MINOLTA DiMAGE Scan Elite II

Review and example film scans of the Minolta Dimage Scan Elite II film scanner.

Table of contents

Photo example
It was taken with a LEICA R8 and scanned with a DiMAGE Scan Elite II.
Only a few were successfully scanned, so the number of samples was small. Also, some of them turned out to be like Gerhard Richter’s “Strip” as in the last image.

Review
The DiMAGE Scan Elite II was purchased used in 2023 and was initially returned for failure to scan continuously. Therefore, we decided to continue our Minolta scanner testing with the DiMAGE Scan Dual III and DiMAGE Scan Multi PRO.
All Minolta scanners, both slip film and slides, must be mounted in a plastic frame before use. Compared to the NIKON scanner, which can scan slip film directly, the Minolta scanner requires more time and effort to scan.

The Elite II is a high-performance 35mm scanner that includes the Digital ICE function, which is not included in the Dual series. Scanning speed was not measured because continuous scanning was not possible.

Finally, the scanner was not recognized well by the USB connection after it arrived, so we also tested the IEEE1394 connection to see if the scanner was defective or if the connection was compatible.
I pulled out my old Mac Book Air 11 with Thunderbolt2 port and connected it to the scanner via Thunderbolt-FireWire adapter (MD464ZMA) and it recognized the scanner. When I tried to scan it, I found that the first sheet could be scanned, but after the second sheet, it failed without fail, and it was returned to me. Since the scanner was fully equipped with a carrier, etc., for a used scanner, I thought I could keep it for equipment purposes, but it was too big and bulky and I intended to buy another scanner, so I decided to return it.
For the USB connection, I also checked the operation with the stock software on Windows XP 32bit installed on Mac-OS-X (Monterey) + Paralles. Here, too, only one image could be scanned and the second and subsequent images failed to be scanned.

The following is a summary of information available on the web about the MINOLTA DiMAGE SCAN series. We hope you will find this information useful when purchasing a used camera, but since there may be errors in the descriptions, we recommend that you do your own research before making a final decision. If you find any corrections in the descriptions, please let us know so that we can check and correct them.

As for software, I purchased VueScan and use it on my Macintosh. That software also has a Windows/Linux version, and I used that when my PC was running Linux/Windows. The interface is the same and there is no difference in usability between the two. The serial number is also the same.
VueScan is a long-established scanning software that supports various scanners and film color simulation.
This one has been upgraded since I paid for a permanent free upgrade online quite a while ago, and I am grateful that I have not had to pay any additional fees.

Specification
The DIMAGE Scan Elite II is a 2001 product that supports USB 1.1 and IEEE 1394 connections.
Scanning at 2820 dpi yields an image of approximately 4000 x 2700 dots.
I connected it to the Thunderbolt2 port of my Mac book Air 11 final 2015 via a Thunderbolt-FireWire adapter (MD464ZMA), and VueScan recognized the Dimage Scan Elite II. The Dimage Scan Elite II is probably usable without any problem, and if you connect the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 adapter (MMEL2AM/A) to the NIKON COOLSCAN 4000 ED or other models that only have FireWire ports, you can also use the scanner on a Mac that has USB-C. FireWire scanner can be connected and used.
The stock scanner driver is compatible with Windows up to Windows XP-32bit and Mac-OS X 10.4Tiger.
VueScan continues to be supported as of 2023.
SilverFast version 6.6 supports Mac-OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Windows up to Windows XP-32bit.

The light source for the older models in the table below is unknown, but presumably models before 2000 use 3-wavelength fluorescent lamps (hot cathode tubes), models after 2000 use 3-wavelength fluorescent lamps (cold cathode tubes), and the Elite 5400 II uses white LEDs. 5400 uses murauchi.com’s The 5400 is described as a 3-wavelength fluorescent lamp (cold cathode tube) on murauchi.com, but information on the 5400 (AF-5400) is extremely scarce, so we cannot confirm the exact information.

Series name	DiMAGE Scan Dual	DiMAGE Scan Elite	DiMAGE Scan Multi
Model name	Dual Dual II(AF-2820U) Dual III(AF-2840) Dual IV(AF-3200)	Elite Elite II(AF-2920) Elite 5400(AF-5400) Elite 5400II(AF-5400-2)	Multi(F-3000) Multi II(F-3100) Multi PRO(AF-5000)
Resolution (dpi)	2820(Dual,Dual II,Dual III) 3200(Dual IV)	2820(Elite,Elite II) 5400(Elite 5400,Elite 5400II)	2820(Multi,Multi II) 4800(Multi PRO)
Image Sensor	RGB 3line CCD	←	←
light source	Unknown(Dual) Three-wavelength fluorescent lamp (cold cathode) (Dual II, III, IV)	Unknown(Elite) Three-wavelength fluorescent lamp (cold cathode) (Elite II,5400) White LED(5400II)	Three-wavelength fluorescent lamp (hot cathode) (Multi / Multi II) Three-wavelength fluorescent lamp (cold cathode) (Multi PRO)
Scanning method	Manuscript Fixation Optics moving flatbed scanning 1-pass scanning	←	←
A/D converter	12bit(Dual I,II) 16bit(Dual III.IV)	12bit(Elite) 16bit(Elite II) 16bit(Elite 5400) 16bit(Elite 5400 II)	Unknown(Multi II) 12bit(Multi II) 16bit(Multi PRO)
Output	16bit	←	←
Digital ICE	None	Unknown(Elite) ICE 3(Elite II) ICE 4(Elite 5400) ICE 4(Elite 5400 II)	Unknown(Multi) ROC(Multi II) ICE 3(Multi PRO)
Connect interface	SCSI(Dual I,II) USB 2(Dual III,IV)	Unknown(Elite) USB 1/IEEE1394(II) USB 2/IEEE1394(5400,5400 II)	Unknown(Multi) SCSI(Multi II) SCSI/IEEE1394(Multi PRO)
Auto feeder	6	←	←
Slide scan	Exist	←	←
Large format	None	←	あり
Power supply	AC adapter	←	Build in
Weight(kg)	1.5(for All products)	Unknown(Elite) 1.5(Elite II) 2.5(Elite 5400) 1.5(Elite 5400 II)	Unknown(Multi) Unknown(Multi II) 4(Multi PRO)
Options	35mm film FH-U1 Slide SH-U1	Elite /II 　35mm film FH-U1 　Slide SH-U1 Elite 5400/5400II 　35mm film FH-M20 　Slide SH-M20	35mm film SH-M2 Slide FH-M1 Broni MH-M1
Price(Yen/No-tax)	Unknown(Dual) 6.48万円(Dual II) 4.48万円(Dual III) 3.5万円(Dual IV)	Unknown(Elite) 9.8万円(Elite II) 10.5万円(Elite 5400) 7万円(Elite 5400 II)	29.8万円(Multi) 31.8万円(Multi II) 35.8万円(Multi PRO)
Release date	1997(Dual) 2000(Dual II) 2002(Dual III) 2004(Dual IV)	1999(Elite) 2001(Elite II) 2003(Elite 5400) 2005(Elite 5400 II)	1998(Multi) 2000(Multi II) 2001(Multi PRO)