4x5 scanning on a Durst?

[Jeffrey Sipress]

My local lab offers 4x5 drum scans on a Howtek, and also on a Durst scanner. I have no experience with either, but they tell me that the Durst output is equally as good as the Howtek. I was hoping they would say they had a Tango. What am I to expect?

[Ted Harris]

First, most drum scanners are capable of producing a scan that will be in excess of anything you will need. Having said that, it may not be true of older drum scanners and some shops are stiull running drum scanners that are more than a decade old and do not have terribly hihg resolution capabilities. It may alos notbe true of some production drum scanners and the Durst may be in this category, I say may be because I don't have enough information. I am assuming that it is the Durst Sigma series which is a good production scanner for a photo lab but my anot qive you the quality you need. You need to know that model numbers of the scanners they have and/or the highest optical resolution at which they are capable of scanning. BTW, a Tango is not necessarily the best out there either.

Having said all that when it comes to drum scanning the hardware is no more important than the operator and opssibly even less important. It takes a skilled, knowledgable operator to both fully understand the hardware/software they are working with and use it to its fullest capacity. Even some of the 'big name' labs don't meet that criteria.

Your best bed is to have them do a sample scan and see what you think.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Thanks, Ted. That's exactly what I'm doing now.

[Ted Harris]

Well I really should have spell checked the answer above. No tto drive too many people too crazy, here it is again spell checked:

First, most drum scanners are capable of producing a scan that will be in excess of anything you will need. Having said that, it may not be true of older drum scanners and some shops are still running drum scanners that are more than a decade old and do not have terribly high resolution capabilities. It may also not be true of some production drum scanners and the Durst may be in this category, I say may be because I don't have enough information. I am assuming that it is the Durst Sigma series which is a good production scanner for a photo lab but may not give you the quality you need. You need to know that model numbers of the scanners they have and/or the highest optical resolution at which they are capable of scanning. BTW, a Tango is not necessarily the best out there either.

Having said all that when it comes to drum scanning the hardware is no more important than the operator and possibly even less important. It takes a skilled, knowledgeable operator to both fully understand the hardware/software they are working with and use it to its fullest capacity. Even some of the 'big name' labs don't meet that criteria.

Your best bet is to have them do a sample scan and see what you think.

[Homestead Aerial]

Hi, do you have someone in your area that is scanning on a Durst Sigma, if so I do have one here and needing some tech question answered, thanks.

[Bob Salomon]

Hi, do you have someone in your area that is scanning on a Durst Sigma, if so I do have one here and needing some tech question answered, thanks.

You did see that the last post was in 2005?