Nikon CoolScan LS-2000 Film & Slide Scanner Digital Ice Disassembled Cleaned Lubed Updated Tested, Guaranteed Start Price USD 279.99 Current Price USD 349.00 Time Left - Bid Count 6 Buy It Now Price USD 325.00 Reserve Price - Start Time Monday, September 08, 2008 End Time Monday, September 15, 2008 Location North Canton, Ohio See more about 'Nikon CoolScan LS-2000 Film & Slide Scanner Digital Ice' Description Nikon Super CoolScan LS-2000Film & Slide Scanner Complete Kit Disassembled, lubricated, cleaned, updated & testedGuaranteed working on arrival Note: I buy, repair, refurbish and resell several models of Nikon film scanners and their accessories.  Please see my "other items" [including ended auctions] for related items and services including repair service for people who already own a non-working or poorly working scanner. Do you have some old 35mm slides or negatives that you would like to have in digital format?  This may be the solution you are looking for ... converting your old film media to ten megapixel digital images with superb quality. About the LS-2000 The Nikon Super CoolScan LS-2000 is a Nikon special-purpose dedicated scanner for slides and negatives ... it’s primarily for 35mm film, but can also scan APS film with an optional adapter (not included). The LS-2000 is widely regarded as having been the first truly high-quality slide/film scanner.  Although two generations older (and about $700 less expensive) than the latest models, it is still, even by today’s standards, a high-end product.  The LS-2000 scans a 35mm negative to about TEN MEGAPIXELS which, if saved in TIFF format at maximum color depth without compression takes up 30 to 55 megabytes per image (if, like most people, you save your files as high quality JPEGs, you will typically get a 3 to 5 megabyte JPEG file).  It’s as if your decades-old film photos had originally been shot with a ten megapixel digital camera.  It’s just the thing for converting your beloved film photos into digital images. If you have ever tried to scan slides or negatives with a flatbed scanner that has some kind of "transparency adapter", be assured that there is no comparison between any of those and a dedicated slide/film scanner.  Quality, speed and ease-of-use are not even in the same league as a flatbed scanner with a transparency adapter. But resolution specifications are only part of the story.  The quality of a good LS-2000’s scanning is stunning.  The LS-2000 was almost $2,000 when it was new.  It is a better scanner than many current moderate-priced models.  Nikon is, of course, a premier camera company, and the Nikon products have Nikon precision glass optics of unparalleled quality.  Further, the Nikon products are unique in the entire industry in that they use an LED light source rather than a lamp to illuminate the slide.  This is why the Nikon film scanner line is called “Super CoolScan” ... there is no projection lamp in the scanner.  But not only does the LED solid state light source last virtually forever with no degradation in quality over the product life, but it has another unique advantage:  While many lamp-based scanners make multiple passes of the film (as many as 4), the Nikon scanner makes one single pass and “flashes” the red, blue and green (and IR) LED at each line position ... something you can’t do with a lamp, which is always producing every color.  This not only makes scanning faster, but it has the unique advantage of zero registration error between passes ... because there is only one pass, even for the infrared scan required by “Digital Ice”.  These are unique advantages of the LED light source, a feature which, as far as I know, is absolutely exclusive to Nikon scanners. And, finally, the LS-2000 has “Digital ICE”, which is nothing short of “magic” in terms of what it means to the quality of your scans.  Digital ICE makes scratched and dirty negatives look virtually “perfect”.  You have to see this to believe how well it works.  You can find a review of the LS-2000 and “Digital ICE” here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/LS2K/LS2KA.HTM [The link is correct but may not work directly; try cutting the URL and pasting it into a browser window if it doesn't work just by clicking on it.]Having used scanners both with and without "Digital ICE", I would never even consider a scanner that didn't have it.  [Note:  Digital Ice works on almost all color negative films, but it does not work well (or in some cases at all) with Kodachrome slide films or black and white films.  For films on which it does not work, it can simply be turned off.] LS-2000’s on E-Bay The LS-2000 is a somewhat older product (about 1999), originally very expensive (almost $2,000), and if you are buying a used one, you need to know that most LS-2000’s that you see for sale are in need of servicing. There are lots of LS-2000’s for sale that say “the power light blinks and then turns solid steady green”.  This means absolutely nothing.  