Digital BW, The Print

Hi Carolyn,

> ...With the new Minolta 35mm film scanner announced at 5400
> spi... I'd assume 120 is next. and so on and so on...

The sensor size is limited in width to what is available from the sensor
manufacturers.  Minolta doesn't make it's own linear CCD.  I don't know what
they use for a sensor in that unit...yet...but it's only 5300 sensing
elements wide, and it is tri-linear (RGB).  To scan 120, they would need a
sensor 2.25 times wider...

We also don't know how good the 5400 SPI is...as with their previous
scanners, it seemed to me that tests showed that they didn't live up to
their purported specs.

What is the "and so on and so on"?  You are physically limited in the number
of sensing elements you can get over a particular span, where you don't get
a substantial increase in noise.  Second, the larger (wider) the sensor, you
run into physical limitations of the scanning mechanism, as in optics and
scanning it self.  That all ain't gonna be cheap.

These are no small tasks, and I just don't see a market that makes this type
of development worthwhile (for a bit company that is), and I don't see
people willing to pay for it either.  Let's see how the Minolta scanner
does...  I'm sure someone will get one, and some tests will pop up...soon...

Regards,

Austin