Linotype Heidelberg Jade Scanner

[W K Longcor]

Pardon my TOTAL IGNORANCE. I am looking for a scanner that can give me a image from some antique lantern slides ( glass - approx. 3x 4 1/2 inches). My end need is a good quality 8x10 print ( the images will be reproduced in a book -- half-tones will be a bit smaller than 8x10). An ebay dealer has several "NEW" Linotype Heidelberg Jade Scanners and transparancy adaptors. They are quite inexpensive. My question: are these cheap because they are antiquated junk? Or-- might they be just the ideal unit for my needs? Any commentary would be appreciated.:confused:

[Walter Calahan]

Does you computer still accept SCSI cables? If not, don't bother.

They were decent scanners in their day.

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, I had a Jade 2 scanner and it scanned negatives fine at 600dpi. You have to have SCSI capability. Will work fine with the third party Viewscan software (hamrick.com), or check if it comes with software for your OS. Did not work so good with transparencies due to limited dynamic range, so it would depend somewhat on how dense your slides are.

Jon

[Brian Ellis]

It's probably cheap partly because Heidelberg stopped making Linoscans at least 6 years ago, maybe longer, and when they got out of the consumer scanner business they discontinued their support for them. I had one though not the Jade and used it for about two years. It wouldn't be my first choice for a scanner in the "under $1000" class today. I never could get it to work properly with the software that came with it but with Vuescan it worked pretty well.