Microtek M1 user experiences

[Gene McCluney]

I have an older, more expensive Microtek Artixscan 2500f scanner, that essentially operates the same. I have found with my scanner, the "bands" are usually caused by some microscopic dust on the light source. This light source travels with the carriage that scans the negative.

[Dave Aharonian]

I have a Microtek 1800f and have suffered through various episodes of the same banding problem. I believe it is indeed dust on the light source as Gene has said. I was going to try taking apart the lid of the scanner to clean the light source but got scared and decided to try blowing compressed air into the slot the negative tray slides into. I gave it a few good blasts and it worked! I have been band free for a while now.

[SteveKarr]

Hi Everyone,
I am coming in on the tail end of this with the SAME & somewhat fixed problem.


I updated to the newest Silverfast & cleaned the heck out of the inside and the banding reduced a lot. But they still are there.

I scanned in RGB and looked at the different color channels and the lines are different in each channel and move around when clicking the r/g/b channels.

I did try the Microtek app and the same thing happened. The Vuescan will only return static type scan. Hmmm...

Is there a ccd to clean or a chip of some kind?

Thanks for the help so far.
Steve

PS... has anyone noticed the focus plane for the glass holder is on the BACK / Bottom side ? I was fighting with the focus. Glassless holder fine, glass holder soft. I taped it to the backside/bottom side and it's sharp. Now what to do? You can't tape 810's to the underside of the glass...

[Ken Lee]

According to http://www.microtekusa.com:

New Focus in North American Market for Microtek
Microtek, a world-leading manufacturer of digital imaging products, has changed its sales strategy for digital imaging products in North America. For the North American market, Microtek is moving from an emphasis on selling a wide portfolio of consumer and professional scanners and digital imaging products to emphasis on developing OEM relationships and vertical market opportunities.

[Ken Lee]

Please overlook my previous post - which is irrelevant. I misunderstood.

[BarryS]

Steve-- After I got over my initial problems by installing the Silverfast upgrade, I've only had occasional minor issues that have been solved by a blast of compressed air into the slot. Your problem sounds like stubborn dust on the sensor, so you may have to figure out how to open up the case. Have you done that already? It wasn't clear from your post. As far as the glass holder--was the autofocus turned on? The M1 is unique in its price (and noise) class by virtue of the autofocus. It should be able to focus on the glass carrier without a problem and has worked beautifully on my 8x10 negatives--the sharpness is equal to the glassless carriers.

[SteveKarr]

Hey BarryS,
The top was been off & air blasted everywhere!! Really, I didn't care the scans were so bad. I'm thinking the CCD (sensor) could be the last place to clean, by the way the moving color channel problem looks. Where are they (CCD) or what do they look like? In the big carriage is my guess, but now it 'sorta works I am more gentle with it.

I did have the auto focus on Auto, Auto-with-the-little-target & off. It really does seem like the focal plane is off. That's why it focuses on the back (under) side of the glass. My assistant had a great idea, flip the whole damn thing over... IT WORKS!! You can wet mount on the bottom side of the glass tray, upside down & the scanner scans as sharp are the glassless...

"kinda looks like a dead seagull thou...

Steve

[SteveKarr]

>>>>> vertical market opportunities.<<<<

What the heck is that? Is it Tech Support for the gear already in the field?

[BarryS]

Ha--I like the way your assistant thinks. I haven't been inside my M1, but the CCD array will look like a long thin bar mounted to a larger assembly across the width of the platen. It sounds like you need to have the unit professionally serviced. If you're persistent with Microtek, they'll start the "real" tech support.

[coisasdavida]

Excuse me for bringing up such an old topic, but I have been using my M1 every now and then with Vuescan.
A while ago I found a tip on the Online Photographer blog, in a comment a user reported success taping the edges of a 8x10" negative to the frame of the glass tray, instead of letting the negative rest on the glass, I have been doing like that since then.
But with Vuescan I can do one scan and then I have to restart both scanner and software to get to the next, I got used to it, but eventually started wondering if Silverfast on OSX 10.4 would be better than Vuescan 8.6. Is it better nowadays?