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

Do you also have such a color noise in your Scanmate scans? Epson in shadows is smooth - I've tried diffrent modes, profiles and no change. In RAW mode edges are jagged. Please check your Velvia scans and let me know.
 
Do you also have such a color noise in your Scanmate scans?

No, I have very smooth shadows, I can pull up levels without issues.
I don't apply any curve in ColorQuartet, no correction profile, no sharpening, no levels / black point setting / contrast etc. Just a plain untouched scan.
I scan in TIFF RGB 16 mode, ProPhoto output color space.

Do you perform a White Point Calibration before a scanning session (after 15-20 minutes of warming up)?

Fernando
 
Ditto to Fernando - no problems.

Jaggies (distorted straight-line details) are already explained above that can be caused on various reasons.

But SM5000/11000 can have lines in the shadow - i.e. if you push out levels to max left you should see noticable straight dark lines in the shadows. This needs a control board modification by ABC-scan. See my post some pages back on this tread.
 
Here's for example Stouffer step wedge. SM sees up to number 37 (3.65D):

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByP8kkW_h00uWEVlXzNaaWRBaU0/edit?usp=sharing


Can't see the file, some premission issue again.

But from the examples sounds like you need to adjust PMT biases, could be your PMTs are faded or dichrotic filters/optics dirty - my SM11K beats the crap out of V700 in shadow performance, there's no much comparison in overall quality IMHO.

Yours definitely isn't working correct. PMT scanners do create some little noise in the E6 shadows, but it's because elite drum scanners bring out the most shadow details than any other scanner on Earth. :)

hqx file you just need to drop on Stuffit Expander application in OS9 apps utilities folder.

Dude, are you an ego-maniac or someone who just can't think for himself or do any homework? :D You haven't said even thanks to all the volunteered "helpdesk" efforts by Fernando and me so I'll just shut up from now on :eek:

Cheers,
Margus
 
You are making a great job thanks guys! What do you mean by PMT bias change?

Stuffit Expander is missing in my OS 9 and installer from website was also hqx ;)
 
You are making a great job thanks guys! What do you mean by PMT bias change?

I'd ajust light tube and clean all optics before and check again. Maybe there's some misalignment with bulb or light tube-to-sensor or just dirty optics / faded optical fibres causing your bad shadow data (meaning too little light or weakened PMTs - the first scenareo is more probable).

PMT Bias/Gain - this is a bit complicated. Do not touch those unless you're fully fluent in electronics - PMTs have high voltage converters, thus it's very dangerous or can be even fatal when doing something wrong. Get SM11K service manual for some info (although there's no full info on gain adjustment). There're PMT gain screws on each PMT module and TP14 (Red) TP13 (green) TP12 (Blue) connectors on control board to measure gain on each channel with a multimeter.
 
Margus,

Wow! You are wealth of information regarding PMT. I salute your vast knowledge and as well as Fernando's too! It brings back many years of fond memory when I used to work and maintenance the drum scanners when I first enter the Graphic Arts field out of school.
I moved on from the drum scanners as technology permitted it onto the early stages of CCD flatbed scanners (Scitex) and the refined drum scanners (Fuji-Crosfield) PMT scanner that scanned directly from RGB into CMYK COLOR SPACE.
I enjoy learning from this thread and thank everyone involved for speaking their mind, thus allowing others to learn or in my case rehash my past experiences.
 
I'd ajust light tube and clean all optics before and check again.

My very first step was cleaning the optics. But I will check again. Should I open the head with fibers and lens?


Light misalingmenet - have you used multimeter like manual says or just by eye?

BTW: manual says fluorescent tube 24VDC 6W while in my scanner there is Dulux L 12v/24W.
 
Evan,

I'm by no means a drum scanner tech specialist, I just know few things about this particular scanner :)

Cheers,
Margus

Wow! You are wealth of information regarding PMT. I salute your vast knowledge and as well as Fernando's too! It brings back many years of fond memory when I used to work and maintenance the drum scanners when I first enter the Graphic Arts field out of school.
 
My very first step was cleaning the optics. But I will check again. Should I open the head with fibers and lens?


Light misalingmenet - have you used multimeter like manual says or just by eye?

BTW: manual says fluorescent tube 24VDC 6W while in my scanner there is Dulux L 12v/24W.

Just to make absolutely sure - did you white calibrated from a completely clear area of the drum?

I haven't had a need to re-align my light tube yet. You can try to algn it with an eye, but it's the most precise to do it with the voltmeter method as noted in the service manual.

Fluorocent tube doesn't matter, it's just to illuminate the scanner's internal while the lid is open. Some background light is nice to inspect your drum while the lid is open but it's not important. It's the light tube that is important for scanning!

Also open the rear bulb door (while the bulbs stay inside) and run a scan - to see how evenly they illuminate the optic fibre mouth holes. If the light circle is off the hole too much you can bend the lamp frame a little to align it.

Have you tried other lamps as well? I.e. for an experiment swap transmission and reflection lamps. Make white calibration with the new lamp and see if you get any better shadow detail.

Just in case try white cal + scan with Color Trio software as well.

Margus
 
What is Color Trio? I couldn't find any info :) Margus - I do white cal every time :))

Here is my light alignment a bit shifted as you see but not too much ;)
 

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Surface of fiber behind dichroic filters looks so so - I used to work in fiber optic company and I remember how ladies polish surface of a ferrule ;)
 

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