Cezanne Colorgenius software

[Tim Shawcross]

Peter thanks for that. Well I have now committed to the buy and I expect that scanner will arrive in a week or so. I've organised for it to be professional crated and the seller is going to prepare it for shipping by installing the brackets in the locking position.

So now the search for a suitable Mac begins. I'd be keen to know what setup you're running (or what anyone else is running). I don't want to spend much on a Mac so I was thinking of getting a low spec G4 and running an older version of OSX (I'll first have to figure out what version of OSX I can run with the scanner/software combo).

I'll also need a SCSI card. I've seen the Adaptec 2906 mentioned here before but not sure to what version of OSX that is compatible (adaptec site mentions OSX 10.1 and OSX 10.1 server and later - not clear if the 'later' applies to only the server package).

I notice that screen recommend the Adaptec 29160N, however according to the Adaptec website this is not supported by Macs. I seem to remember something about screen supplying drivers for it to run with macs? Maybe this only works with the latest OSX version though? I don't really know anything about macs, can a G4 run the latest version of OSX?

Both the computer and SCSI combo should cost more than a couple of hundred dollars from what I can tell, but I want to make sure I get the right hardware to run the scanner!

Tim

[Peter De Smidt]

Hi Tim,

I use an old g4 in os 9. (The upgrade to CG 2.x which would allow OS10 operation is $1000. Yikes!) Upgrading memory to the max really helped with speed. I'm off tomorrow, and I need to do some scanning, so I'll get some more info.

Make sure to check out: http://www.screen.co.jp/ga_dtp/en/download/
The release notes often have info as to which components/OS the update will work with.

[Tim Shawcross]

Scanner arrived today. It's currently lampooned in it's shipping crate in the garage until I can get a couple of people over to move it!

I have had a chance to hook it up whilst still on the shipping pallet - after a couple of minutes of whirring and buzzing it gives me two green lights so that is positive. I don't have a G4 and SCSI card yet (hope to have it by the end of next week) so I can actually confirm it all works.

In the mean time, I have a couple of questions about the glass trays I got. Attached are some pictures (this might also help anyone else who's looking to buy a cezanne as I have not managed to track down any pictures on the web of what the standard accessories look like.).

My scanner came with two trays - one I think is the regular Anti Newton glass, the second I'm not sure what it is but think it might be a glass tray for line art? (it's the glass in the foam and bubble wrap). The two pieces of plastic with the handles - I assume they're retaining plates? I've also included a picture of the scanning bed cover for anyones reference.

I also have a mystery part I'll attached pictures in the next post. It wasn't attached to the scanner and I have no idea what it is or where if goes. Any ideas?

Finally, of the most concern for me is I'm not sure my scanner has got a calibration strip. I remember reading somewhere there was a white strip installed on the left hand side of the scanning bed. Has anyone got a picture of this? I have two empty slots on the left side of the bed and I think perhaps one of them should have a calibration strip in there.

[Tim Shawcross]

Mystery part?

Incidentally - in case people are wondering the scanner did not come with a manual. I will contact screen to see if I can get one... it will depend on how expensive it will be. Last picture is of the scanning bed protective cover - just in case anyone is interested.

[Peter De Smidt]

In your last post (#14) The first two pictures are of the calibration strip. Be very careful with that! In your earlier post (#13), the first picture is of the standard bed. It's a 6mm thick piece of what looks like acrylic with a very fine anti-newton texture on it. The third pic looks like a hold down plate, which also should have an anti-newton texture. So you put your negative on the main tray, picture 1, and then you place the hold-down tray,picture 3, on top of the negative to hold it flat. I can't tell exactly what the 2nd and 4th pictures are of in post #13.

[Tim Shawcross]

Peter - thanks

Picture 2 in post #13 is basically the same material as picture 3, only the one in 2 is big enough for the entire bed whereas the one in 3 is only about a 1/3 of the bed. Picture 4 is the same size as the standard bed - but it looks more like clear glass than the anti newton stuff. I think it's probably the line art glass tray that was an optional accessory - not much use to me.

