ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods

[astro8]

http://www.abc-scan.dk/International/Downloads/download.htm

 

[Photograficx]

Tricky Scanner

Tricky Scanner

Allright, I received the FDD today and it works.

The last days I spent quite some time with my G4.
I had a couple of freezes, system crashes and all kind of errors (OS 9).
It took me some time to figure out that keyboard and mouse I was using led to the problems.

After I managed to solve this problem I checked my SCSI-connections.
SCSI-card is working fine.
Active terminator working fine.

The only SCSI-device I could get a hold on to was an old ZIP-drive.
Found it in my cellar, plugged it in and it still works 🙂

Checked the scanner with FWB-Confgure as well as with SCSI-Probe.
The scanner appears under the correct SCSI-ID and is recognzied as a disc (?).
When I click to flash LED on device the red LED on the scanner lightens up.

I 've been on the ABC-site recommended by Greg before my postings here.
Installed the software but without luck - doesn 't recognize the scanner.

Tried to install previous systems of ColourQuartett.
V 3.2.2 could not be installed as disc 4 could not be read.

Installed V 2.0.1.
When I start the app a message pops up, telling me that hardware or software lacks that is required.

Tried to get V 5.2 from the ABC-site to run.
Runs but once again - no scanner found.

Installed Scanview Multimate V 2.
Telling me the same thing as V 2.0.1.

Installed Scanmate Mac Plug-in for Photoshop 1.6.
Photoshop (Version 7.0 under OS 9.2.2) can 't deal with it.

At the end all I can tell there is some kind of connection established between the Mac and the scanner.
And it seems to be working in both directions.

But the scanner is just not being recognized by the software.

The only hint that might lead to solution is the point that the scanner is identified as being a disc by SCSI-Probe.
And that the scanner is not being recognized by the Apple System Profiler.

Seems to me that there is a driver for the scanner missing.
But where to get one?

Otherwise I 'm running out of clues.

Patrick

 

[tsiklonaut]

Looks like maybe a SCSI card issue then. I know some of my SCSI cards did the same, everything was visible under SCSI probe but the software didin't find the scanner. Yet when I tweaked some settings sometimes it worked. Other SCSI cards worked faultless. It can also be a terminator issue, but unlikely.

Make sure Apple Talk is active (in case do a restart if you just activated it).

Under Color Quartet folder (4.0 or newer) there should be CQ Scan software, it's a side-plugin that incorporates your scanner hardware into CQ software. CQ Scan should "see" your scanner when you start it up (a small window with scanning que). And in my experience if CQ Scan works so should work Color Trio.

If this doesn't work maybe try some other SCSI card?

 

[Photograficx]

Success!

Success!

Followed your suggestions and activated Apple Talk.
Restarted.
No changes there.

Plugged in another SCSI card, a Formac Pro RAID.
And . . . the scanner now is correctly identified by SCSI probe as a Scanmate Plus.
Started CQ Scan - the scanner was recognized correctly.

🙂

But the scanner still does 't show up in Apple System Profiler.

Started CQ.
Tries to telephone, but the Mac is not attached to the web.
After that, all modules in CQ are grayed out.

Then I tried to run Drum Clean in CQ Scan.
Well, the scanner reacts with some sort of sound.
The drum moves just about a few milimeters to the right and back again.
The red LED ("operating") is blinking ever since in very short intervalls.
But the drum does nothing at all.
Nor can I see anything processing/progressing in the CQ Scan software.

I definetly need a manual to operate the scanner, because I 've got absolutely no idea how to scan a negative 😡

But at least the SCSI problem is solved and the scanner is being recognized by the software.

That 's a start!🙂

Hey, hey - wait a minute . . .

I 've somehow managed to get CQ working.
In the Connections window there are four symbols, connection symbols.
They all look alike, except for the one in the upper left corner, which is darkened.
So I just clicked on the symbol next to it in the upper right corner.
And, beleive it or not, after trying to telephone once more, it works!!!
Hurray!!!!!!
😀😀😀

No all I need to know is how to operate the system . . .

