Nikon Coolscan IV APS Film Adapter Reviews

• APS adapter works great with Coolscan V

  
  By AI3JCBK66OQXR on 2005-04-27
  After researching the best way to scan APS film, I purchased a Coolscan V scanner from Amazon and this IA-20(S) adapter from Adorama thru the Amazon site. I never really found any reviews concerning scanning APS film, so I stuck with the scanner that had the best reviews and bought the APS adapter to go with it.
  
  I found that these units were bid up on auction sites to within fifty dollars of the price of a new unit. My plan is to scan all of my film, then sell the scanner and adapter.
  
  The film scans are beautiful! Much better than scans of the prints and much quicker and simpler. The software has many nice tools, especially Digital Ice, which eliminates all dust and spots with no apparent effect on the scan quality.
  
  This is an excellent way to scan APS films, which are much easier to scan than 35mm strips. You just put the roll in the adapter. You click one button in the Nikon Scan software and it displays all 25 or 40 thumbnails in a minute or two. Since I had around 100 APS rolls to scan, I set up the defaults so that it would automatically have the normal parameters set when I scanned APS films. Then I just had to rotate the images to the correct orientation, select all of the thumbnails and hit the scan button in the software. It asks about the file name structure and the folder they will go into, and presents a few other options, then it spends about an hour to scan a roll of 25. I go do something else during that time. I haven't had any computer crashes during scanning, even while browsing or running other software on my computer (a low-end 2004 Sony VAIO desktop) simultaneously.
  
  You can preview all of the frames and adjust all of the scan parameters for each individual shot before the final scan. I found this to only be useful on films with mostly dark shots. It takes about 15-20 minutes to preview a roll of 25. It is time-consuming to correct each shot. If there are only a few dark shots on a roll, then I preview and fix the ones I am sure will need additional software cleanup. Then I scan the whole roll. After scanning, I reopen the files, perform auto contrast on most shots, make any other adjustments, then resave them. Very efficient.
  
  The adapter worked flawlessly for me for about 3 weeks, scanning about 55 APS films, mostly with 25 exposures but a few were 40-exposure rolls. While scanning the last 10 of those films a squeaking noise developed and worsened, but I ignored it because the scans did not have problems. Finally the adapter choked on a 40-exposure roll. The motor made a high pitched whining noise, like some gears had stripped or something. I did manage to open the door and get the roll out...That roll had a couple creases in it (but I later managed to scan it.) I returned the adapter to Nikon for warranty service. They returned it a couple weeks later. I completed scanning my remaining 45 rolls without incident. Because I'm not sure about the expected lifetime, I wouldn't advise buying a used adapter.
  
  Overall my experience with the scanner and the APS adapter was good, but there are a couple things they should add:
  1. A reader for the APS film's embedded magnetic strip. Inclusion of the date as data was one of the advantages of APS film. This data could be used to adjust the file date or included as part of the filename. This would make sorting easier.
  2. A "Select All" button for easier selection of a whole roll.
  
  I gave the APS adapter only 4 stars due to its mechanical failure after only 55 rolls. Nikon Coolscan V is an excellent scanning system for APS film as well as 35mm.
  
  

• Poor Quality WILL NOT LAST!!!

  
  By AFWMVMPB2WVP9 on 2005-09-11
  This item was such a HUGE disappointment. Initially, it worked well. BUT the more it was used (we are only talking 50 rolls or so) the more it started to deteriorate. First came the noises. Then the grinding. Then the failures to load film. Forget trying to load the rolls of 40 pictures, it would bring this thing to a grinding halt in many cases. This thing was only built to scan maybe 25-50 rolls tops. Read the reviews on other websites. Others have had the same thing happen. Inevitable failure. AND this is my SECOND one, both with the same result. For Nikon to release such a poorly constructed product is surprising. Especially since the scanner (I have the Coolscan V) it goes in is actually a well built and excellent product.
  
  Bottom line...WAY too much money for a hunk of plastic with such poor construction. It will do the job if it is a small one (25-to 50 rolls, keep the number of rolls of 40 pictures to a minimum!). Be prepared to use that warranty and send it back to Nikon at least once or twice. And wear a headset, becuase that grinding squeaking noise as it rolls your film out is unbearable!
  
