Post your drum scans (aka the first official Drum Scanners thread)

I know resolution charts are boring, but hey, once in a time... :angel:

ScanMate 11000 BEFORE maintenance (chart shows line pairs/mm directly):

262_51698761072ad.jpg



After maintenance:

262_516987737024b.jpg
 
Thanks for your response dear Margus.

So... I've been reading about the SM11000 pretty hard to get, and Imacons and Creo scanner, which is the close in quality scanner to the ScanMate?

Here in the EU is difficult to find..
 
Bruno,
I'm guessing that you are located in the EU?
There is a PrePress dealer in Germany that sells many different brand of scanners. I think its Brennek? I was looking for replacement bulbs for my Scitex Jazz+ and Scitex Eversmart Pro II. Eventually I bought a dozen bulbs to keep me going for a long while.

If you are stateside, I would recommend buying from Genesis Marketing Equipment. http://www.genesis-equipment.com/

I sold (2) of my Scitex Jazz + to them awhile back. I have just the Eversmart Pro II remaining along with my Imacon Precision II/III.

The SM11000 would probably be better any of the Imacon. I would think that the Scitex Eversmart Supreme II would be its match, provided that its been tweeted by a technician prior to any test comparison.

Evan
 
Bruno Gracia said:
Thanks for your response dear Margus.

So... I've been reading about the SM11000 pretty hard to get, and Imacons and Creo scanner, which is the close in quality scanner to the ScanMate?

Here in the EU is difficult to find..
Click to expand...


If you ask my personal opinion as an artist who's fanatical about analog photography - none of those CCD scanners even touch the ScanMate 11K. CCD just can't beat a well designed PMT-equipment in terms of analog-like or fineart-like results - it's the unique PMT-rendering with adjustable apertures that no CCD can emulate or simulate. That being said the later Creos/Eversmarts are very capable scanners in class of their own and probably among the best CCD scanners you can buy - flatbed ease with Imacon quality on larger formats - it's much easier to use than any drum scanner for sure.

Yes, ScanMate's are difficult to find in EU, I've seen more in US. ScanMate 5000 and 4000 apparently are also very capable PMT scanners when overhauled, if you find them. Note most of older non-overhauled ScanMates require mainboard modification, which costs around 400EUR.

A couple of months ago guys at Denmark had one completely overhauled SM11000 for sale. Not sure if it's still available.

Cheers,
Margus
 
I have the Hasselblad flextight Precison II and 2 spare old Mac`s to run it. Several spare lamps. I think I am covered for life... Flextight, new RPX 100 film by MACO and hasselblad V series Zeiss optics... Nothing to worry...
 
That photo of 'Alien Twin Towers' is great, when I saw the crops, I thought '4x5 Velvia?' but 6x7 400 ISO film?! Amazing amount of detail, makes the Nikon D7000 I used to have look like a crappy mobile phone.
 
thegman said:
That photo of 'Alien Twin Towers' is great, when I saw the crops, I thought '4x5 Velvia?' but 6x7 400 ISO film?! Amazing amount of detail, makes the Nikon D7000 I used to have look like a crappy mobile phone.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's a 6x7 frame of Provia 400X and very wide angle lens 45mm (24mm in 35mm format), plus 3 optical filters in front of the lens to further degrade the quality. 😀

Shorter exposure and w/o the filters I'd be MUCH sharper, but wouldn't have the tonality and the long exposure "effect".


Bruno Gracia said:
The Creo renders better than the latest Hasselblads?
Click to expand...

I'm no specialist of those particular scanners, but in some comparisons I've seen - with 35mm it's probably a close call, but MF and bigger - there's not much competition between them - Creo will blow the Hasselblad/Imacon out of the water.

If you can't find the ScanMate and want to have unique PMTs instead of common CCDs - also you can look for the Heidelberg drum scanners - Tango (or Chromograph if you have lots of room). Parts and support availability and modern Silverfast scanning software support is a very nice feature on those machines.

Cheers,
Margus
 
If the OP allows me (I really don't want to be off-topic, this is a magnificient thread!!) I could post reschart crops (X5, IQSmart3, SM11K, Screen1030AI).
Anyway, the main shortcoming of the Imacons is the rapidly declining resolution with larger formats.
A Creo can still do 10000x5500 on 4x5" and its maximum format is 12x18"; an X5 does 8000x8000 on 135 but only 3200x3200 on 120 and 2048x2048 in 4x5" (its max format).
The Imacon has much higher microcontrast and perceived sharpness, but also greater grain evidence and dust sensitivity (and you can't wet mount; you can on Creo).
The Creo has some chromatic aberration at maximum resolution.
If you are expecially interested in 135 and you want the absolute best, go for the X5. Otherwise, go for the Creo. Both need accurate and constant maintenance (belts, lamps, etc).
 
Thanks guys!

Mainly will be for scan my Leica negatives and probably my future Mamiya 7..

So X5 over the Creo for 35 and Creo over the x5 for MF.

The Tango solution seems to be high expensive, isn't it? And too hard to running..

Greetings from Hot South Spain.
 
Bruno,

I have used drum scanners in the past (Crosfield, H0wtek, Optronics Color Getter, Lintype Tango) For speed and highest possible resolution form a CCD scanner, go for a Creo/Scitex Eversmart Supreme II. Forget about the IQSmart as they made 3 different version - IQ1, IQ2, & IQ3. IQ3 is the best of the lot.