Does the manual mention anyway to clean the calibration strip? It has quite a few marks/scuffs on it - I can't imagine it will provide an accurate calibration. I might contact screen and see if there are replacement white strips available. I'd assume that just the white stripe can be replaced rather than the whole metal unit needing to be replaced.

Tim

[Peter De Smidt]

Hi Tim, I'll look tonight in the manual, but my guess is that it would be best to buy a new one. Make sure that you're sitting down when you ask the prices. I wanted to replace my standard bed. $1200. Software upgrade from Version 1 to 2. $1000. Well, you get the idea.

[bohngy]

Hi Tim, I dug out my Cezanne instruction manual for you. The white reference strip is errr... seemingly for errr... white reference? Being more serious, I wonder if it's so important to have it squeaky clean, if scanning transparencies?
Anyway, it reads:
"Never touch the white film surface for it is very delicate and easy to make dirty. If the white film becomes dirty, then the output quality will be adversely affected."

Sadly there's nothing about cleaning it! If you are considering a new one, I would almost certainly giving cleaning a go. Maybe you'll get lucky and save yourself a packet.

Knowing how these scanner manufacturers love to rip off their captive customers for spares, I'm sure you'll only be able to buy a complete white strip assembly.

Sorry I can't be more help.

_______________________
Benj

[Tim Shawcross]

Update -

G4 and SCSI have arrived. Scanner up and running! Initial scans look really good, but unfortunately I'm getting a low lamp intensity warning. Guess I'll need to put down a couple of hundred for a new lamp (at least there's only one in the elite!). Still, at least with a brand new lamp I'll know I'm getting the most out of the scanner.

Looks like I'll need to make some masks for my film. On some trans I'm getting a bit of flare - always at the edge of the film and most notable when the areas at the edges are dark shadows. Peter, I seem to remember you wet mount - does this prevent this sort of flare?

I've found the colorgenius software OK to use, but I wish it gave you a histogram and an easy way to set end points. I'm a bit confused about the how the HD and SD work in the manual fine adjustment tab. Setting 0.00 seems logical for HD, but for SD it will allow a maximum value of 6.94 (I would've thought 4ish would be the max?) What I'm also confused about is how the RGB values in the next column relate to these settings. If I understand correctly, the scanner will take whatever it sees in the density range and then compress that info into the values specified in the RGB columns (which by default seems to be be around 24,24,24 and 240,240,240) I've been resetting these to 0,0,0 and 255,255,255 - I'm not sure if there is any benefit to doing this. If I want to get a 'Raw' scan, and suggestions what value should I set? I know you guys have discussed this a bit - did you draw any conclusions?

I've done one quick scan of a color neg - I notice that you lose all control of HD and SD in this mode? Still the scan came out pretty good with minimal fuss.

Finally, I've done some experiments in scanning 4x5 in two passes at 3200 and combining in photoshop using photomerge. Asides from the added time of scanning and photoshop processing, it was easy and the resulting file is big enough for a 40x50 print and probably has close to all of the useable info you're going to get from the film.

I'm waiting to see how much SDK will charge for shipping some wet mounting supplies to New Zealand (Aztek wont ship here, and I've had great trouble finding anyone who distributes these kind of supplies here) I'd like to experiment with wet mounting to see what difference it makes (if any on a flatbed)

Tim

[Peter De Smidt]

Hi Tim,

No, wet-mounting doesn't get rid of the flare. Masks are a good idea.

When I built my icc files using Wolf Faust's targets, I set my HD density at 0, the SD density at 4, and the next two value at 0 and 255. The latter values are for prepress work where you don't want values below, say, 15, or above 245. All they do is compress the output range.

With grayscale scanning, which I do as a positive as CG1.x only allows 8-bit grayscale scans, I've been experimenting with a Stouffer step wedge and changing the SD level such that the scan endpoints are closer to the information endpoints on the negative. I should have some time this week to revisit this, and I'll post my results.