SAN FRANCISCO, CA, MACWORLD CONFERENCE & EXPO, Booth 1129, January 5, 2004 - Nikon® has answered the calls of photo hobbyists, professional photographers and graphics professionals with the next generation of Coolscan desktop film scanners – the Coolscan V ED, Super Coolscan 5000 ED and the Super Coolscan 9000 ED. The new film scanners are loaded with features and benefits designed for a wide range of users, including Applied Science Fiction's™ Digital ICE4™ Advanced technology, Nikon's exclusive Scan Image Enhancer™ and other "one-button-simple" solutions. The new lineup of Coolscan products will help small and large businesses to streamline their operations and increase productivity while giving home users and hobbyists an affordable solution to revitalize, restore and save precious family memories.
"While digital is dominating today's photography and printing markets, there are still an enormous amount of film images as well as a need for creating high-quality, versatile hi-resolution digital files. In American homes, literally millions of negatives and slides holding precious family memories are wasting away in shoeboxes and attics," said Jerry Grossman, vice president, marketing, Consumer Digital Products and Compact Cameras, Nikon Inc. "A Nikon film scanner is an incredibly useful tool to help unlock the potential of an image and use the advantages of digital to bring that image to life."
Why Nikon?
Nikon invented affordable desktop film scanning in 1994 with the introduction of the original Coolscan, and has been the market leader ever since. In 2001, Nikon was the first manufacturer to offer the groundbreaking Digital ICE3™ technology in its film scanners, as well as high quality ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass for sharp clear images and accurate color representation. Designed with this tradition in mind, Nikon possesses defining capabilities that make each Coolscan scanner the best in its class.
The new Nikon Coolscan desktop film scanners boast 4,000 dpi across the product line, a greater optical density range for even deeper levels of details, faster processing speeds (USB 2 and FireWire - IEEE 1394) and an enhanced version of Nikon Scan 4.
Nikon Coolscan scanners offer features such as:
- Scanner Nikkor ED lens - The single most important element in the production of high-quality scans is the lens. Nikon has incorporated lenses of the highest quality in each film scanner. ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lens elements are far superior in edge-to-edge sharpness, definition and contrast, as well as color registration, saturation and accuracy.
- Low-heat, high-accuracy LED light source - Most scanners use halogen or fluorescent lamps as light sources, but they require time to warm up and the heat they generate can cause damage to film. Nikon products are the only scanners to employ LEDs as the source of light. LEDs are a stable, precise light source, which require no maintenance or warm-up time and present no risk of your film being damaged.
- Digital ICE4 Advanced™ - Nikon's ED glass and LED lighting help to optimize the effectiveness of Digital ICE4 Advanced™ components, making Nikon Coolscan scanners and ICE a perfect match.
- Nikon Color Management System (CMS) - Nikon CMS provides consistently accurate reproduction of image data on monitors and in printouts.
Coolscan Scanners Are Designed for Multiple Applications
Nikon Coolscan V ED - The Digital Time Machine
The Coolscan V ED is an affordable, high-performance film scanner that is designed to be easy to operate for first-time scanner users. For some film camera
users, their best digital camera may, in fact, be their own film SLR camera. By using the Nikon Coolscan V ED, a Nikon N75 or N80 can produce digital scans at close to 22-megapixel resolution.
The Coolscan V ED is perfect for those looking to bring old images back to life and preserve memories with better-than-original quality. Imagine removing scratches from a 1950s family reunion shot or sending your parents their wedding portrait looking better than the day it was taken. It's more than film scanning - it's "Timemachineography™."
With an optical resolution of 4,000 dpi and 14-bit A/D input conversion, the Coolscan V ED is the perfect tool for a home user or photo hobbyist looking to enhance their own film photography experience. A new plug-and-play USB 2.0 interface even improves the speed of image transfer. Scan speed is also surprisingly fast - the Coolscan V ED can scan an image in only 38 seconds (including image transfer and display) - making the entire process smoother and easier from start to finish.