And if there is now manual to give me advice, then all that 's left is gonna be: trial and error.

I don 't know how long it 's gonna taken me to get the first results.
But now that I 've come that far, I 'll keep on trying further on . . .

Thanks a lot for now to the forum and especially to you, tsiklonaut, for helping me to get this far!

Patrick

 

[Netsoft2k]

Patrick - your story sounds alot like mine about 5 months ago. Keep at it and I hope you get to the same success I did over time.

Good luck!

On a separate note, does anyone have an extra drum they would be willing to part with? If so, please message me - thanks!

- Pali

 

[tsiklonaut]

Thanks a lot for now to the forum and especially to you, tsiklonaut, for helping me to get this far!

Cheers Patrick, glad I could help out, now you owe me a beer if we ever meet 😉

Don't worry about the steep learning curve - take your time, since drum scanning is a very slow process - go through different tests and features with software, soon you'll do decent scans with it!

Keep on drummin' 'em scans,
Margus

 

[monkeyfist]

I upgraded to Scanmate 11000, and got a Scanflow Mounter with it.

Any experience with this machine?

I learned that it's actually a scanner in it's own... 200dpi preview scanner. Pretty nice kit, though i'm not sure is it usefull at all for me, as i don't scan in high volumes.

I'll post a picture of it, as this seems to be a pretty rare piece.. not much info out there.

 

[monkeyfist]

Followed your suggestions and activated Apple Talk.
Restarted.
No changes there.

Plugged in another SCSI card, a Formac Pro RAID.
And . . . the scanner now is correctly identified by SCSI probe as a Scanmate Plus.
Started CQ Scan - the scanner was recognized correctly.

🙂

But the scanner still does 't show up in Apple System Profiler.

Started CQ.
Tries to telephone, but the Mac is not attached to the web.
After that, all modules in CQ are grayed out.

Then I tried to run Drum Clean in CQ Scan.
Well, the scanner reacts with some sort of sound.
The drum moves just about a few milimeters to the right and back again.
The red LED ("operating") is blinking ever since in very short intervalls.
But the drum does nothing at all.
Nor can I see anything processing/progressing in the CQ Scan software.

I definetly need a manual to operate the scanner, because I 've got absolutely no idea how to scan a negative 😡

But at least the SCSI problem is solved and the scanner is being recognized by the software.

That 's a start!🙂

Hey, hey - wait a minute . . .

I 've somehow managed to get CQ working.
In the Connections window there are four symbols, connection symbols.
They all look alike, except for the one in the upper left corner, which is darkened.
So I just clicked on the symbol next to it in the upper right corner.
And, beleive it or not, after trying to telephone once more, it works!!!
Hurray!!!!!!
😀😀😀

No all I need to know is how to operate the system . . .

And if there is now manual to give me advice, then all that 's left is gonna be: trial and error.

I don 't know how long it 's gonna taken me to get the first results.
But now that I 've come that far, I 'll keep on trying further on . . .

Thanks a lot for now to the forum and especially to you, tsiklonaut, for helping me to get this far!

Patrick

You can also use these scanners on modern win x64 system, there is no need for old macs. As CQ runs on win7x64, and you don't need drivers for the scanner, just the software.

 

[tsiklonaut]

I upgraded to Scanmate 11000, and got a Scanflow Mounter with it.

Any experience with this machine?

No experience with it but it's very rare indeed. Supposedly to be part of ScanFlow system which is designed for large quantity scanning. This automatically crops out and separates the frames. Probably this 200dpi scanner helps people to judge what to scan and sort out the bad frames (i.e. soft or out of focus etc).

 

[DKimg]

Hello Everyone!

I've just purchased a SM5000 days ago and it should arrive sometime today. I'm still slightly confused in regards to finding the right compatible computer to run the scanner. I see that the Mac G4 is the best bet but is there anything I should for while finding a G4? This is my first time getting into drum scanner.

 

[monkeyfist]

Hello Everyone!

