Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED Film Scanner Review

Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED is Nikon’s fastest dedicated 35mm film scanner, manufactured in the early ‘00s and ‘10s.

The SUPER makes 4,000 DPI scans of 35mm film strips, which it can save as uncompressed TIFFs with 23.5 megapixels in full 16-bit colour. It takes COOLSCAN just 20 seconds to produce a max-resolution image.

Despite being over 20 years old, this device works without any modifications on modern computers. I’m using it with a 2021 MacBook Pro (running macOS Sonoma) with a simple USB 2.0 to 3.0 adapter.

In this review, I will be benchmarking the SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED against PrimeFilm XAs — a modern dedicated film scanner — Sony a7III (digital camera with a stand and a macro lens) — and professional lab scans.

TL;DR: this may be the best scanner money can buy for those who want minimal setup, have limited desk space, want the best colours possible, want to spend less time scanning, desire high resolution from 35mm film, and require outstanding focus/sharpness in every frame.

Of course, there are limitations even on this machine — one being the price (these units sell for $1,000+) and a few other minor issues. This review will uncover all and include a guide for making the absolute best out of your 35mm film with Nikon’s ultimate digitization hardware.

In this review: Scanner features & specifications. Build quality. Batch scanning. Modifications & accessories. Software for the vintage Nikon film scanners. VueScan settings and tips for use with Nikon film scanners. Inverting the negatives with film Q. Image quality. Issues. Best-in-class scanner comparison: Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED vs. Pacific Image PrimeFilm XAs. Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED vs. Sony a7iii vs. pro lab. How much does Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN cost, and where to find one. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Scanner features & specifications.

Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED uses SCANNER NIKKOR ED high-resolution optics to create 4,000 DPI scans in 20 seconds, each consisting of 23.5-megapixel images in full 16-bit colour.

The scanner has a DMax of 4.8, which should be helpful for rendering fine details in highlights. It uses a low-noise 2-line CCD sensor for faster scanning with its “Exclusive LED Technology” for accurate colour reproduction.

This scanner weighs about 3kg (6.6lb) and takes up about 50cm (depth) × 11cm (width) × 18cm (height) or 20” × 4” × 7” on my desk.

Multi-pass scanning (2x, 4x, 8x, 16x) is available for pulling more detail and reducing noise, and batch scanning is enabled by default with the SA-21 Strip Film Adapter, SA-30 Roll Film Adapter, and SF-210 Slide Feeder. This review tests the SA-21 Strip Film Adapter.

Like most dedicated film scanners, Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN outputs four channels: R, G, B, and I (infrared). The latter can be used by software like VueScan with Digital ICE to remove dust and scratches on colour film. I have not used it for this review (I think Photoshop’s Spot Healing Brush tool does a much better job, even if it is a manual process).

The scanner brochure also lists “Improved” Nikon Scan 4 software with the “all-new” Scan Image Enhancer. However, this software is over twenty years old, so I’ll be using VueScan to get the digital negatives and film Q for maximum control over colours during inversion.

Build quality.

Nikon COOLSCAN scanners are housed in an aluminum chassis with a plastic front panel. My copy arrived with a crack in the front panel, yet fully functional.

The device looks neither cheap nor luxurious — it uses what seems to be a standard rack-compatible shell and generic-looking accessories. That is, of course, consistent with the market the COOLSCAN 5000ED was built for: professional photographers, labs, and publishers. Highly functional, minimal frills.

The internal components appear to be well made as they continue to function flawlessly twenty years after being assembled. Given how complex this tool is and the fact that there are moving parts that require high precision, it must’ve been manufactured with longevity in mind.

Batch scanning.

Scanning film takes time and effort. It’s usually not as fun as shooting film, which is why many photographers look for batch-scanning solutions. Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED was made to speed up the process without sacrificing quality with its multi-line scanner head and a motorized modular film transport system; batch scanning is a good way to take advantage of this technology.

The most important batch-scanning accessory for COOLSCAN is the SA-21 Strip Film Adapter, which you connect by sliding into the slot at the front. Once recognized, this adapter will accept film strips of up to 6 frames (which is exactly the length a typical film binder will carry).

Many new film scanners come with separate fiddly and fragile film holders that you have to pry open, fill with your cut film strip, lock shut, and feed into the scanner slot or place on top of a glass. I find that these accessories make the process significantly slower and more annoying. I’m happy this is not something I have to deal with on COOLSCAN; I just insert a film strip into the slot, and the scanner grabs it immediately.

