Microtek ArtixScan M2

[Lucadomi]

Is this a good alternative to the Epson scanners?
I currently use the Epson V600 and I was looking for an upgrade.
It is hard to find info regarding the Microtek ArtixScan M2 and F2 scanners.
Is anybody using them?
Thanks.

 

[sevo]

They seemed to have been eternally back-ordered and then pulled for good. I've heard from very few people that ever had a working sample, and they weren't too excited - the general opinion was that it was nowhere near the claimed specifications. At the price of a V600 it might be considered a upgrade if you mostly are into large format, given that it has a bigger scan area and not that much worse quality - but from all I heard it was no match for a V750.

 

[Lucadomi]

It is available now at their website. I was curious about the Auto Focus feature. I guess there must be some other down side to it, maybe the optically quality is not that good.
I hope the V750 will be a good improvement over the V600.
The Plustek 120 is always back ordered too. I already have a Plustek 8100 for 35mm that I am still learning to use and a better scanner for MF would be all I need.
Thanks svevo.

 

[drew.saunders]

I have an M1, the predecessor. Unless they've done some amazing quality increases, I'd recommend a V700 or V750 instead. The auto-focus is a great idea, but a betterscanning holder on the Epson will let you get the focus correct for your scanner once with some testing and then you're set. The glassless holders are great in theory, but at least with 4x5" film, the film can bow in the holder and be out of focus, so you get less dust, but a less than perfectly focused scan. My M1 works well enough to keep it, but I'll probably get rid of it sooner or later and get a V750. Plus, Epson is likely to be around for a while, Microtek has a less certain future.

 

[Lucadomi]

Thanks Drew. Very useful firs hand experience.
I guess a V750 is in my future. The way the ANR glass holders adjust in height seems a little "primitive" for lack of a better word. But I guess I will need to be patient to find the correct height.
I think this puts the idea of the Microtek scanner to sleep.
I still have a little curiosity about the Plustek 120 (pricey for me) compared to the V750, but there is an extensive thread about this new scanner. I will follow and see what happen. Thanks.

 

[Matus]

I have never heard of that scanner, but after the experience with the F1 (M1) I am not getting another Microtek. Loud (really), unstable (software) and AF gave up on me. The speed was reasonable though (in particular for 120 or 4x5"). I found the holders quite good.

 

[Lucadomi]

The Auto focus is a good Idea, I am surprised it was not utilized in other scanners.
This Microtek product could be perfected to be a better product. I see that a lot of people are happy with the epson V700/V750 for MF and maybe that is the way to go. I still wonder how much a dedicated scanner would be better than the flatbed one.
Thanks Matus.

 

[XFer]

I still wonder how much a dedicated scanner would be better than the flatbed one.
Thanks Matus.

It depends on how much you need to enlarge.
I have many scanners in common with some friends (from a V700 to a ScanMate 11000 drum scanner) and, price/performance, the V700/750 is hard to beat!
With Betterscanning holders it can do 8x with good quality, and this is from 35mm to 4x5".
Past, say, 10x, dedicated filmscanners take an obvious lead.

This is an unsharpened 100% crop from a Minolta 5400 and a V700, both at maximum resolution, so 5400 vs 6400 (film is Velvia 100):

 

[XFer]

Big difference, right?
The Minolta 5400-II is way sharper.

But, here's what happens when you resample the scans to get an A4 print at 300 ppi (again, 100% crops). This corresponds to an 8x enlargement, from the 35mm original.

This time I sharpened the images.

 

[Lucadomi]

I hope I am looking at this properly.
The one on the right is the Minolta and Epson on the left.
From this Examples the dedicated scanner is a clear winner.
My goal is to print a around 12x12, and probably I could get excellent results also with the Epson at that size. It is unfortunate that manufacturer gave up on MF dedicated scanners. Great examples XFer!
Grazie.

 

[XFer]

In both examples (5400 vs 6400 the first one, resampled to A4@300 the second, both 100% crops), the V700 is on the left and the Minolta 5400-II is on the right.

Fernando

 

[Lucadomi]

The Minolta looks like a very good scanner. I wonder if you can still find one in decent condition. And then you probably need a PC running Windows XP and with the firewire connection.
Other options are digitize with a DSLR or the Imacon Flextight Precision Scanner. But I don't know much about these either.
Thanks Fernando.

 

[XFer]

Hi Luca,

The Minolta looks like a very good scanner. I wonder if you can still find one in decent condition. And then you probably need a PC running Windows XP and with the firewire connection.

The Minolta 5400 and 5400-II can still be found, but not frequently. Those who own one, won't sell it easily because it's good stuff (expecially the II).

It works with Windows 7-64 and Mac OS X 10.8, and does not need a firewire connection: it has USB 2.0 as well.

Fernando

 

[Garyn]

Hello All,
I own the latest Microtek F2 model, sister model to the M2. I have owned this scanner since August of last year, shortly after it came out on the market. Previous to that I owned and still have the Microtek M1 scanner. in comparison between the two I would have to say that the that the new F2 is much quieter, especially when it's going through the auto focus stage, the scans are faster than the M1 and the initial powering on is much faster too. As for sharpness of the scans I found that there was not a whole lot of difference when I scanned the same 35mm Kodachrome slide between the two scanners, slightly better with the new F2 scanner.I found though that when I scanned my 4 x 5 black and white negatives ( T-Max 400 ) that the overall sharpness from edge to edge was much better and pleasing with the new F2 scanner. A few years ago I did a test with a friend and photographer who owns a Epson V750, we didn't see a huge amount of difference in terms of sharpness between the two ( M1 vs V750 ), admittedly the V750 did showed better sharpness @ 100%, but not by a whole lot, by the time one makes reasonable sized prints that difference evaporates. The auto focus works well on F2 scanner, with the M1 it sometimes mis-focused, I have not done enough scans with the F2 to determine if the same mis-focus issue happens, I would usually re-scan again and it would be fine.

I hope that info helps.

Gary

 

[kowen]

M2's autofocus...

M2's autofocus...

Hey GaryN,

With the autofocus, isn't there a way to pinpoint where you want the focus to be in the pre-scan phase? I've had a Scanmaker 8700 and the Artixscan 4000t-I love the Scan-Wizard Pro software, and IIRC, I was able to click an area of my negative where I wanted the focus to be. If not, maybe it had to do with the exposure.

I'm thinking of getting the M2 eventually, I don't have the Microteks anymore. At least the optical resolution of the M1/M2 is higher than the 8700 was (1200dpi), ok for 120's & 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 and up, not so for 35mm.

Thanks for mentioning the new M2/F2

kowen

 

[Garyn]

Hello Kowen,

Yes, you are right there is a way to pin point where you want the focus to be, at least with the SilverFast software.

Gary

 

[kowen]

Thanks for the info, Gary. The 8700's scan glass could be removed if it needed cleaning, I'm thinking the same goes for the M1/2 & F1/2. I've read about the Plustek 8000 series scanner, would like to see a review on their software, I think one of their earlier 7000 series models you can pick 3600 or 7200 for the scan dpi, maybe that was for quick-scan mode, I would say you could scan somewhere in between that.

I have an older Epson 2450, it may or may not still work, at 2400 optical it is not enough for 35mm film, not to bad for 120 and 2.25x3.25 film. Their software is very good also, but I do prefer Microtek's ScanWizardPro.

Will probably save my pennies for the M2, just wish I could find more 35mm color film/slide scans on the web.