I've just purchased a SM5000 days ago and it should arrive sometime today. I'm still slightly confused in regards to finding the right compatible computer to run the scanner. I see that the Mac G4 is the best bet but is there anything I should for while finding a G4? This is my first time getting into drum scanner.

You can run it on win7x64 (probably also on win8 & win10).. i would not waste time on old clunky macks.

You can get pretty nice laptops cheap, just get one with pcmcia port and you can get a scsi card in it easy.

I'm running mine on my main pc, don't want extra computers wasting space.

 

[monkeyfist]

Anyone have unsharpened b&w negative scan @ 11000dpi? Just some grain samples would be good, preferably just the green channel. I can't get sharp grain on this, seems the scans are worse than on Scanmate 5000 even when scanned @ 5000dpi.

Ok, i actually got a pretty sharp grain when painstakingly focused manually using focus elevation. Seems that just the autofocus is pretty random. This is actually a pretty awesome result, don't think it gets any sharper than this at magnifications like these.

(this picture is replaced with a RAW scan as it gave sharper results, it's the sharpest 11000dpi scan i could make)

But still it seems to loose a tiny bit to the Scanmate 5000 when i scan @ 5000dpi. So the scanmate 5000 is definately a great scanner & value for money.

 

[monkeyfist]

There is definitely some sort of problem in this scanner, the focus differences between RGB channels are pretty big.

Green channel is the sharpest, like usually. But the differences are pretty big, even on a 5000dpi scan. On SM5000 i did not see any noticeable differences between color layers.

The RGB scan of bw negative also looks a bit funny, almost like there was color grain. Maybe the color layers do not line up properly?

Any ideas how to remedy this?

The autofocus is clearly not working properly also, as when i repeat the scan it gives different results. Sometimes focusing accurately and sometimes not.

It this correct? Should this be straight, or tilted like it is?

On the manual it's straight.. probably actually does not affect anything.

It was a bit loose, tightening it made green & red be equally sharp.. blue is still a bit unfocused. Overall the scan quality still looses to SM5000 @ 5000dpi a bit. Does not give the pinsharp focus i'm looking for. Shame, as i bought this hoping it would be better than SM5000.

SM5000 on top, and SM11000 on bottom. Both at 5000dpi. SM5000 produces sharp focus, SM11000 not.

Autofocus seems to miss a bit, using focus elevation of 10 it will hit focus. Is there any way of adjusting the auto focus?

 

[monkeyfist]

Ok, after trying pretty much everything. I noticed that there is a "TIFF RGB raw 16bit" option in CQ.

On SM11000 it produces slightly sharper scan than what i get from SM5000 @ 5000dpi.

On SM5000 it does not work, just gives out a pretty crazy file. Here is the difference in RAW mode & normal 16bit tiff:

But definitely gives slightly sharper scan on SM11000. So i actually have a reason to keep this SM11000 now.. phew, i was starting to think that i actually downgraded my scanner.

Finally i can get a scan @ 6300dpi that is actually almost as sharp as Flextight P2 or X1. This is what i was looking for from from this scanner. As flextight is really hard to beat in sharpness if operated correctly.

I think this is it, two of the best scanners that can be bought with reasonable money. Though the P2 needs a small modification to reach this level of sharpness. Still i think Flextight is the best scanner out there, shame it can't handle 8x10".

All the scan samples are without any sharpening, in CQ choosing the NONE option for Unsharp Masking. I'm using only GREEN channel, on all of the scans.

The only difference I still have, is that on SM5000 RGB layers are equally sharp. On SM11000 G is clearly sharper than R or B.

I'm puzzled on why, the optical system on both scanners is basically identical. Any ideas on this?

 

[Netsoft2k]

monkeyfist - what aperture are you using? Is it apples to apples between the two?

 

[monkeyfist]

monkeyfist - what aperture are you using? Is it apples to apples between the two?

I have been using auto aperture, so i assume it's aperture 1. If i choose aperture 2, the result is clearly softer image.

I'm not even sure is 1 larger aperture and 6 smaller, or the other way around.

QC manual speaks about the aperture function as a way to soften, or defocus the image.