 ☝︎ Further reading: “Film Scanning: Which Side Is Up?” — in this article, I’m comparing results when scanning film emulsion side up vs. down to determine the ultimate position for film holders.

Modifications & accessories.

Batch scanning means that the device can be set up to scan multiple frames with a single button press — but there are levels to that functionality. COOLSCAN 5000ED with SA-21 already does that better than most scanners (including modern ones), but it can’t scan the entire roll of film at once.

SA-30 Roll Film Adapter transforms the Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED into a tool that can scan the entire roll of film with a single button press. However, these adapters cost more than the scanner itself, and it’s unclear how well they’ll work in practice. I find that vintage film cameras don’t always have an exact frame spacing and size, which can cause issues in batch scans regardless of the device that performs it.

There are also guides online on how to hack the SA-21 film adapter to function like SA-30, although I haven’t tried to do that yet.

You can also find adapters for COOLSCAN that accept framed slides and APS film — but they are rare.

Software for the vintage Nikon film scanners.

The original software this scanner came with is too old for modern computers. Instead, I used VueScan to get the images from the scanner onto my hard drive as uncompressed TIFFs and film Q to invert those scans into positives.

VueScan isn’t particularly expensive, and it works very well. This app is virtually compatible with any scanner so its usefulness is beyond a single piece of hardware. However, there are some quirks in the software and the scanner design (see “frame offset” adjustments below).

VueScan settings and tips for use with Nikon film scanners.

VueScan can invert your film negatives, but the results aren’t always what you may expect. Like most film inversion software, it will perform hidden changes to your image, which can obscure your film stock’s qualities, produce inconsistent results, or hide exposure mistakes without an explanation. It may also not be easy or possible to fix those inverted images manually.

For more control over the results, I set VueScan to create uncompressed TIFF scans without inversion. This will create archival-quality digital negatives that I convert with film Q using histogram stretching — a simple and easy-to-understand method for inverting film negatives. I’ll explain how this works next.

The settings I use to create digital negatives are:

Input > Options: “Professional”

Filter > “None” for all

Color > Color balance: “None”

Color > Curve low: “0.25”, Curve high: “0.75”

Color > Brightness, Brightness red, Brightness green, Brightness blue: all those should be set to “1”

Color > Slide vendor: “GENERIC”

Color > Scanner color space: “Default”

Color > Film color space: “Default”

Color > Output color space: “sRGB”

Output > TIFF file “48 bit RGB”, TIFF compression: “On” (ensure that you’ve also set the output folder; if you’re using film Q, this folder has to be named “watch”)

Output > All frames: checked

The rest of the settings can be set to defaults or any preferences.

With all the colour, output, and filter settings out of the way, the next step is to adjust the film position so that there are no frame overlaps. To do this, you’ll need to preview the first frame (tip: set the Input > Batch scan to “Off” — otherwise, the previews will be generated for all the frames on your film strip). If the frame edges do not align, you’ll need to adjust the Input > Frame offset value (tip: I find it’s usually somewhere between 6.0 and 2.0). The frame offset adjustment is probably the most annoying part of this setup, as you’re essentially guessing where to advance the frame. You may try to use your mouse and read the VueScan’s info on the bottom-right of the screen to get a better idea of what number to input.

Once the film is in the right position, I usually switch the Input > Batch scan to “List” and Input > Batch list: “1-5” for my 5-frame film strips.

 ☝︎ Further reading: “How to Store & Organize Film & Film Scans.”

All that’s left to do is to press “Scan” and wait 1-2 minutes until the entire strip is digitized.

Inverting the negatives with film Q.

The steps I described above produce archival-quality uncompressed digital negatives ready to be inverted and edited. film Q is a tool I built to invert those negatives using a standard method that preserves the look of the film while keeping the archived negatives intact. film Q makes no attempts to correct colours or produce any kind of automatic adjustments.

film Q works with Dropbox, which is another tool I use to keep my archive of scanned negatives safe.

✪ Note: film Q is a $5/mo service, which includes more film photography apps + content.

For this to work, I first connect film Q to my Dropbox account and select Settings > Auto Start. Then, I direct VueScan to scan files into Dropbox/Apps/film Q/Year/Month/FilmName/watch. (It’s up to you how you’d like to organize your scans — film Q will pick up and automatically invert the negatives as long as they’re placed inside Dropbox/Apps/film Q/.../watch, where … could be any folder structure).

