Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ernst Dinkla" <E.Dinkla@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 12:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] scanners


>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Martin Wesley" <mwesley250@...>
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 7:13 AM
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] scanners
>
(snip earlier)
> >
> > The scanner game is a lot like the enlarger game. Start out
> with a small
> > 35mm enlarger, then trade it for a medium format, then a 4x5
> each time
> > taking a loss. All together I am probably out of pocket close
> to $10,000
> > over 3 years for scanning solutions. Of course 3 years ago the
> Howtek would
> > probably have set me back $10,000+ proving that the bleeding
> edge does
> > indeed bleed you dry!
> >
> > Martin Wesley
>
> One could learn another lesson from the enlarger story: digital
> is taking over !  That made enlargers obsolete and it will make
> scanners obsolete. Durst Laboraters are very cheap nowaday, drum
> scanners get cheaper every day. Heidelberg is no longer producing
> them. Buy the best budget scanner available now and check whether
> you need another one 3 years later. If so you will get a far
> better one then, if not you spend the money on the best digital
> camera. The threads that I have seen on drum scanner maintenance,
> drivers that are getting too old for the OSses around and the
> price of the software to keep them running (if possible) do not
> justify the gain in quality (if available). Most list members
> here are not printing above A3 size. Your advice was a good one
> five years ago but then the drum scanner price was also higher,
> could be that there is some relation between the two.
>
Ernst,

I agree. The drum scanners were the expensive and labor intensive workhorses
of the prepress service bureau that moved images from film to digital for
commercial printing for the last 20 years or so. The cost and turn around
time of drum scans  has probably been one of the biggest economic factors in
prompting commercial photographers to spend big bucks for the high end
digital cameras. As costly as they initially were the return on investment
was definitely there.

I am sure the high end enlargers (always wanted an 8x10 Laborater!) like all
traditional processing equipment, are suffering from digital as well.

Regarding the drum scanners though I have to disagree somewhat. Once you get
a well running machine they should last you quite awhile. They were built
like tanks to handle the round the clock production demands of service
bureaus. They generally do not require device drivers since they are SCSI
devices. Also like myself many people set them up with an older dedicated
computer just to run the scanner. Mine is run with a 5 year old PC and Win
98. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of new software either. Both
Silverfast and Aztec keep releasing new versions. There are probably
problems with some of the lesser known brands though.

As to quality, if none of my negs were larger than medium format I would
have been content to stay with my Polaroid 120. In fact I kept it for quite
awhile planning to continue using it for MF and 35mm film since it was more
convenient than the Howtek. However, once I tried some 35mm and MF on the
Howtek I quite using the Polaroid altogether as I found the quality
improvement while small to still be worth taking the trouble to use the
Howtek. I did a scanning comparison of my 2400, Polaroid 120 and the Howtek.
If I rate the Howtek scan at a "10" the 120 scan would be a "9" to "9.5" and
the 2400 scan a "7" to "7.5". The issue for me is in the capture of very
fine detail and this may not be important to everyone. The fact does remain
that you get less and less improvement in quality as you move up into the
higher end scanners.

The big scanning problem remains with large format negs, 4x5 and up. Even at
A3 sizes a print from a 4x5 neg is different than the same shot from say a
6x7cm neg. I find this to be true whether the print comes from the darkroom
or my 1280. While there are excellent desktop film scanners for MF there is
not much available for 4x5. What turned me to the Howtek was the realization
that a new Polaroid 45 would have cost about as much as I spent on the
Howtek. The Imacons are great but out of my price range although if I had
gotten one in the first place my cost would have been about the same.

Someday I hope to have a 4x5 scanning back from my view camera that can be
used for backpacking and costs less than a new car but I suspect I am in for
a long wait. Hopefully the Howtek will hold up that long!

Martin Wesley