retro
Well-known
I found a lightly used Microtek i800 Pro scanner for $150
at a local film production company moving sale. All the
goodies including manuals, software and still-sealed film
holders. Retail list on these is $420 so I couldn't resist
that deal -- my first decent scanner.
I'm still learning the machine but first impressions are
very good. I'm not all that knowledgable about scanners
but this seems to have more than enough quality and scanning
ability than I'll need for a while.
It has film holders for 35mm, 120 and 4x5 and you can even
scan an 8x10 film/transparency (8x12 actually) by direct
placement on the bed without a holder needed.
As far as I can tell, the i800 Pro is the same machine as
the regular i800 with the addition of certain software
upgrades (and $100 added to the price.)
Being the scanning newby that I am, for my first scan I
chose a 2400 dpi setting (it will do more) for scanning a
print. The scan took quite a while and I ended up with a
humongus tiff file of almost 1 GB! A tad bit more than I
needed. Then I pulled back to 600 dpi and the scans were
quick and easy and looked good. I don't plan on making
prints with this so the hi-res scans are really not needed
for my use, though I may try enlarged negative-making for
contact printing use.
I haven't even gotten into the "pro" software yet as I'm still
learning the basics of this thing. The 35mm slide holders
are easy to use (I've heard the Epson slide holders aren't
so good). I haven't tried any other sizes yet.
It's a big scanner -- bigger than I expected. Almost 2 feet
long and about 6" high. Not a problem -- just surprising.
Anyway, it's a fun machine and I'm enjoying it.
shop window, hollywood blvd, nikkor 50/1.4, kodachrome
at a local film production company moving sale. All the
goodies including manuals, software and still-sealed film
holders. Retail list on these is $420 so I couldn't resist
that deal -- my first decent scanner.
I'm still learning the machine but first impressions are
very good. I'm not all that knowledgable about scanners
but this seems to have more than enough quality and scanning
ability than I'll need for a while.
It has film holders for 35mm, 120 and 4x5 and you can even
scan an 8x10 film/transparency (8x12 actually) by direct
placement on the bed without a holder needed.
As far as I can tell, the i800 Pro is the same machine as
the regular i800 with the addition of certain software
upgrades (and $100 added to the price.)
Being the scanning newby that I am, for my first scan I
chose a 2400 dpi setting (it will do more) for scanning a
print. The scan took quite a while and I ended up with a
humongus tiff file of almost 1 GB! A tad bit more than I
needed. Then I pulled back to 600 dpi and the scans were
quick and easy and looked good. I don't plan on making
prints with this so the hi-res scans are really not needed
for my use, though I may try enlarged negative-making for
contact printing use.
I haven't even gotten into the "pro" software yet as I'm still
learning the basics of this thing. The 35mm slide holders
are easy to use (I've heard the Epson slide holders aren't
so good). I haven't tried any other sizes yet.
It's a big scanner -- bigger than I expected. Almost 2 feet
long and about 6" high. Not a problem -- just surprising.
Anyway, it's a fun machine and I'm enjoying it.
shop window, hollywood blvd, nikkor 50/1.4, kodachrome
