1 Slide Scanners 2 Bit Depth 3 Color Accuracy ... Sharpness ...Focusing ... Speed ...Drivers ... Set-up ... The Bundle 4 Prices

Resolution The optical resolution of the Olympus ES-10 is 1770 dpi, for a 35 mm scan of 1600 x 2400 pixels, for an 11.5 meg file. ... The optical resolution of the Nikon scanners is 2700 dpi, for a 35 mm slide scan of 2488 x 3732 pixels. Bit Depth and Dynamic Range Dynamic Range refers to how far into the highlights and shadows the scanner can show detail. (Click to open the comparison image in a separate browser window.) - 4.0 is highest number and represents a capture of all the detail in both the highlights and shadows. - 2.9 is about the lowest dynamic range that is at all acceptable. - 3.2 is typical of affordably priced slide scanners, and even of some of the high priced film scanners. - 3.6 is the claimed dynamic range of The Nikon LS-2000 when the special overscanning is used (I could not see any difference between scans done straight and with the overscanning which adds considerably to the scan time.) ... Bit depth is supposed to translate into greater dynamic range, but equally important is the technology of the scanner. 36 bits with poor technology can produce a lower dynamic range than a 30 bit scanner with better technology. ... Most applications use 24 bit color (Photoshop 5 can work with 36 bit color images). Some scanner drivers allow you to save in either 36 bit or 24 bit. Some professionals save in 36 bit to archive all the information, and then reduce the bit depth to 24 bit to work on in the computer, or to convert to CMYK. ... The scanner drivers for most of the 30 and 36 bit scanners automatically reduce the additional bit depth to an optimized 24 bits. The additional bits used in this optimization provide more highlight and shadow detail and smoother gradients that can be obtained with a scanner with a lower bit depth. - The Nikon LS-2000 is 36 bits, with a very impressive dynamic range of over 3.5. - The Nikon LS-30 Coolscan III is 30 bits with a lower dynamic range. - The Olympus ES-10 is 24 bits and has the lowest dynamic range of these three scanners, but the excellent quality of its technology makes it equal to many 30 bit scanners. HINT: In a really difficult image with important detail in both highlight and shadow areas, you can do three scans at three different brightness settings and put them as layers in Photoshop, then erase down to the best area of each scan, and finally flatten the image. Next: Color Accuracy

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