Hi everybody from a cold and rainy Italy! )))

I've been offered an Howtek 4000 by my lab to scan my 8x10" trannies, but I have some thouhgts/doubts...

Based on what I see on the web, expecially the "A collaborative scanner comparison" here in the LF website, I don't see such enormous differeces between the Howtek 4500 scans and the ones you can obtain with an high end CCD flatbed, while I see enormous differences and ostanding quality while looking at the ICG scans and Heidelberg Tango scans, and I know why, these drum scanners are much better than the Howtek ))))...

Now, my doubt is: is it worth to face all the difficulties and the steep learnig curve of drum scanning purchasing an Howtek 4000 if I can obtain very close results with a refurbished Creo at almost the same price?

Or maybe it's better to save money and find a refurbished ICG or Tango if one is seriously interested in drum scanning? (btw, I've been offered an ICG 350 too, but is mauch more expensive than the Howtek!!)...just to give you an idea of my printing needs: I usually don't enlarge more than 5x my 8x10 originals (40x50" prints) but I have a particular work in mind that "requires" enlargements in the 8x-9x range (72x90" prints )...

If somenone could give me some "real life" advices I'll really appreciate that...

Thank you.

Ciao

Marco