Super Coolscan 5000 ED - Superior Quality, Greater Efficiency, Increased Profits
The Super Coolscan 5000 ED is designed with the needs of imaging professionals in mind, delivering 135/IX240 film scanning at an amazing 20 seconds per image (including image transfer to display) - at 4,000 dpi optical resolution. This, combined with a 16-bit A/D converter and 16-bit output channel, gives pros the speed and power they need to truly affect the scope of their business.
The Super Coolscan 5000 ED is targeted primarily to small and medium-sized business users including professional photographers, web developers and photo finishers, who demand the highest standard of image quality and ultra high-speed scanning capability. The Super Coolscan 5000 ED achieves incredible scan speeds of 20-seconds by utilizing a newly developed high-quality 2-line CCD sensor.
In addition to speed, the scanner also offers a number of time-saving accessories including the redesigned Slide Feeder (SF-210) and Roll Film Adapter (SA-30) to accommodate a variety of slide mounts and uncut film. The Super Coolscan 5000 ED combines superior performance and efficiency to make it the perfect digital archiving solution for business users.
Super Coolscan 9000 ED - Maximum Versatility, Reliability and Performance
The Super Coolscan 9000 ED is the ultimate film scanning solution for serious imaging professionals designed to handle a broad range of film formats such as 35mm, 120/220, 16mm, 6 x 7, 6 x 9 film, electron microscope and more. The Super Coolscan 9000 ED caters specifically to professionals in fields such as advertising and studio photography who regularly work with 120/220 format films.
The scanner outputs a true optical resolution of 4,000 dpi while 16-bit A/D conversion allows the Super Coolscan 9000 ED to produce images of incredible overall quality. Multi-sample scan capability of as many as 16 passes ensures faithful reproduction with smoother gradation of color and detail. This scanner employs a newly developed 3-line CCD sensor, which contributes to unmatched image quality, as well as fast scanning (35mm: 40 seconds; 6 x 9: 185 seconds). Unlike the other new scanners, the Super Coolscan 9000 ED employs an IEEE 1394 interface to quickly manage extremely large file transfers.
The Super Coolscan 9000 ED also features unparalleled image restoration capabilities. Digital ICE4 Advanced™, The Super Coolscan 9000 ED's exclusive Digital ICE Professional™ is now also compatible with Kodachrome film. Nikon's Scan Image Enhancer offers a simple solution for adjusting brightness and color saturation.
Nikon Coolscan and Super Coolscan desktop film scanners come equipped with everything needed to begin scanning immediately. To make the film scanning experience as seamless as possible, Nikon is shipping its new Easy Scanning Guide CD-ROM which features a custom Flash™ animated tutorial explaining the setup and operation of each new scanner.
The complete line of Nikon scanners will be available this month. The Nikon Coolscan V ED will be sold at an MSRP of $599.95. The Super Coolscan 5000 ED will retail for $1099.95 MSRP while the Super Coolscan 9000 ED will be $1999.95 MSRP. For more information, visit www.nikoncoolscan.com.
About Nikon
Nikon...If the picture matters, the camera matters™. Nikon Inc. is the world leader in precision optics, 35mm and digital imaging technology and is recognized worldwide for setting new standards in product design and performance for its award-winning consumer and professional photographic equipment. Nikon Inc. distributes the Nikon Total Imaging System of consumer and professional 35mm film and digital SLR cameras, Nikkor optics, Speedlights and System Accessories; Advanced Photo System cameras; 35mm compact cameras; Nikon COOLPIX® compact digital cameras; Coolscan® digital film scanners; Nikonos® underwater photographic systems; and Nikon sports and recreational optics. Through the Nikon Spirit Initiative™, the company, plays an active role in supporting aspiring and advanced photographers through a variety of philanthropic organizations, educational programs, events and workshops. For more information, dial (800) NIKON-US or visit www.nikonusa.com, which links all levels of photographers to the web's most comprehensive photo learning and sharing communities.
