Sprintscan 45 in XP?

[gregstidham]

I had my Sprintscan 45 running years ago daisy chained with a Sprintscan 35 plus, but currently I only run the Sprintscan 45 on SCSI and a Nikon Supercoolscan 5000 which uses USB.

I recently built a new PC and used an AMD processor this time. The SCSI card installed without any trouble from XP. I then installed the Polacolor Insight software and only had it install the drivers for the Sprintscan 45. It worked perfect the first time.

Make sure you have your SCSI chain terminated. Make sure your scanner is powered on before you turn your computer on.

Go online and download the newest version of Polacolor Insight version 5. (which is actually several years old now .) Don't use any software CDs that came with the Sprintscan 45. The ones I have that came with my scanner, back when I got it, wont work for me either I found. Only the downloaded software would install for me.

In regards to cleaning. Don't work inside the case with the power on. After un-plugging the scanner, take the lid off and carefully clean the mirror and lens. Your scans will be terrible if you don't. I also tweaked the position of the lens, through trial and error, and made my scans sharper. The scanner really holds its' own in tests I have done against the Imacon 848 and the Epson 750. For an old unit, it isn't half bad.

With regard to display lights. When I power on, the orange light is lit and then the green light comes on without flashing. I will need to check, but the green light flashes only when the scanning carriage is moving or calibrating. I can post later to confirm this when I have the scanner running.

Edit added: I checked my scanner, and the green light comes on without flashing when the scanner is turned on and ready. It stays on and only flashes when a scan is in progress. After the scan is complete, the green light burns steady indicating the scanner is ready for the next job.

[monkeymon]

So my unit seems to do what it is supposed to do. I was a bit puzzled about the manual saying that the green light should flash. I'll continue trying with this polacolor 5.0, i have tried them all.. 3.5 to 5.5... i only got mac software with the scanner and have gone trough the net downloading and trying everything related to this scanner.

I'll get to the mirrors if i get this to work.. i cleaned them a bit, but will need to remove them to clean them properly.

I have a epson 4990 also, but i got this unit really cheaply and hope it could give a little sharper scans. So i could use the epson only for 8x10. I hate using sharpening, actually.. i don't use it at all.

Thanks for you time gregstidham!

[Ivan J. Eberle]

You might also find an old Mac B&W to dedicate to this for dirt cheap. Since all of the earlier ones are natively be happy with SCSI, and since you already have the Mac S/W, etc. and they'd be contemporaries to the SprintScan 45.

Surprising how good the old Mac hardware is considering how little it goes for. Five years ago I bought a Blue and White PowerMac for a C-note and upgraded it to Panther and a G4 chip, still going strong. Circa 1998 machine runs either OSX or Classic, natively. Was the machine to have as one dedicated to drum scanning (indeed, the most advanced of what a few of the older drum scanners require.)

[monkeymon]

I think i'll try to install this again sometime when i re-install windows or get a new computer. It just doesn't seem to work. I relocated my whole winnt\inf directory's content to get my windows to install the right drivers.. but it just won't work.

[Gene McCluney]

I hate using sharpening, actually.. i don't use it at all.
gregstidham!

If you are "not using sharpening at all", then you don't understand how scanners work. Using a controlled amount of unsharp mask is necessary to get a scanned photo to be the same sharpness as the original, otherwise it will not be. All scanners require some "unsharp mask". Some apply this during the scanning process in the scanner software, but most photographers prefer to add this in photoshop.

[monkeymon]

I just understand that i don't like the look of sharpened images. I don't think that some photoshop effect would make my scans same as darkroom print. If the problem is low optical quality of scanners, the scan is missing information and now trick will bring it back.

If i use an inferior optics on my camera, sharpening is not going to get me the same results as good optics. If in the old days, poor optics was the reason for inventing this technique.. now we have poor scanners. I don't use it on darkroom, i don't use it in photoshop.

But i have to emphasis that its mostly the look i dislike. Most people like it, i just dont.. it makes my stomach turn. All in all, it is an effect you add to your image.

[HSPluta]

Hi all,

I hate to bring up a zombie post, especially for my first post here, but I am in the same boat as the OP and it looks as though there was never a final solution.

Can anyone help with getting a SprintScan 45 to work with XP Pro? I am at exactly the same spot as the original poster was, that is, the computer recongnizes the scanner, I have both the Adaptec ASPI and the SprintScan 45 Ultra drivers loaded and neither Polacolor nor Vuescan sees the scanner.

I have a large collection of 4x5 images I really want to get into Photoshop and I know the SprintScan would do a much better job then a flatbed.

Many thanks in advance,
Harry

[JavaDuke]

I got my Sprinscan 45 Ultra working with new iMac with this SCSI-to-Firewire adapter: http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/FR1SX.html . Vuescan recognized it without any problem (as long as I remember to turn my scanner on before I turn the computer on).
The same company also makes SCSI-to-USB adapter. I'm pretty sure it will work just fine with XP.