Digital BW, The Print

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Microtek Artixscan 120tf.   The 
hardware is basically the same as the Polaroid 120 Sprintscan -- Microtek is 
the builder and Polaroid rebranded it.   Now that Polaroid is in the tank, 
Microtek sells the machine under its own name. 

I bought one a few weeks ago, and my initial impressions are that it's a 
great machine.   I've used an Epson 3200 flatbed and the Polaroid 120 Sprintscan 
before this one.   The Microtek has all of the benefits of the Polaroid, which 
most seem to prefer over other MF scanners (like the Nikon 8000) for scanning  
 b+w negatives in MF.   In addition, the Microtek has firmware improvements 
that allow multiple sampling of negatives, up to 16 in a single pass, that 
reduces noise in dark areas.   

I had bought (and then returned) a Polaroid 120 before buying this Microtek.  
 I found that trying to get the Polaroid to communicate over Firewire with a 
Mac running the newest version of the Mac OS was problematic.   When speaking 
with the support staff at Polaroid (a really fine group of people, by the 
way), it became clear that their scanner software development team had disbanded 
since they were exiting the scanner market, and that Polaroid scanner software 
will not be updated beyond its current state.   Given the state of flux of the 
Mac OS, and the continuing improvements being made to its communication and 
printing protocols, and the impending arrival of OS X 10.3, I figured the safer 
route would be to return the Polaroid and buy the Microtek.

If you're on the Windows side of the world, or you have no plans to move up 
to OS X on the Mac platform, then the Polaroid 120 Sprintscan is fantastic for 
MF negatives.   It is fine for 35mm as well, but I suspect that cheaper 
alternatives exist for 35mm.   But the Microtek 120tf sells for about the same 
amount of money and has the multisampling capability that the Polaroid lacks.   And 
it ships with Silverfast Ai 6.0, which is nice to have.   If you're scanning 
MF negatives, it's worth considering.

Sanders McNew.


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