ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods

Kamph said:
I'm getting some wierd noise patterns (or rather bands) on underexposed Velvia. Anyone seen this before?
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Could be a similar issue I had on my ScanMate 3000 due to corrosion on bulb contacts (see my recent posts). It does look too regular, though. Try cleaning those, and if your bulb isn't brand new and of good quality (read: German-made Osram), buy a new one.
 
MarinB said:
Could be a similar issue I had on my ScanMate 3000 due to corrosion on bulb contacts (see my recent posts). It does look too regular, though. Try cleaning those, and if your bulb isn't brand new and of good quality (read: German-made Osram), buy a new one.
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Thank you, it might be just that. I guess that would explain why some of my scans seems to be a bit underexposed and showing some color noise as well?

Besides issues with mounting and the various artifacts I must say I'm mighty impressed with the scanner. Scans need no sharpening and colors are just right - even negatives are easily handled with this scanner. Drum scanning might be considered a slow affair due to the whole mounting process, but scanning times aren't too bad and post processing is simply a breeze. I bet that when I some day figure out how to properly dry mount (any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated, I can't for the life of me seem to get the film flat enough!) I might actually save time compared to my previous scanners!
 
Kamph said:
Thank you, it might be just that. I guess that would explain why some of my scans seems to be a bit underexposed and showing some color noise as well?
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Do white point calibration, that should help. Also, in ColorQuartet, change RGB curve to full linear, as default setting gives darker scans. On my scanner, and apparently many others, R curve needed "lowering" a bit, as scans were slightly reddish. PMT issue/age, I guess. Not such a big deal (see below).

Kamph said:
I bet that when I some day figure out how to properly dry mount (any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated, I can't for the life of me seem to get the film flat enough!)
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On the 3000 model, drum is fixed/non-removable, and yet I manage to wet-mount. You will definitely want to do that, as it's one of two main reasons for using drum scanners (i.e., perfect focus yet no Newton rings, other reason being exquisite sensitivity of tubes). Kami SXL 2001 fluid is a miracle. I use Folanorm mounting films, very good quality (Swiss?). Not sure where to get those, I bought a whole cupboard of leftover unopened supplies from a local pre-press company that went bust, as many did. For dry mounting you can use cheap 3M/Scotch 600 and 810 tapes ("Crystal" and "Magic tape"). For cleaning, I recommend Chicopee Ko-Ton wiping cloths (Dutch made, also sold as SDS wipes) and Tetenal Scan Clean Ultra (which seems to be discontinued).
 
Kamph said:
The blue channel on my scanner seems a lot less sharp than the red and green ones. Also I'm seeing some slight CA. Any thoughts?

BTW, where du you get your drum scanner supplies from in Europe? I don't have a mounting station yet unfortunately, so I'm stuck dry mounting for now. Do you prefer a specific kind of tape for this application to other kinds?
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I have the same issue on SM11000, blue is softer than red & green. I dont know why. On SM5000 they were all equally sharp.

Green is sharpest, use that for B&W.

I think this is just how it is on SM11000, as i asked for a raw sample from a fellow poster.. and it had the same slightly softer blue channel.

Check page 5 of this thread for the samples, there are also some grain samples from my machine and Netsoft2k machine. So you can compare are you getting similar results.

You will also get sharper scans by scanning in RAW mode. There seems to be some sort of small blurring on the other file modes. I think the blurring is there for the reason to hide tiny irregularities that the drum scanning might cause.

Also, if you don not wish to go cutting cables, you can just get one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RJ45-Female-Socket-to-9-pin-Serial-DB9-Male-Adapter-/190530356315

And plug the 3 correct pins in, and have a perfect adapter for your Scanmate.

If the color codes are same as on mine, then just plug 2=black, 3=orange and 5=red. And you can just cut the rest of the wires off and use regular network cable with the adapter.

