How to connect a Nikon Firewire scanner like the LS-4000, LS-8000, or LS-9000 to an Apple Mac

Since Apple does no longer offer Macs with Firewire ports anymore, there is increasing demand to learn how to connect Nikon SuperCoolScan devices like the CoolScan IV ed, or the medium format LS 8000 and LS 9000 scanners to a Mac (running up to macOS 15 - no Firewire support in macOS 26 Tahoe!). 

Here is how we do it in LaserSoft Imaging testing center. You can see the complete solution in image 1 attached to this article.

The easiest part is to use a simple converter plug as a Firewire 400 to 800 adapter (attachments 2-4).  

To change to Thunderbolt we use the Apple A1463 connector (attachments 4-7), and plug this into an Apple A1790 to finally be able to plug into a USB-C port (attachments 8-10). 

As a result, you should now find the scanner listed in the -> Apple menu -> About this mac... -> General (here you might need to press "About" first) -> System report. 

In the system report it is shown in the section -> Hardware -> Firewire. 

If the LS-4000 / LS-8000 / LS-9000 is not listed there, SilverFast has no chance to detect it. 
In that case, some cable, port, adapter, controller, anything starting from the Mac and ending with the mainboard of the scanner might be defective. 

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