As I have been sitting here today scanning negatives I have become curious as to why the Microtek i800 scanner spends many minutes "calibrating" before it commences the scan. What is it doing that takes it so long? But then, that's not the only problem.

I sold my Epson 4870 to buy a Microtek about 10 months ago because it would scan an 8x10 negative and because they advertise a Dmax of 4.0. Turns out the density range is more like 2.6 as noted in a review article several months ago in Photo Techniques. The author made this estimate by scanning a wedge. This agrees with my experience that the gradations in the shadows and highlights lack smoothness.

When I received the Microtek it had a defective 35mm filmholder. The guides were fastened by an adhesive that had flowed into the film track, making it impossible to slide the film strips in. Customer service told me that they would not exchange it and I would have to buy a new one for $35! I declined and worked the filmholder with lighter fluid to disolve the glue and then rubbed Vasoline along the track. It took several weeks to get the stickiness out, but it does work.

The real oddity, however, it that the scanner will cause striping in the direction of the scan. The cure for this problem, according to their knowledge base, is to go into the Data directory and delete all the files so that the original default settings are reset. In other words, the software saves the artifacts in its data files so that they can be applied to subsequent scans! How original!

I am not sure how Microtek gets such high recommendations in the reviews. I will never buy another one nor will I recommend them. I never had these problems with my Epson and I am very sorry I sold it. Lately I have been talking nicely to Santa about maybe getting a V750 for Christmas.

Cheers,
al