Nikon Coolscan IV question.

[Len Robertson]

I've checked back a few times hoping the lady would find the cords and slide holder for the scanner. No luck yet. In the meantime, my wife picked up a generic USB cord at the local electronics store. It is made by "Gigaware" and is a USB-A Male to USB-B Male. The ends look like they should work, but I thought I would see if there is any reason not to run a generic cord with the Coolscan. One review I read of the Coolscan IV mentioned the original Nikon cord being "well shielded", but whether this really means anything, I don't know. Will this cord be okay?

Len

[P C Headland]

Should be fine.  A USB cable is a USB cable, you just have to ensure the two end connectors are the right shape.

[Len Robertson]

Ahh, thank you for the reassurance. I tend to worry about anything electrical, probably more than I need to. But I hate the smell of burned wiring. My wife and I will probably tackle the Coolscan this weekend. We got a couple of inches of snow this afternoon here in E Washington State, which is good for the winter wheat, but temps are supposed to drop over the next few days. Staying home over the weekend will probably be the smart thing to do.

Len

[br1078lum]

Most USB cables have adequate sheilding from interference so that your data doesn't get mangled on the way to the CPU, or put out spurious signals that could mess up some equipment.  Some are more than adequate, some are less.  I think Gigaware falls right there in the middle, so it should be okay.

PF

[Len Robertson]

Thanks again for everyone's help. I ran across a couple of sites related to Nikon scanners which may be of interest. First one on cleaning the Coolscan IV:

http://www.sebsgarage.com/2005/11/cleaning-nikon-coolscan-iv-ed-ls-40-film-scanner

Then a comparison of the Coolscan IV and the Epson 4870 flatbed:

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2009/03/nikon-iv-ed-vs-epson-flatbed.html

Len