It does not even mean that the scanner passed its own self test.  You will also see a lot of ads that say that the scanner is “untested” because “we didn’t have the {insert some combination of: power cord, data cable, SCSI card, software, film adapter ... whatever}”.  Testing an LS-2000 requires all of this; without it, you can’t even determine that a used LS-2000 is not totally, 100.0% dead.  Even if the power light turns on then turns steady green. Additionally, the LS-2000 has some characteristics that need to be considered in an older used unit.  One of these is that after a number of years, the lubricant originally used in the mechanism turns to a sticky, gooey mess that's more like glue than lubricant.  This, in turn, often causes failure of the scanning mechanism (and sometimes also failure of the auto-focus system as well).  Another problem is that after years, the optics will need to be cleaned; they become dusty, and scanning though dust-covered lenses and mirrors is like scanning images through a layer of wax paper; there is severe quality degradation (again, keep in mind that this thing is scanning a postage-stamp sized 35mm negative to approximately ten megapixels).  So while LS-2000's are great scanners, to get good results from a used unit it is necessary to locate one that has been disassembled, cleaned (both the mechanism and the optics), re-lubricated and reassembled, updated with the latest firmware and tested.  That is how this unit is being sold.  Some other E-Bay sellers also offer them this way, but the majority of used LS-2000's are either completely untested and "as-is", or, less commonly, tested and working but not cleaned and re-lubricated. [Actually, I will go further than that and say that from my own experience buying and repairing these, the vast majority (like 80%) of the LS-2000's sold on E-Bay simply do not work, as received and without any service.] Finally, the LS-2000 is a SCSI device, and most PC owners don’t have the necessary SCSI card, cable or software required, so it is necessary to get one that comes with these, or to acquire them separately. LS-2000 system components and options The LS-2000 scanner itself is only part of the complete LS-2000 scanning system, and many units being sold include only the scanner itself without any of the other parts.  You should note that this is a useless configuration that can’t scan anything.  Here is a list of all of the components of the LS-2000 system in addition to the scanner itself.  Please note, this is a list, for reference only, of all of the options that exist; not all of these were included even with a brand new LS-2000, and by no means are all of them included in this auction (see below for which of these items are actually included in this auction), but it helps to understand what you need and are getting, since without at least a film adapter, SCSI interface and cables, you are not going to scan anything: The SA-20 film adapter accepts short 35mm film strips (2 to 6 images, negatives or transparencies) for batch scanning.  This is the “standard” adapter for negative print film The MA-20 film adapter accepts mounted 35mm film (slides or negatives).  This is the “standard” adapter for slides The FH-2 film holder allows “problem” film (that won’t properly feed in the SA-20) to be manually fed into the MA-20 in strips of 1 to 6 images in length.  It can deal with almost any kind of film problem.  This is an alternative feeder for either negative or unmounted transparency (slide) film. The IA-20 (sometimes also called the IX-240) accepts APS film rolls in their roll holder for unattended bulk scanning of the entire roll at once.  This is a fairly rare and somewhat expensive accessory. The SF-200 slide feeder accepts stacks of up to fifty 35mm mounted slides for automatic feeding and scanning.  This is an extremely rare and very expensive accessory (these usually sell for as much as $300 to $500 ... more than the scanners themselves).  [Note: there is a later model of the SF-200 called the SF-210; although intended for the LS-5000, I believe (but have not absolutely verified) that the SF-210 can be used in the LS-2000.  The only apparent differences between the SF-200 and the SF-210 appear to be some mechanical improvements to reduce the jam rate] The LS-2000 is a SCSI interface device.  A SCSI card and cable are required.  The Adaptec AHA-2940 PCI card is usually recommended for PC applications, but any working SCSI card with a matching cable should work.  For laptops with PC Card slots, an Adaptec 1460 or 1480 SCSI PC card can be used (a cable with an HD50M (SCSI-II) connector is required). Of course you need the Nikon software for the scanner (Nikon Scan), the drivers for the SCSI card, and the Adaptec “ASPI” layer software for Windows.  With the latest version of all of the applicable software, the LS-2000 is compatible with Windows 98, 98SE, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. Vista compatibility is untested and should not be assumed. What’s included in this auction (and what’s not): This auction includes the following eight items: A Nikon LS-2000 scanner that has been cleaned, lubricated, updated to the latest firmware and fully tested.  