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HasselbladImacon FT 343 & scanning economics

T

Tgpapa

I have an H1, film version. My transparencies, negatives and B&W are now being scanned at 8bit depth on a Noritsu100 at about 3000 dpi by an outside service. Cost is running $100 per month more or less. The cost of the Imacon 22mp back leads me to conclude that I will be scanning film for awhile.
What are the economics for those of you who own 343's in terms of scanning and is the process so slow that my time is worth the 3rd party service? Should I consider 16bit scans? I know that PS CS does not process some of its effects in 16bit so that might be a consideration.
Or should I wait for the cost of the backs to go way down??
Thanks
tom
 
The formaer polaroid sprint scan now microtek 120tf has the same performance as the small imacon scanner 4000 optical - 4,2 D.max - it is not as fast and somewhat more fidly but as far as I know it is about 1/3-1/5 of the price of the Imacon - I paid 3000 USD for mine with silverfast software and I have scanned som slides the I have previoulsy scnned on a large pro drumscanner and though a little different I could not say that the result on the microtek was less good! I showed the results to professionals and they good not tell wich came from the drum scanner - så at 100 a month the microtek will be the same as 2½ of outside scans for you. At that time film will be harder to get and digital backs cheaper to buy
 
Thanks Ruben. I did not realize that the Microtek was as good or nearly

so as the 343. i will look into one.
 
Try checking out Epson 4870 Pro or Photo. They scan upto 4800dpi and more interpolated. Also can scan upto 48bit in color. Of course it is a lot slower, but for the price of close to $600. It cannot be beat. I had scans done of same slides and negatives from my H1 by both Imacon, Epson and Microtec and I was surprised at the good quality of Epson. as long as you have patience and can do work in Photoshop CS etc.
 
> Shawn, thanks for the information. I had considered the Epson and found some reviews that were very flattering. Do you know of anywhere a side by side comparison has been done? How large do you print from the Epson scans? thank you tom
 
hi everybody ,
Take a look to at the new Epson 4990, the 4870 must go down in price now or in the future...
 
Thanks Chenu, I'm in the market for a new scanner and will definitely look at this. First reviews on the web look promising.

John
 
I was hoping to get an Epson 4870 from Santa, but now I'm glad I didn't!

It looks like the new 4990 has been released in Europe, but not in the US. Does anyone have an idea when it will be available in the US?

Manu
 
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