Eversmart: Pro vs Pro ll

Friends, I am in the market for a top end flatbed. The Eversmarts are on my short list. There is a considerable difference in price between the Pro and Pro II models. While I have researched the machines, it is not easy to find a source that differentiates between them. If I am not mistaken, the operating software appears to be the primary (or only difference), and allows for 16 bit vs 12 bit saves. I would appreciate any insight particularly from users. Is the appx $2k premium "worth it"? I am a serious amateur and would use the machine for individual 6x6cm and 4x5 scans to be printed, mostly in the 24" x30" range (Epson 7800). I am not likely to do batch scanning or any other fancy pre-press processing. With my Nikon 9000, I scan without any adjustments and process in CS2. Perhpas that would change with the Eversmart. Your thoughts on the current market prices and experiences with current tech support (Kodak?) would be appreciated as well. I do not want to get into a machine that is no longer supported. Much obliged. David

Well, I can't speak for others, but I do some adjustment when I scan with my Nikon 9000, or any of my other scanners. The adjustments I do are to make sure I get the whole dynamic range of the image, and minor color correction (if the image is in color), as this saves a bit of time in photoshop. Saying you do no adjustments seems to me to be incorrect, as you have to do "some" adjustment to get the whole dynamic range.

Both machines are still supported. There are some small differences in both resolution and dynamic range IIRC. The more critical differences are not just in the operating sytem but alo in the acceptable hardware/firmware platform that will work. Again without searching I don't recall the exact details but believe that the Pro will only work with a G3 or maybe G4 and the ProII may work with a G5, neither will work with an Intel processor, neither will work with an OS newer than OS9.2. All of this i from memory but you get the idea. Finally, the ColorGenius software that you will get with either one is several generations behind the current version.

With these scanners you are dealing with a very different beast than the Nikon Coolscan 9000 and, while you can use a workflow that leaves all the adjustment to PS, it is not necessarily the best practice with this type of machine. Expect a learning curve.

Ted, as always, thanks for your imput.

The EverSmart Pro and Pro II both scan at a maxium optical resolution of 3175 dpi. The major difference between the two is that the Pro II is faster, allows a faster workflow, and allows RGB saves in 16 -bit. The EverSmart Pro scans in 14 bit but converts to 8 bit for the save. If you have the Pro the best procedure is to do as much correction as possible in the prescan, and then convert the saved 8 bit RGB file to 16 bit before making any further changes to the file. This is not quite as good as saving in 16 bit, but comes close.

As for operating systems, the Eversmart Pro only works with MAC. I use my Pro with a G4 Quicksilver running MAC OS 9.2.2. There is an upgrade from Kodak for the Pro that converts it to Pro II, which allows use of MAC OSX with firewire, but the cost is $5000, which I found prohibitive.

All of the EverSmart scanners, from the earlier Eversmart to the current EverSmart Supreme and Select, are widely considered to be the sharpest flatbed scannerse because of a very high quality lens and XYZ stitching. The real resolution of my EverSmart Pro is very close the theoretical optical maximum. That is, where the maximum possible is 3175 dpi the effective resolution is close to 3100 dpi.

Sandy King

Sandy, and yours.