Digital BW, The Print

Microtek supports scanners for a twelve month warranty period only.  After
then, you need to send the entire scanner and exchange it.  For my $1400
Artixscan 1800, that cost is $830 plus round trip shipping.  So even for
minor problems like a scratch in the glass or a little dirt on the mirrors,
you have to pay for the whole scanner.  Microtek's parts department was
dismantled last January.  Parts and service are not available anymore for
any model.

My scanner had a problem with a line in the scan.  So I took it apart and
found a spider web in the mirrors.  It took hours, but I was able to clean
each mirror with denatured alcohol, now it works better than when it was
new.  I have not had to sharpen any scan since then.  You would not believe
how much haze forms on the mirrors and glass, and it is cumulative since the
image is seen through five optical surfaces.

You can get a good result off almost any scanner if you maintain it, and
clean the lens, mirrors, and glass.  But a scanner that is several years old
and has not been dismantled and cleaned is probably not going to give you a
result anywhere near what it is capable of.

As to eight bits, your scans are unlikely to be of publication quality but
would be ok for web hosting.
-- 
Thomas Robinson
http://www.historicphotoarchive.com