Scanner comparison images

Image 1 - Bergamo sunset

Bergamo is a beautiful city in northern Italy. While not as famous as other historical cities like Florence or Venice, the "Cittą alta" (high city) is an outstanding example of italian medioeval art and architecture.

Now to the image ;-), taken at sunset on Kodachrome 64. A difficult 35mm slide.

The detail images contain deep shadows and some lights of a big store. The sign on the store reads "Casa mercato". Please note that curves have been applied to bring the shadows up and show detail more easily. Although the images speak for themselves, I give a few comments. The amount of detail that comes out of the 16x scan of the Minolta is impressive and superior to the Precision II. I could not swear that it is not possible to get that out of the Precision II. In the scans I made, however (made under the "supervision" of an Imacon representative), deep shadow detail is not at the same level as with the Minolta.

However, some flare can be seen on the lower right of lights in the Minolta scans, while there is no flare in the Precision's scan.

There is some slight banding in the Precision II scan.

Sharpness looks just a bit better in the Minolta scans (no USM was applied).

Detail: Imacon Precision II - 5760dpi

Detail: Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro, no multisampling - 4800dpi

Detail: Dimage Scan Multi Pro, 16x multisampling - 4800dpi

Image 2 - Chandelle, Grand Capucin, Trident

The Chandelle, Grand Capucin and Trident (left to right) belong to the Tacul area of Monte Bianco - Mont Blanc, Alps.

Ektachrome 64 Professional slide, medium format.

About the scans: the Preciosion II scan looks sharper to me, although it may depend from some sharpening applied by the Imacon representative (honestly I do not remember). No sharpening was applied to the Minolta and Leaf scans. In addition, the Minolta scan is more dirty (some 18 months passed in-between the Imacon and Minolta scans, and the original slide undoubtedly suffered from that). Things get closer to the Precision II with just a hint of sharpening. However, I have to say that the Imacon scan remains "smoother", even after some tweaking, and I prefer it.

The original slide DOES HAVE some color fringing, which is not rendered well by the Leaf (observe the fissures on the left...). The Precision II does better, although some fringing is still there. The Minolta is even better.

Note, by the way, that I did not test the 4800dpi interpolated resolution of the Minolta, which according to some, yields slightly improved detail (at the cost of a HUGE output file).

Detail : Leafscan 45 - 2580dpi

Detail : Precision II - 3200dpi

Detail : Minolta - 3200dpi

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