Scanning limitations - or why not buy a drum scanner?

[chipper]

Alan, thats a damn fine offer. I have been recommended to a place in Brighton (Spectrum), where the drum scans are to the highest standard. The trouble is, they want £30 - £40 per scan, depending on print size. I'm wondering (haven't thought it through yet, coz i'm good at that ), if anyone would be interested in a group purchase, say 5 or 6 of us. Then replacement drums and/or other expensive parts would be easier on the wallet. Just a thought if anyone wants to pm me.

[Quentin]

They are pretty heavy but you can move them about in the back of a car with a decent size boot. A 4500 takes two to lift and move.

Good Luck, Alan & others, I hope is works out Keep us posted.

Quentin

[DJ]

It's very tempting. Just had a chat with Pete too, he's gonna send me some more specs. I'm about to be made redundant in the next two weeks, then I'm off on a nice trip to relax and wind down. When I get back, I expect (hope) to have a great deal of chromes to scan. At this point, I will probably then setup my new V750 and optimise the hell out of it, get the right scanning height, wet mounting, get the new "Multi-Exposure" version of Silverfast etc. Basically give it every opportunity to perform, ensure the Best Case scenario.

Quentin, I wonder if you'd be interested in an experiment? I'm aware such comparisons have been done before, and have seen most of them, but I think it would be interesting to see the same chrome scanned both on your new Howtek 4500, and a V750 used with every available advantage it can get. I expect the Howtek to best the V750, but it would be interesting to see by how much. It would also be interesting to me to help evaluate whether to buy one. Game?

[DJ]

I am very interested and have just rung the chap. I would be prepared to purchase at this price and if anyone is intrerested I would be prepared to loan it out. Will let you know.

A very generous offer indeed. What goes around comes around. I have about £4500 worth of top of the line professional ICC profiling software/hardware at my disposal ( setting up a colour profiling business ), the very least I could do is profile this beast for you for free. You'll likely want your own target to scan, but the rest can be done remotely. We can work out the details later.

[Quentin]

It's very tempting. Just had a chat with Pete too, he's gonna send me some more specs. I'm about to be made redundant in the next two weeks, then I'm off on a nice trip to relax and wind down. When I get back, I expect (hope) to have a great deal of chromes to scan. At this point, I will probably then setup my new V750 and optimise the hell out of it, get the right scanning height, wet mounting, get the new "Multi-Exposure" version of Silverfast etc. Basically give it every opportunity to perform, ensure the Best Case scenario.

Quentin, I wonder if you'd be interested in an experiment? I'm aware such comparisons have been done before, and have seen most of them, but I think it would be interesting to see the same chrome scanned both on your new Howtek 4500, and a V750 used with every available advantage it can get. I expect the Howtek to best the V750, but it would be interesting to see by how much. It would also be interesting to me to help evaluate whether to buy one. Game?

I'm game...

Quentin

[Quentin]

My profiling might not be as good as yours. I have MonacoProof and a 35mm Q60 target I have just used to build a profile. I also have a Hutcheson target somewhere but the software to use that has expired. So I have a decent workable profile but not the best known to man.

Quentin

[alangolding]

I am still waiting for Peter Slynn to come back to me. Just a thought. What sort of interface would be needed. At present I have a Pentium 4 but am looking to invest in the new Apple with the new intel processor. Will this link to up OK with what I presume is older technology?

[Quentin]

I am still waiting for Peter Slynn to come back to me. Just a thought. What sort of interface would be needed. At present I have a Pentium 4 but am looking to invest in the new Apple with the new intel processor. Will this link to up OK with what I presume is older technology?

I run the 4500 from an old Wall St Mac laptop with OS 8.6. There are several software choices but none work on the latest OS10.

The scanner itself uses SCSI, which is no big deal. It can be run

- using Trident 4, on a Mac running OS 9 or earlier.

- Using Aurora but I'm not completely sure what platforms (Pc is one, but I don't know about Vista or Mac)

- Using Silverfast on either platform.

You'd better have a word with Pete, as he will have a better idea of what is possible. He has a solution to most issues - he has been working with Howteks for a decade or more.

Quentin

[DJ]

To use the scanner on one of the newer Macs, you'd need a SCSI interface, or a Firewire->SCSI interface. There's not many SCSI cards around for the new Mac Pro, which is PCI-Express, but there are cards available, just not from major vendors. Older ones such as the G4/G5 Power Macs, shouldn't have much trouble finding a SCSI card. These cards are often much newer SCSI than is required, so you should check the card can accept a standard "old-fashioned" single-ended SCSI device. The iMac desktop machines, you won't get a SCSI card for.

There's a nifty little Firewire->SCSI converter, which works with any Mac/PC really, but whether it's compatible with the Howtek, is another question. They're about £92 and it plugs onto the SCSI connector on the device, and you just plug a Firewire cable into it. Has configuration programs for all major versions of OS. It's known to work with quite a few "old" scanners, but the list given is just desktop flatbeds, I don't think they considered drum scanners.

Silverfast will work on Win 2000, Win XP and Mac OS-X, and is probably what I would consider.

[Quentin]

I think the software is more of an issue than the connection. Trident 4, which I use, as do most Howtek owners, for example, has not been updated for several years. It is sophisticated software, and is nominaly supported by Colorbyte, who also sell ImagePrint. It requires a hardware dongle.

Pete suppies Aurora, I believe. Not a clue how good that is.

Silverfast is the most modern familiar software, and you can download and try it with the Howtek free (no file saving).

For experiences good and bad with software and drum scanners generally, a good starting place is the ScanHi-End yahoo group.

The 4500 is purring away as a I type, sodont be put off.

Quentin

[alangolding]

Just a word of thanks to DJ for the kind offer. I think we may need to get together on this as you must understand that in this field I am very much a beginner.
Also I think that chipper may have a point about sharing. It has struck me on a number of occasions that we may need the use of something on a limited basis but the cost is high. If we can help each other out I am all for it.

[chipper]

Ok, so here's my ideal scenario: I would be prepared to share the cost of initial purchase of a good drum scanner with several others; and would subsequently be prepared to share the cost of future maintenance/replacement parts etc. I live on the Isle Of Wight, so would expect that the unit to be be situated in someone elses home far more central and less remote than mine. I would like to travel to the scanner location, say once every 6-8 weeks on average, in order to scan my own transparencies, or on occasion, send them to the scanner custodian (grand title!) in order for him/her to scan the transparencies for me. I would of course pay a fee for time and effort. Stu.

[Quentin]

Some comparisons between a Howtek 4500 scan and an Epson 4990 scan

Here is a link to the pbase gallery where these can be viewed. I had embedded the pics but its easier to visit the gallery and save server space here. Explanations below each image

http://www.pbase.com/douglas_freer/scanner_comparisons

All done very quickly, so apologies for bubbles and blobs in scans

Quentin

[alangolding]

I think this is a good idea. I am prepared to make a financial contribution. On the point of scanner location I have been giving this some thought. I realise that I do not have any really satisfactour place to store a large scanner. I have a wooden workshop with heating and power but ther is a lot of other stuff in ther already which may not be compatable - laths, drills and milling machine! Does someone have a more ideal location?

[alangolding]

Just to let you know I have now made contact with Peter Slynn and have arranged to visit him next Wednesday. I then hope to have a clearer picture of the size of the scanner and what sort of support it will need.