It is guaranteed working on arrival (because of it’s age there is no long term warranty, but these units can be expected to give many years of additional service). A Nikon MA-20 slide mount adapter is included A Nikon SA-20 film strip adapter is included.  This allows scanning strips of up to six 35mm film images (negatives or unmounted slides) A power cord is included An Adaptec PCI SCSI card is included (exact models vary)A SCSI-II cable is included with appropriate connectorsA CD is included that has extensive software and PDF-format documentation, containing pretty much everything you would either need or want.  This includes the Nikon manuals for both the scanner itself and the software (Nikon Scan), as well as the Adaptec SCSI software [both the ASPI software and the Adaptec SCSI card drivers] and the Nikon scanning software itself (Nikon Scan).  [All of this is software and documentation that is available for free download on the internet, but I've saved you hours of time consuming work both finding and downloading all of it yourself.]. Printed instructions are included (both printed and on the CD) on how to get the whole system installed and working.This is a complete package; everything that you need to scan both slides and negatives, and to connect the scanner to a typical computer, is included.  For most users, installation of this scanner will require opening their PC and installing a SCSI card, plus a number of pieces of software.  If hardware and software installations are beyond you, you should probably pass on this item, but if you are comfortable with this, instructions are included to help you out. These are used units, and their cosmetic condition varies slightly but all of the ones that I am selling have been cleaned and are in overall good cosmetic condition with no specific major cosmetic defects worth mentioning other than that the front plastic of the scanner and film adapters may be somewhat yellowed (to varying degrees, but unless I specifically point it out in a specific auction, it will not be severely yellowed).  Scanner may also have minor dings, dents, scuffs and chips (minor, and purely cosmetic).  The photo is of one of the kits that I have sold, it is not a photo of the exact units in this particular auction, but it's contents are identical to the kit you are bidding on, including the same items in a cosmetic condition that (unless specifically noted) would be indistinguishable from what you will receive in this type of photo.  Please note that the length and color of the power and data cables and the exact model number of the Adaptec SCSI card may vary, but all are working, in good condition and guaranteed. Remember, you are buying a tested, cleaned, lubricated, updated high end scanner that was almost $2,000 for about 90% less than what it originally cost, and it works as good as when it was new. Attention Laptop Users:These scanners can be used with any laptop that has a "PC Card" (aka "PCMCIA card") slot (they cannot be used with laptops that have only an "Express Card" slot; check your laptop's specifications and documentation).  I have the necessary PC cards and software to install them on any laptop with a PC Card (aka "PCMCIA card") slot.  Please inquire if interested. Attention Mac Users:These scanners can be used with most Mac computers, but doing so is more involved than using them with a PC and may require additional hardware and software, at additional cost.  Exactly what is required depends on which Mac computer and which Mac OS is to be used.  I am not a Mac user and cannot help much in terms of Mac support, but I have sold these to quite a few very satisfied Mac users and have received a lot of feedback on how to get them working with a Mac that I can provide on request.  However, please contact me before bidding if you intend to use this item on a Mac; it's not always possible and it usually requires additional purchases.Shipping Shipping is $25 for continental 48 states and this includes careful packing, tracking and insurance.  Shipping to other US locations (AK, HI, possessions, territories and APO addresses) may be (likely will be) higher.  Remember that this is not a single item but a kit of 8 items; I pack these really well (which uses between $5 and $10 worth of packing material), and they are shipped insured with tracking. Payment by Pay-Pal, money order or check (item will be held for payment to clear).  Sales to US only, please.  Thank you for your interest in my auction. Search catcher: LS-2000 LS-30 CoolScan Cool Scan II III IV V LS-4000 LS-5000 LS-40 LS-50 LS30 LS40 LS50 LS1000 LS2000 LS3000 LS4000 LS5000 ED 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 8000 9000 Epson 4490 4990 TMA HP Minolta Dimage Kodak Plustek Opticfilm Primefilm Microtek Pacific Image Place a Bid!