I have the Imacon Precision II/II meaning that it started out as a II but with the Ratoc FRS1X adapter, I am able to upgrade by software to the latest possible software for the III. I find my Creo beating hands down in resolution and quality scan of 6X6 and 4X5 film. Their saving grace is the FlexColor software 3F that allows you to scan in max res as a raw file and then APPLYING the Hasselblad Color LUT based on film used. I find it fantastic in its color rendering.

I would need to play with my LightRoom 4 or upgrade it to LightRoom 5 to get the maximum use out of 3rd party vendor color rendering software.

I did see a SM111000 being posted for sale on Luminous Landscape forum in Poland for $6500 complete. IT is part of 2 scanner setup from a PrePress shop in Poland. Its proabably one of the best "desktop" size scanner I seen. For me the drum is not an option due to space limitation at home.

Evan

Below is the actual message. Hope that someone here buys it! Its in Warsaw, Poland. I have nothing invested in this beside the intended interest to help out fellow scanner operators! Good to all!

-------------------
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=80803.0

I finally made up my mind.. in the pursuit of drum scanning solution, I ended up with two Scanmate 11000 scanning units. I decided to part with the nicer one. I've managed to buy a Scanmate 11000 which is a complete package- including the manual, drum mounting station, calibration slides, even the key dongles for older version of ColorQuartet and the wooden trunk the scanner came in.
The unit has been purchased from a friend of mine which was a co-owner of a DTP agency- the scanner has a mileage of about 2-3 months of work, rest of the time the unit spent in a dry place in the wooden trunk.
So to sum up, I am selling an almost brand new Scanmate 11000 unit, which is said to be one of top 3 scanning markets on the market, yielding a 3-micrometer aperture (only two scanners I;m aware of that have this aperture is ICG380 and Howtek top model).
I want roughly what I payed for it, around $6500 + shipping. You are more than welcome to pick it up locally of course- the shipping might be expensive becuase the scanner alone weights around 49 kg.
Some photos:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate1.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate2.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate3.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate4.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate5.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate6.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate7.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate8.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate9.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate10.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate11.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127304338/Scanmate/scanmate12.jpg

Despite the items you cans ee in the photos, the scanner comes with a second, spare drum. Both drums are in great condition and with wet mounting should give no significant additional work in post-processing, other than some usual dust removal.

Till August 11th I may be now responding to your messages due to my holiday departure. I will however try to stay in touch.. but it's possible that I'll be able to address your questions no sooner than on August 12th.
Maybe I'll post some scanning samples when I get back as well.
 
Due to its scarcity, I think that its a good buy. You might have better support in Europe versus the US. Many of the prepress house has been dumping their working scanner due to lack of support, spare parts, high maintenance plan, and the biggest one of them all, the lost of business for scanning needs.

I'm quite sure that Margus with his knowledge base, can give you some pointers. Just be aware that there is no more new software being written for these babies. You would need to depend on legacy computers to keep it running.

Now I have to make arrangement to pick up a friend's old Apple G4 setup he is no longer using! A backup to my 3 scanners...
 
Bruno,

The Creo/Scitex scanners would also fall into the legacy software and hardware issue too. Last version of the softqare was written for use with Snow Leopard. No PC software as far as I know.

If you go this route, you will be limited to the Intel-based Mac and software no higher than Snow Leopard.

Th drum scanners would also fall into this same category. If you are able to get a test sample scan from whichever scanner you decide on, that would give you a good idea as to which one to go with. Personally I find the drum scanner gives you the best quality. Look into the ICG scanner. The company is still in operation and are fully supported.

http://www.icg.ltd.uk/
 
thanks Evan, so my only two choices are The Flextight X1/5... I'm Mac user by the way.


EDIT:

ICG 380 New Starts at £80,000.00
Used models are available from £25,000.00-£30,000.00


PFFFFFF


Back to the SM11000? 😉
 
Bruno Gracia said:
thanks Evan, so my only two choices are The Flextight X1/5... I'm Mac user by the way.


EDIT:

ICG 380 New Starts at £80,000.00
Used models are available from £25,000.00-£30,000.00
Click to expand...


Yup, this is the nominal price range of elite drum scanners when brand new. Welcome to the world of hand-built true high-end :angel:

Add the maintenance cost and skillset required - drum scanners used to be affordable only to pre-press/industrial companies, just handful of pro-photographers could afford them as personal tools. With common sense most elite photographers (NatGeo etc) just used elite drum scanning services, and very successfully results/costs ratio wise during film's haydays.

I'm always amazed the phenomena in nature that there's a certain point somwhere 80-85% of the best possible quality, a point where if you want it to get better quality the price (or resource required) starts to grow expoentially while the quality you for it still increases linearly. In all fields (cars, motorcycles, scientific equipment, military electronics etc etc) it's the same phenomena 😀

Yet a simple relativity theory tells us the £25,000 for a fully overhauled ICG ready for years of high-end service is still cheap when you compare it to some £20,000 for a brand new but still very limited (in comparison) Hasselblad X5. Everything in life is relative...

Cheers,
Margus
 
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