This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Back to archive.

Skip Navigation

New 35mm slide scanner in John Honey building

IT Services has purchased a Nikon COOLSCAN II scanner for scanning both mounted 35mm slides and film strips. The COOLSCAN II is intended as a replacement for the Microtek ScanMaker slide scanner that was housed in the Bute Terrapin Huts and available to users. The ScanMaker is no longer functional and, because of demand from users, a replacement (which will be housed in the John Honey building) has been obtained.

Colour or monochrome, negative or positive film can be scanned at high speed and high resolution resulting in digital images of up to 16.7 million colours. The scanner has an auto-focus function, eliminating the need for manual focusing. Note that mounted slides should be neither less than 1.1mm nor more than 3.0mm thick.

Operation of the scanner is straightforward. Mounted slides are inserted into the film slot on the front of the unit whereas strips of film containing up to six images are inserted into the strip film holder and then into the film slot.

Once the slide or film is inserted you are ready to start scanning. There are two ways you can do this:

Note that which of the two methods you choose is largely a matter of choice. Scanning from within Photoshop has the advantage that you are left within Photoshop to do any further processing of the digitised image before saving in any of Photoshop's allowed formats. The CAL Mac is set up to allow scanning from within Photoshop.

If you are going to use the scanner with your own Mac and haven't got Photoshop then you will have to use the second method i.e. launching the Nikon Control 2.1 application.

Brief notes on how to use the scanner are available in the CAL Mac folder next to the machine and also on the Web by following these links from the University's Home Page:

Information Technology Services
computer-assisted learning
CAL Macintosh
specialised hardware
These instructions

Alternatively, use the URL:

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ITS/CAL/machines/nikon.html

For more detailed information consult the manuals:

COOLSCAN II User's Manual
Nikon Control Macintosh User's Manual
Nikon Scan Macintosh User's Manual

The scanner is for use for either CAL-related or Web-related work and is primarily for use with the CAL Mac. However, staff may have a large numbers of slides to scan in which case they may take the scanner away to use with their own Mac. Apply to the operators if you wish to use the scanner.