ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods

Netsoft2k said:
I have attempted to have holes cutout from a crazed drum before and it went horribly bad. Everything looked great but as soon as mounted the drum on a scanner, it was clear that the drum was not balanced and would shake the scanner quite dramatically. It was cut using a CNC machine and I can't imagine if someone could cut it any better.

Just a fyi before anyone attempts to get a drum cut for negatives.

Pali
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Hah, i actually did this also. Used laser CNC.

Had no balance issues, as i cut a hole for 35mm negative right on the mounting side so it would not wobble. But i think the laser might have warped the edges of the hole a bit and there is no way of getting the whole negative in focus.

CNC milling machine would have probably done a better job, and it might have worked for smaller negatives. Otherwise, it would just require balancing the drum.. much like we do for car wheels.
 
I am on the look out to find if there are any alternatives to ColorQuest and ColorTrio software.

I found a program for Windows called Aztek Digital Photolab, does it only work on Howtek hardware?
 
Shakedown St. said:
I am on the look out to find if there are any alternatives to ColorQuest and ColorTrio software.
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There are no alternatives. I think there should be some sort of plugin for photoshop.. but i have not seen it, and it probably only works on old photoshop version.

CQ is a really good software. Why do you need a alternative? ColorTrio can only do 8bit scans, so i would not waste my time on that.

And CQ works perfectly on Win10x64, so you do not need an extra computer with old OS to run it.
 
monkeyfist said:
There are no alternatives. I think there should be some sort of plugin for photoshop.. but i have not seen it, and it probably only works on old photoshop version.

CQ is a really good software. Why do you need a alternative? ColorTrio can only do 8bit scans, so i would not waste my time on that.

And CQ works perfectly on Win10x64, so you do not need an extra computer with old OS to run it.
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I bought my Scanmate secondhand, it did not come with a dongle.

Not sure where to go about purchasing one.

I had thought the 8bit limit on ColorTrio was only on the OS version.
 
You will not see any difference between 8bit and 16bit scanning. If you have Scanmate 3000/4000/5000 then you will not be able to save a 16bit RAW file anyway.
 
meloV8 said:
You will not see any difference between 8bit and 16bit scanning. If you have Scanmate 3000/4000/5000 then you will not be able to save a 16bit RAW file anyway.
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You don't see it as you monitor is 8bit, but once you start to adjust the image the 16bit file is something you can't live without.

In the old days when people scanned 8 bit files, you had to adjust everything perfectly before hitting the scan button.

Nowadays, we can scan 16bit raw scans and adjust them. On the 3000/4000/5000 scanners, just scan normal 16bit tiff. 8bit raw is basically the worst thing you can do.

The tiny bit of sharpness you loose scanning as 16bit tiff is well worth the extra color information.

SM5000 is a 12bit scanner, SM11000 is 14bit. So you are wasting lots of information by scanning 8bit files.
 
The sharpness of a 16 bit tiff scan is not the only problem. Image quality is just worse, has more noise and worse color rendering.
On the other hand, the fact that I'm scanned in 8 bits does not mean I'm working on 8 bits. I'm doing a raw 8bit scan and before any edition, I convert to 16 bits and I'm just starting to edit. Simple and effective. Even if I do not want to edit scans in 16bit, I can not because Silverfast I use is not working in RAW HDR mode with 8 bit files, mainly color negatives. However, with slides it is much easier. Scan 8 bit RAW, apply color corrections It8 and all that. Prints look great.
I have done so many comparative scans that I can easily prove what I am writing. Scanning in CQ 16bit tiff with Scanmate 3000/4000/5000 is simply pointless.

The simple test that I once presented here ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/25191222@N04/25648726545/in/dateposted-public/

Is this the mythical advantage of CQ tiff 16 bit over raw 8 bit? For me the difference is obvious and does not require comment.
 
meloV8 said:
On the other hand, the fact that I'm scanned in 8 bits does not mean I'm working on 8 bits. I'm doing a raw 8bit scan and before any edition, I convert to 16 bits and I'm just starting to edit. Simple and effective. Even if I do not want to edit scans in 16bit, I can not because Silverfast I use is not working in RAW HDR mode with 8 bit files, mainly color negatives. However, with slides it is much easier. Scan 8 bit RAW, apply color corrections It8 and all that. Prints look great.
I have done so many comparative scans that I can easily prove what I am writing. Scanning in CQ 16bit tiff with Scanmate 3000/4000/5000 is simply pointless.

The simple test that I once presented here ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/25191222@N04/25648726545/in/dateposted-public/

Is this the mythical advantage of CQ tiff 16 bit over raw 8 bit? For me the difference is obvious and does not require comment.
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Converting to 16bit does not really do that much. It does give you the 16bit color space, but it just interpolates the missing values.

Silverfast? You use silverfast for photo editing?

8 bit is 256 shades per channel, for B&W this literally means 256 shades of grey.

12bit that SM5000 does, is 4096 shades per channel. It's a huge improvement over 8bit. You are dumping a huge amount of color data.

Your comparison does not even show a picture? It's a corner of a negative with nothing on it? Do what you please, but it does not make much sense.

When you scan as tiff, CQ uses the color profile that comes with it. It's set in the CQscan program, it8trsml.icc. That might be cause if you get different colors in tiff than in raw.
 
Netsoft2k said:
Posted this in the other thread but here it is again in case you missed it.

Daniel,

Check the fans and make sure none of them are drawing too much power. I had a very similar issue with mine and it turned out to be a bad fan which was literally $5 to replace. Also make sure that your power source is clean. Sometimes bad outlets can cause intermittent issues with Power supply.

Also contact ABC-Scan and see if they can help.

Good luck!

Pali
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Well the issue is that both my drawers are dead now so I can't really do any of that until I get a new scanner anyway. It wasn't just my current I tried it in another person's house and it fried as well. It's definitely a short of some kind. I can try replacing the fans. Do you mean the fans that cool the bulb or the ones in the drawer? Because I tried three drawers and it fried the power supply on all of them, so it must be a short somewhere else in the scanner.

I tried contacting ABC Scan but they have yet to reply.

I think at this point I need to sell it for parts along with two of my drums and it should get me enough money to buy another one (since I have the mounting station and four drums already). OR maybe someone will be willing to trade... I am also open to the 11,000.
 
Question folks, would a Howtek mounting station work on Scanmate drums?

36871180600_80c90b8c0a_z.jpg
 
Shakedown St. said:
Thanks, I am used to the drums you open to tape negatives inside.

How do you go about loading these Magics?
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I guess wet mounting will be tedious but possible. You could try dry scanning, but that will, at times, leave you with newton rings. Just get some quality tape and make sure your film is taped securely to the drum - it's a rather nasty sound when the film comes loose and flap against the inside of the scanner.
 
Kamph said:
I guess wet mounting will be tedious but possible. You could try dry scanning, but that will, at times, leave you with newton rings. Just get some quality tape and make sure your film is taped securely to the drum - it's a rather nasty sound when the film comes loose and flap against the inside of the scanner.
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Good point!

Just to double check, should the front of the negative be facing in my direction when taping? Or face towards the drum, with the back facing me.
 
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