The above setup will ensure that all the scans are archived in Dropbox and are automatically inverted by film Q in the cloud. You’ll have to install the Dropbox app on your computer for this to work seamlessly.

If you don’t plan to archive your negatives on Dropbox, film Q also provides a simple web-only interface where you can upload your scans and download inverted negatives without having to install anything or commit to cloud storage.

Image quality.

Few scanners can yield photos as sharp and rich in colour. Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED is an outstanding scanner when it comes to image quality — it’s no wonder it still fetches such a high price despite its age.

There’s a lot that could be said about the hardware and the software specs, but the images speak for themselves — see some of my favourite samples below:

Issues.

Aside from the fiddly frame alignment experience there are two more flaws that I found with my model. These flaws may be due to the scanner’s age or lack of proper maintenance. In any case, they are barely noticeable, so I didn’t bother investigating further, but I’d still like to share them in case someone may find them concerning.

Patterns in areas of overexposure. Some negatives that may’ve suffered from overexposure show patterns in extreme closeups. This isn’t something that’s easy to see, and the pattern is quick to clean up by adding exposure post-scan. Still, I found it a little peculiar:

“Burnt” film ends. Film strips that are particularly curly will have their ends lift slightly away from the internal light source. Because the tips receive less light (or due to internal reflection), they experience colour shifts towards red.

Below is the uncropped scan of the same scene as in the frame above, except this frame was at the edge of the five-frame strip. Notice the “burnt” edge on the right:

Best-in-class scanner comparison: Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED vs. Pacific Image PrimeFilm XAs.

I bought my COOLSCAN after PrimeFilm XAs — a comparable dedicated film scanner that’s still being made today.

PrimeFilm can make 10,000 DPI (interpolated) scans from 35mm film — which is more than double COOLSCAN’s 4,000 DPI. PrimeFilm also makes it easier to adjust the film position, thanks to the small window and physical nudge buttons. The XA also accepts entire film rolls without needing any additional accessories.

Unfortunately, PrimeFilm’s batch scanning system isn’t polished enough to be trusted with an entire roll. There were numerous instances when it choked up or the frame alignment drifted, which made babysitting a requirement. What’s more, PrimeFilm is several times slower than SUPER COOLSCAN, even when the XA is set to a lower resolution.

In practice, I rarely used PrimeFilm’s advantageous resolution. Uncompressed TIFFs scanned at 10,000 DPI can be over 500 megabytes, which is way too expensive for my storage. Plus, the difference between Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN’s 4K DPI scans and the XA’s 10K DPI isn’t noticeable unless you print enormously.

Extreme enlargements give PrimeFilm XAs a slight edge when it comes to contrast and sharpness — but that comes at a significant cost of disk space and scanning time.

I’ve attempted to add saturation to the XAs side to compensate for its lack of colour (see below) and matched the tones as much as possible to give PrimeFilm a fighting chance. But even after all that work, the XA’s results (on the right) lacked some colour variation, the shadows appeared starker, and my skin looked a little greener. The difference between the scanners before the edits is, of course, a lot starker:

Without the additional effort to sync up the colours, Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN rendered accurate, lively, saturated colours that made the XAs scan appear dull.

In the end, this test showed that Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN is still better at colour reproduction, speed, and batch scanning than the best modern counterpart despite its advanced age. But how does it compare to the truly modern workflows?

Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED vs. Sony a7iii vs. pro lab.

During an experimental session with Daren, Lauren, and Yvonne last year, we shot a roll of Kodak Portra 800 and had it scanned using Daren’s Sony a7iii, with my Nikon COOLSCAN, and at our local lab.

Above are those scans, made to look like each other as much as possible. I think that the COOLSCAN frame (middle) is the best out of the three as it shows more shadow detail and colour variation.

Up close, the winner is even more obvious:

How much does Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN cost, and where to find one.

As of this writing, this scanner sells for an average of $1,200 — $2,000, depending on condition. There are usually a few copies available on eBay; there may even be some on Amazon, and I’m sure you can find one at a specialty shop somewhere. Lucky for us, these scanners aren’t particularly rare.

I recommend that you check with the seller that the scanner is tested and operational. If this is your first time shopping for vintage camera gear, see this guide.

❤ By the way: Please consider making your Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000 ED purchase using this link so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!