  

• It broke down after a few rolls

  
  By A5QSSKA60RI7K on 2006-02-19
  It started reporting error messages that the film cannot be loaded after a few rolls. The Cool Scan V scanner is of course very nice and still continue to work with the slide and 35mm adapters. The successful APX scans were very nice. I was disappointed to see it break down only after a few (about 20) rolls going through it. The latest is that one of my APX roll is stuck in it and it won't even eject it. I am planning to send it to Nikon with the roll in it and see what happens. Since it has only been a month, it is still under warranty.
  
  

• mine jammed too

  
  By A2BWVOK94IJZPY on 2007-04-14
  It jammed after about 40 rolls, so I sent it back for a warranty repair and to extract the film cartridge. When it came back it jammed again on the first roll. I sent it again and now it's working (12 rolls and counting...).
  
  That said, when it works it works well, and I did some research and couldn't find a better way scan all my old APS film. So be prepared for some frustration if you decide to use this adapter.
  
  

• Great for it's intended use but reliability is poor

  
  By A3D9V2DETXN5B9 on 2008-04-02
  For its intended use case this works very well for scanning in APS films (15, 25 and 40 exposure). I have a Coolscan V (LS-50) and use VueScan software. I scanned in quite a lot of images quite happily. Some months afterwards I had to scan in some more APS films and the adapter jammed leaving the film stuck in the adapter.
  
  The adapter is also REALLY loud when spooling and unspooling film from the cartridge. If you are in a smallish room you will not want to scan too many films in one sitting.
  
  On the whole I have been happy and may well purchase another one just because I still have APS films to scan.
  
  
• Don't Even Think About It
  By A6RFU32TRL32Y on 2008-08-28
  Scanner works great with the included slide and film strip holders.
  I read all of the reviews about the APS adapter.
  I don't think I have ever had a product fail out of the box in quite a long time.
  The adapter arrived today from Adorama. Read the brief instructions carefully.
  I loaded my first roll of APS film as per instructions and after a few seconds of
  grinding and squealing and a flashing light on the scanner
  I got an error message telling me to turn the scanner off and restart it.
  I did and after a few more seconds of grinding and squealing
  the flashing light was followed by the same error message.
  The film is still securely inside the adapter and there is no way
  to open the door once things go wrong.
  I should have believed what I read about this product.
  It now has to be sent back to Nikon before I can do anything about
  returning the product to the dealer because Nikon will have to
  retrieve my roll of film.
  
  
• Works for me
  By A1RB25H2OU6JQL on 2007-11-12
  I had a brief interlude with APS film during 2000-2001, so I only had 16 rolls to scan with 25 shots each. The APS film adapter has performed well for me, no jams. In the Nikon Scan software, I am able to specify a crop and rotation for one frame, save the settings, and then apply the settings to each frame of an entire roll; the auto feeder lines up the frames accurately. I can walk away while 25 frames scan automatically, a real timesaver. I scan using ICE/GEM (no ROC) at 4000 dpi; the scans have much more shadow detail than the original prints, and the GEM does a great job of smoothing the very grainy APS film. Because the original APS prints have the date/time each photo was taken printed on the back, I use free Exifer software to apply date/time EXIF information to each jpeg file.
  
  
• Improved over time?
  By A2Z6JOXW8LU1V0 on 2008-08-29
  Like the others, I had a shoebox of film to scan. With my first adapter I was able to scan 140 rolls (mostly 25 exp) without issue. Also, another review mentioned that it cut off part of the print, but in my case the LS-50 does not.
  My adapter was purchased in 2008.
  
  
• Works great, until it doesn't
  By A3KPBEAGGFFSFW on 2008-02-09
  Exactly as predicted by all the other reviews. I had mine for exactly 1 week, during which I scanned 61 rolls of APS film, all 25 exposure. Roll #62 went with the unit back to Nikon service for repair. It sounded like the gears stripped. I have to believe they built the thing with cheap plastic gears in order to be cost effective, and due to the relatively low volume of sales for such a thing, it's cheaper to repair them then to re-design. Buyer should also be aware that this thing doesn't scan the entire negative area of the APS film strip. It actually cuts off about 3mm of the width of the frame. So if your scanning an especially nice panoramic shot, you might want to get a strip holder and scan it that way, in order to get the entire negative. But when it works, there's no easier way to scan a bunch of old pics.
  
  
• a little patience and practice
  By A1YOHLBDOPRMA9 on 2008-07-01
  I read all the negative reviews of this piece of equipment and bought it anyway. With the negative reviews in mind I have taken special care to load and unload the film cartridges carefully, which can be tricky until you get some practice, now nearly a year later with all my APS rolls finished, I will say I have had no problems at all.
  
  

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