brbo
Well-known
In that case cutting holes in the drum is a very bad idea. Sorry! 😱
I only have Howtek 4500 and I can mount a polaroid anywhere on the drum and not notice anything bad going on...
ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods
- Thread starter Fernando2
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 1K
- Views 265K
In that case cutting holes in the drum is a very bad idea. Sorry! 😱
I only have Howtek 4500 and I can mount a polaroid anywhere on the drum and not notice anything bad going on...
Kamph
Established
I wonder if this is characteristic for Scanmates overall or perhaps a problem with drum alignment? I haven't noticed any difference when mounting a single sheet on the drum. Might have to look again. Seems like quite a design flaw if true.
Netsoft2k
Well-known
Kamph, not the drum alignment but likely a motor bearing or encoder issue. However, I have multiple Scanmates and they all exhibit similar sensitive to balanced mounting. Also remember that you won't notice these wow & flutter issues with most scans. They are only visible if you are scanning high-resolution targets at 5000+ DPI on the SM11K. I bought a new DC Motor from ABC-Scan for my SM11K to see if this would resolve this. Will let everyone know here if it does.
I just wanted to caution anyone considering getting a drum cut out since it turned out really bad for me. That said, you should be OK with unbalanced mounting for practical use.
I also recently got a Heidelberg Tango which is a vertical mount scanner. I mounted a single 8x10 Velvia 50 (as "heavy" as film gets) and ran it at full speed to test if balancing was a concern on the Tango and it doesn't seem that Tango is as sensitive as Scanmates.
Pali
Kamph
Established
You got your 11K up and running again, Pali?
The encoder in the Scanmates is definitely a cause for concern. My scans does exhibit some wow&flutter. ABC-scan told me they had a fix for it. Might send it in someday, however, it's only a problem when scanning as 5000dpi as you pointed out as well.
Curious as to how the Tango compares to the Scanmates. I would expect it to have better shadow performance but less resolution. Would love to hear your thoughts!
The encoder in the Scanmates is definitely a cause for concern. My scans does exhibit some wow&flutter. ABC-scan told me they had a fix for it. Might send it in someday, however, it's only a problem when scanning as 5000dpi as you pointed out as well.
Curious as to how the Tango compares to the Scanmates. I would expect it to have better shadow performance but less resolution. Would love to hear your thoughts!
quejai
Established
What you want is for the center of mass to not be changed. If the drum spins wthlut wow/flutter when unloaded then this idea should work.
Having never used a drum scanner, I imagine one way to do this would be to mount some dummy film as counterweight to the other side of the drum, even if its cut up. The idea is that if you have a near-continuous 'cylinder' of film with identical density on the outisde of the drum, there should be no flutter, as the center of mass will not be off center.
Having never used a drum scanner, I imagine one way to do this would be to mount some dummy film as counterweight to the other side of the drum, even if its cut up. The idea is that if you have a near-continuous 'cylinder' of film with identical density on the outisde of the drum, there should be no flutter, as the center of mass will not be off center.
Netsoft2k
Well-known
Funny you asked about the SM 11K - my board which I believed was lost in mail arrived after 2 Months on the same day as the delivery of my Tango "replacement". As I told my wife when she asked what I would do now, "2 is better than 0" so I now have two Drum Scanners that are both considered to be top of the line. I also have SM 5K and Eversmart Pro so the scanner situation is getting a little out of control but I am not complaining. Haha!
I have done minimal tuning to the Tango so it wouldn't be fair to compare it with my SM11K which has had years of love. However, I did make some quick comparisons which are below for anyone interested. Tango seems to be showing "wow and flutter" here but I think its because the unit had been sitting in a storage for 6-8 years and I need to properly grease and oil the mechanical parts. Both are 11000 DPI Scans.
Tango | SM11K | ES Pro 8x10 Velvia 50
Tango 500 DPI Scan
Kamph
Established
You're a lucky man, Pali!
As suspected, the Scanmate seems sharper while the Tange does better with those deep Velvia shadows. I'm a bit surprised by the Scanmate's ability, or rather lack thereof, to pull details from the shadows. It really shouldn't loose out to an Eversmart. You also seem to have a green cast in the SM scan. What settings did you use, if I may ask?
That Tango scan looks really great though!
As suspected, the Scanmate seems sharper while the Tange does better with those deep Velvia shadows. I'm a bit surprised by the Scanmate's ability, or rather lack thereof, to pull details from the shadows. It really shouldn't loose out to an Eversmart. You also seem to have a green cast in the SM scan. What settings did you use, if I may ask?
That Tango scan looks really great though!
Netsoft2k
Well-known
Thank you Kamph. I agree that the Scanmate seems to lack detail in the shadows which may very well be a poor scanning effort by me. I will try to do more controlled scans on these units and post my results.
jzagaja
Well-known
Pali your next will be 8060 mark II 🙂 Tango uses 10 bit LOG no surprise here. Advantage of Scanmate is small footprint and easy to find new tubes and DC motor. Keep it for future, new electronics, optics.
Netsoft2k
Well-known
Haha Sheel - I just saw this post. Welcome to the group and good luck with your Ratoc Firewire adapter.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone else run their Scanmate through a firewire adapter?
Jack, I think it's safe to say that I have all the scanners I need 🙂 I should probably work on getting rid of one or two but knowing myself, that likely wont happen. BTW, I saw three PMTs for Scanmates on ebay. Check it out if you are still looking for them.
Pali
onnect17
Established
Hi Pali, would you mind double checking the scans of the targets vs the E6s? I think I'm missing something. To begin, the 1951 target from the target shows some sharpening nd lower D-Max. Could you locate the source?
Netsoft2k
Well-known
Sure, I would be happy to!
Just to clarify, you want to me check the source of the calibration target and the settings used on the scanner? I made the Tango scan only 2 days into it so it's very much possible I am not using the best/proper settings. The DMAX is possibly due to me applying the levels adjustment in post to make the black lines stand out more for easier viewing. Don't think I applied any sharpness in post but I will double check that as well.
Pali
weppo
Member
Hello there. I am getting red previews with the scanmate 5000. The black line in the drum that should be black in the scan is red as well. The white of the empty surface of the drum is still white. Any idea what it can be?
Netsoft2k
Well-known
Weppo, the red cast in the shadows is a known thing with Scanmate scanners. You should be able to easily remove it in photoshop or you can replace the IR filter. I posted the steps to replace the IR filter in this thread so look it if you are interested.
onnect17
Established
Sorry, I meant to write "... the 1951 target from the Tango shows some sharpening and lower D-Max" ...
Netsoft2k
Well-known
Ok I just read that you need to scan in Negative mode on Tango to turn off USM completely. I will try to make another scan and will share my results soon.
meloV8
Established
Pali, only Silverfast scanning raw without USM :/
onnect17
Established
Thanks Pali!
Netsoft2k
Well-known
It seems, that this is about the best I can pull from the Newcolor software no matter what I try. Everything that I could turn off, was turned off 🙂
Pali
onnect17
Established
It seems, that this is about the best I can pull from the Newcolor software no matter what I try. Everything that I could turn off, was turned off 🙂
Pali
Thanks again. It seems to me something in the middle (firmware perhaps?) is touching the image. I am unable to find an optical source/ explanation of the darker contour in the bars, ie sharpening.