The difference between SM5000 and SM11000 seems to be small, and it does make senses as the optical assembly is so identical. But I did get slightly sharper scan from SM11000. Check the picture i posted, you need to open them as full size to see them properly.

There is also the 12bit vs 14bit difference, though i don't think it matters much.

All in all, i could have lived with SM5000 easily. Both of these machines are great.

But hey, SM11000 has this super cool motorized drum cover. I could play with it all day long.

 

[Netsoft2k]

I have been using auto aperture, so i assume it's aperture 1. If i choose aperture 2, the result is clearly softer image.

I'm not even sure is 1 larger aperture and 6 smaller, or the other way around.

QC manual speaks about the aperture function as a way to soften, or defocus the image.

The difference between SM5000 and SM11000 seems to be small, and it does make senses as the optical assembly is so identical. But I did get slightly sharper scan from SM11000. Check the picture i posted, you need to open them as full size to see them properly.

There is also the 12bit vs 14bit difference, though i don't think it matters much.

All in all, i could have lived with SM5000 easily. Both of these machines are great.

But hey, SM11000 has this super cool motorized drum cover. I could play with it all day long.

I have the SM11000 and I have some B&W that I need to scan. I'll scan a 11000 DPI for you. For my own scans, the most I go is about 4000 for medium format. For large format (4x5) - the buffer maxes out 2100 DPI and 1100 for 8x10 🙂 so yes, I too could have done with just SM5000.

 

[monkeyfist]

I have the SM11000 and I have some B&W that I need to scan. I'll scan a 11000 DPI for you. For my own scans, the most I go is about 4000 for medium format. For large format (4x5) - the buffer maxes out 2100 DPI and 1100 for 8x10 🙂 so yes, I too could have done with just SM5000.

That would be good, so my OCD scanner mind could be at ease... if you can, just scan 100% grain samples at 5000dpi & 11000dpi. Preferably in the RAW mode.. as it seems to make a pretty big difference.

I kinda got this SM11000 thinkin it could do 11000dpi grain sharp scans, or at least 6300dpi scans that would be as sharp as Flextights. I don't shoot much 35mm, but i like to print them pretty large.

Here is one more, i got my Minolta 5400 working. I think it's the best 35mm scanner out there:

It gives some perspective on these drums scanners, as it's as good as SM11000.

Just remember to scan as "Linear TIFF", it's a raw scan in Minolta Scan and does not include the pretty heavy sharpening the software incorporates in the files. Sharpening destroys film scans. It's pure evil.

 

[Netsoft2k]

OK - here you go. A RAW 16 Bit scan at 11000 DPI with links to TIFF files below.

Original RAW scan

Inverted B&W Scan

Film is TMAX 400 shot/processed at box speed in HC110-B.

Hope this help!

That would be good, so my OCD scanner mind could be at ease... if you can, just scan 100% grain samples at 5000dpi & 11000dpi. Preferably in the RAW mode.. as it seems to make a pretty big difference.

I kinda got this SM11000 thinkin it could do 11000dpi grain sharp scans, or at least 6300dpi scans that would be as sharp as Flextights. I don't shoot much 35mm, but i like to print them pretty large.

 

[monkeyfist]

Thanks a lot!

Right of the top, i can see that the blue channel is also soft on your machine. So it seems it's an feature on SM11000. SM5000 does not have this.

This is good info, so i don't need to tear the machine apart trying to fix it.

But your red channel is also really soft, on my machine G & R are about equally sharp. I think aperture calibration might correct this on your machine.

So using just the green channel on B&W is beneficial in this machine.

In your scan the grain looks better, but it might be just exposure/developer. As my example is overexposed tmax400.

Really nice scan, it really works well even at 11000dpi. I hope i can pull as good sharpness from my scanner.

I assume this was dry mounted? Emulsion up or down?

Just the green channel, sharper scan. (the tonal difference is from making sure the curves won't mess them up, not from the use of green channel)

This scanner is amazing, what i'm starting to see is differences in grain structure. The print sizes are ridiculous. I'm loving this 🙂