The terminal program needs to be on and connecting, before turning the power on in the scanner. Lost a lot of time on this :)
 
MarinB said:
Do white point calibration, that should help. Also, in ColorQuartet, change RGB curve to full linear, as default setting gives darker scans.
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I always do white calibration before scanning as advised in the manual, but I'll definitely have a look at the RGB curves. I actually noticed that they weren't linear the first time I navigated CQ but completely forgot about it.

MarinB said:
On the 3000 model, drum is fixed/non-removable, and yet I manage to wet-mount. You will definitely want to do that, as it's one of two main reasons for using drum scanners (i.e., perfect focus yet no Newton rings, other reason being exquisite sensitivity of tubes).
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I would love to wet mount but I can't seem to find any instructions on how to do it without a mounting station, and I'm not confident enough with the scanner yet to just go ahead and try! ;)
 
monkeyfist said:
I have the same issue on SM11000, blue is softer than red & green. I dont know why. On SM5000 they were all equally sharp.
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My blue channel wasen't soft after all, luckily!


monkeyfist said:
You will also get sharper scans by scanning in RAW mode. There seems to be some sort of small blurring on the other file modes. I think the blurring is there for the reason to hide tiny irregularities that the drum scanning might cause.
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Scanning in RAW 16bit messes up my scans for some reason. RAW 8bit is fine and indeed a bit sharper but as I mostly scan negatives I really would like the extra headroom that 16 bit files offer when colour correcting.

monkeyfist said:
Also, if you don not wish to go cutting cables, you can just get one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RJ45-Female-Socket-to-9-pin-Serial-DB9-Male-Adapter-/190530356315

And plug the 3 correct pins in, and have a perfect adapter for your Scanmate.

If the color codes are same as on mine, then just plug 2=black, 3=orange and 5=red. And you can just cut the rest of the wires off and use regular network cable with the adapter.

The terminal program needs to be on and connecting, before turning the power on in the scanner. Lost a lot of time on this :)
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Brilliant! Thank you so much! This will surely save me a lot of time as well :)
 
My friend bought one in Germany and also use Scanmate 3000. He sent to me some comparisons but I can't post because pictures are not mine.
 
Kamph said:
Scanning in RAW 16bit messes up my scans for some reason. RAW 8bit is fine and indeed a bit sharper but as I mostly scan negatives I really would like the extra headroom that 16 bit files offer when colour correcting.
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I had this problem on SM5000, 16bit raw messed scans up.. but on SM11000 it works.

So it should work... might be a firmware thing. don not know.

And damn you for getting a sharp blue channel... because now i need to find why i'm not getting a sharp blue channel.
 
Jacek, which Tango? D8200 or D8400? Or the earliest, "Linotype-Hell" branded type?
BTW, did that Dainippon Screen 8060p Mark II ever reach Warsaw?
 
Jack - do you have any information on how to clean the encoder? Have you done this before and know if it helps?

I also wonder if the encoder could be replaced with one of the new models from Maxon.
 
I'm still really impressed with the colours and shadow detail I'm getting straight out of the scanner. I'm still struggling with accurate focus though. DOF is so tiny that any variance in height on the film result in soft scans, and I can't for the life of me get the AF to focus where I want it to. Activating AF often leads to completely out of focus scans. As is, the resolution seems only a bit better than my Plustek 120 when focused correctly, though I've had a sneaking suspicion that I've been really lucky with my copy of the Plustek. Resolution seems to be very close to the advertised 5300 dpi indeed. The scans from the Scanmate needs no sharpening though, while the Plustek needs a little.

monkeyfist said:
I had this problem on SM5000, 16bit raw messed scans up.. but on SM11000 it works.

So it should work... might be a firmware thing. don not know.
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One can only hope. Were any updates ever released for the firmware?
 
Netsoft2k said:
Jack - do you have any information on how to clean the encoder? Have you done this before and know if it helps?

I also wonder if the encoder could be replaced with one of the new models from Maxon.
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Encoder is another company. If you could make encoder to the spec then great idea. Clean with alcohol and brush. Try to correct vibrations there.
 
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