Minolta´s Dimage Scan Dual no more !
Now: Nikon Super Coolscan LS-2000

- Why new scanner ?
  
  - Better resolution and speed. Not so much the resolution, but the speed.
  - Very useful ICE(tm)-function to reduce/remove dust and scratches from surface.
  - Multi-sample scanning, reduces the noice introduced by the sensor.
  - Automatic (motor) 35mm film transport. Batch-scan of a stripe of 35mm film.
  - Optional auto-feeder for mounted slides.

- Here´s a sample image (b&w) at 2438dpi which results in a (27MB/3 =) 9MB image.
  Small preview in JPG
  Full res image in WIF (Warning: 362kBytes)

- What is WIF ?

- There is another nice wavelet compression tool.
  4U2C has a different file-format, but about the same compression ratio.
  You can get information as well as a demo version at www.summus.com

- Tony Sleep has got a great comparison page of slide-scanners.