Digital BW, The Print

I'm another member of the list that has a Howtek Drum Scanner. I purchased it on eBay last year for $2900 dollars. Came with two drums, mounting station, fluids and Trident 3 software. One of the biggest factors for purchasing it was the seller was only a 35 minute drive from me so saved $300 plus on shipping charges and could test the scanner before I handed over the check. The lab that was selling the scanner spent about 2 hours with me showing me how to mount and scan film. I got really lucky with this purchase had months of great scanning! 

But!

A few months latter I noticed banding in the shadows and tried fixing it myself but to no avail. So it's going to Aztek to be serviced - hopefully with the $900 service treatment that Steve M. got will do the trick. If all goes well I'll have a scanner that can scan up to 8X10 for $3800! The scanner is built like a tank and once fixed should last a few more years of reliable service. It's much more versatile  than a medium format scanner for $3000. Drum scans have a three dimensional quality that CCD scans do not have and now I rarely want to scan on anything else.

Would I do it again? For sure...I'm a little smarter now know what to look for. If you can find one for under $3000 I'd go for it.

John V.