processed” / “Natural” viewers. Call up the Tool Chest and there you have detailed control over various aspects:

Layout Select area to be scanned, focus point, rotate and flip
Information Width, height, coordinates, colour values pre/post scan
Crop Various crop options based on crop / output / file size
Curves Brightness, contrast and colour control in specific areas
Colour Balance Overall brightness, contrast and colour control of image
Unsharp Mask Optional feature to provide control over image sharpness
LCH Editor Control brightness and contrast in areas, or hue and chroma
Digital ICE4 Advanced: Includes Digital ROC, Digital GEM, and Digital DEE (see below)
Analog Gain Provides control over the EVs in each scanner light source element
Scan Image Enhancer Offers automated brightness, colour and contrast adjustment
Extras Multi sample scanning (to reduce noise), Super fine scan, bit depth

Cropping is particularly useful when scanning slides to remove the mount that surrounds the image.

So you have control!!!

My initial inclination was to switch off the Unsharp Mask, as I am used to controlling levels, colour and cropping in Photoshop, but without doubt all of these features are useful in most circumstances in addition to PS, and the degree of control is excellent – a real time saver. I am now convinced that its best to get the scan right and then use PS (or equivalent) for the image finishing process.

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Verdict

Scanned image showing effects of Digital Ice4 and some colour / contrast adjustments.

The Nikon Super Coolscan LS9000 is a superb machine, though pricey. In commercial terms its cost can be justified in time savings and its multi-format capability.
I ran tests on old and new 35mm slides, old monochrome negatives, and 120 Velvia.
Problems were encountered with old slides that had curled slightly in their mounts resulting in some vignetting and consequent lack of focus in the corners of the scan. The only remedy is to ensure slides are well mounted and perfectly flat in their mounts.
I also had problems with 120 film that has a tendency to curl. Nikon´s solution to avoiding the consequent appearance of Newton’s Rings in the scan is to spend in the order of $300 on an optional glass plate carrier. While this is effective in practical terms, it’s not an ideal remedy for small businesses, and adds another item to keep clean and dust free for anyone that does feel it’s cost is worthwhile. I follow a user-recommended approach of preparing 120 film in advance: place on light box (switched on) with some books on top and after about an hour under this gentle heat the film will be perfectly flat.

The quality of images scanned proves to me that all the features packed into this simple looking box, - and not forgetting the sturdy Nikon build quality - were for me worth the capital outlay.

In summary the main positive points of the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED are:

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Plus points
Multi-format capability
Cool running
Plenty of control features
Relatively fast scanning process

Negative points are:

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED: Minus points
Pricey
Expensive optional extras
Flimsy clips on the film carriers

The Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED costs around £2599 and is available from Warehouse Express here:

Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED

About the author
Alan Skyrme is a professional nature, travel and stock photographer based in the south of Brazil.

www.alanskyrme.com, www.shootcandids.com and www.shootstock.com.