While a lot of progress has been made on the DIY scanner front, building a good system would be a lot of work, and it's easy to go wrong. In addition, many aspects have not been thoroughly tested, including stitching, color accuracy, dmax... If someone enjoys building and investigating this type of thing, then by all means give it a go. But if you just want to get to scanning, and especially if you don't have a good digital camera and macro lens, then finding a good scanner would probably be a better choice, although used scanners come with risks. I've bought two. The first, an Agfa T2500, would've required a $1000 repair to get working properly, which I decided against. The second, a pro flatbed, has been working fine, but if a hardware problem pops up, I doubt I'll be able to get it fixed. Even if repair is possible, it's unlikely that I'd be able to afford it.
I agree with Lenny (and others) that if you can find a Howtek 4500 in good working condition with the needed accessories for a reasonable price it would be worth serious consideration.
I would be very surprised if a DIY approach could equal the scan quality of a top flight drum scanner run by an accomplished operator, such as Lenny.
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