The lab I work with offers both options for scanning. After two years and several tests, here is my personal and honest review regarding the Noritsu vs. Frontier debate. All of the images below are shot in my studio in Mauritius Island. The camera is a Nikon F5, and the lens is a Nikkor 135mm f3.5 AI.
While Frontier is a very popular scanner with a very distinctive look, it is not always the best option. Frontier seems to work fine with a lot of film, including the Portra 400 series. The colors are vibrant, contrasty, and punchy. It does have a unique look and generally tends to add a little more saturation and gold to the skin tone.
All of the images above are shot with Portra 400 and scanned with the SP 3000 Frontier. The colors are vibrant, and you can see that some skin tones can get a little too golden sometimes, but overall, the images are very pleasant and have this distinctive film look.
Noritsu, on the other hand, tends to have less contrast but better skin tone and highlight retention. It is also a better option for black and white. For the past year, I have been shooting exclusively Portra 160 in the studio, and the results are definitely better with the Noritsu scanner.
Noritsu seems to work better with E6 reversal/slide film. The following pictures are done with Kodak Ektachrome 100.
Which image do you prefer? Noritsu vs Frontier ? which scanner is best for for your film is a personal choice, but my preference goes to the Noritsu.
One last thing is the Noritsu offers higher resolution than the Frontier and should be your scanner of choice if you intend to do large prints.
All the images here are scanned by Cape Film Supply, a fantastic lab and team. You can send them your film, the price is very good, and the quality and service are amazing.
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