Where to get a good 4x5" drum scan?

[Ron Marshall]

I have always been completely satisfied with the quality and service from Danny Burk:

http://www.dannyburk.com/

[Lenny Eiger]

Tim and Bob, I don't believe that it was the Aztec Scanner that was responsible for damaging the slide. The operator admits to being overwhelmed by a three-hundred-scan order at the time he handled my transparency.

Being overwhelmed doesn't mean I mistreat people's film. I'm a photographer as well.

Am I anal about how my transparencies are handled - perhaps I am.

So am I.

With respect to West Coast Imaging: You can ship them a package and not worry about it sitting on the owner's front porch until he returns; you can go to their website and download a professional order form where you can specify your file size, color space and file type; and they won't manipulate your scans by careless spotting or unsolicited curves applications.

So I am to be maligned because I have a home office? I wonder how many other experienced scanner operators have the same problem. Personally I'd rather work with an expert with a home office than a lab type atmosphere where you are just one more job that has to get out the door. However, it also means that I am right here, 99% of the time, just as much as a lab.

You want to air this out here, fine. No one manipulated your scans with careless spotting or unsolicited curves applications. Careless spotting doesn't ever happen here. I've been spotting for a very long time, silver, platinum and now PhotoShop. My rule is that anything attempted disappears entirely and totally. The giant scratch you reference I have seen plenty of times from a lab or other mishandling mishap. A grain of sand or other debris gets stuck in between. That and the other scratches were there when that piece of film got here. And - I spotted it out for you with one flick of the pen on the tablet. It was nothing. There is nothing that would have shown on any printer made now or in the future. The long scratches I spent a very long time trying to find. Finally located them up at 200%.

As to a curve adjustment, I often toss a very slight curve adjustment layer on an image when the client is a new one. I want to make sure I have done a good job and made a scan that is soft enough to have every tone available and to be able to be manipulated with slight adjustments to print perfectly in their style. Often clients are appreciative to they have something they can use to start with so I leave it there. It's easily thrown out. I never make an adjustment without a layer on anything.

Finally, you were worried that someone else who actually knows how to spot very well would ruin what? No one with even minimal experience with the clone tool would have had difficulty spotting that little ding. You don't have the equipment to analyze what you are talking about, you made some reference to spotting only at a certain percentage, in one direction or another. It's meaningless, you apparently don't have the experience to know when its easy. Further, you don't even have a printer. You send them out to be printed by someone else on a Chromira-type printer, with shiny stuff that isn't even as high resolution as an inkjet. The scratches would never have shown on a machine like that. certainly not the spotting.

it is rude. Your lack of knowledge and experience ought to make you second guess yourself just a bit before you malign someone else in public who is not only knowledgeable but was happy to fix whatever it was that happened to your neg. I was on your side, doing what I could and the scans were beautiful. I'm sorry your film got hurt, but it didn't happen here. We don't have to agree. Maybe the tooth fairy got mad at you - maybe something in the packaging slid in there - it doesn't matter. Your sunset image had some nice colors, I'm sure you feel it may never be there again, but at least you got a nice scan, presumably you had someone print it and I hope you got a nice print.

Lenny

[jhogan]

I'd like to recommend Larry Stein at Warp 9 imaging in El Cajon (San Diego area); he is very skilled on his Aztek Premiere. In addition to being a nice guy, Larry is a talented photographer who really cares about the finished product and, best of all, his prices are very competitive:

http://www.w9imaging.com/scanning.php

[Rick Russell]

I heartily recommend Joseph Luppino of www.pixelnation.us. Although I reside in the Los Angeles area I send my scan work to Joseph, who is located in Pennsylvania. Joseph also uses the Aztec Premier, which I understand is the state of the art in drum scanners.

Rick Russell
richardrussell-1@ca.rr.com

[Tim Povlick]

Hi Eric,

I am sorry that you have a scratched piece of film but from Lenny's description he's pulled all the data off the film, and hence it's fully recoverable. Personally, If I had a film with a 2mm scratch on it and had a full scan with correction, I would not give it a second thought.

Tim and Bob, I don't believe that it was the Aztec Scanner that was responsible for damaging the slide. The operator admits to being overwhelmed by a three-hundred-scan order at the time he handled my transparency.

That is my point exactly, the procedure for drum scanning makes scratching film virtually impossible. There is no movement / friction between overlay / drum / film.

I'm on the fence as to whether or not my post was "inappropriate". Every time I see the image, every time I see Lenny Eiger's name on this forum, my blood boils. It's not "a" scratch. There is "a" 2mm scratch on the emulsion side; on the flip side there are dozens of hairline scratches. Perhaps these hairline scratches would be hard to see if he had bothered to clean the fluid off the slide after scanning, but he didn't because, in his words: he noticed the scratching and was afraid that cleaning the slide would make it worse, so he returned it to me covered in scanning fluid.

I feel this post in not appropriate on several levels. Lenny has handled a lot of film over the years w/o mishap, you even mention he was working a large 300 count film scan. I am not hearing any complaints from that job nor any others. Even if I knew absolutely / positively he was responsible for the scratch I wouldn't air this in public as I learned a long time ago not to mess with a man's / woman's lively hood. I would just say be more careful next time.

Home office / pro-lab / fancy download forms: I've used both Lenny / pro-lab with fancy forms. Well, Lenny always beats the pro-labs. Recent experience with two different pro-labs bears this out. He's printed some difficult astro-photography for me and did s brilliant job. Also, if there is any question about the work, he's on the phone with me checking into it.

Take Care,

Tim

[Bill L.]

Thanks for all the recommendations! Looks like I've got a lot of places to start checking out. I'm really looking forward to seeing what a drum scan can do compared to the 750!

Bill

[Peter De Smidt]

A good judge of a service provider is how they respond when an issue does arise. Lenny did the right thing in this case, whether the scratch happened in his care or not. I'm more likely to send Lenny some work as a result of this incident than I was before I read about it.

[mandoman7]

Back in the old days when I shot a lot of commercial film the lab that I used routinely scratched transparencies, and they were the best in town, frustratingly (hinterlands). I had other labs do amazing things, too. One lab had the temerity to burn down with the film from the biggest shoot I had had to date (involving models and an airplane on a tarmac).

Not to make light of the situation, but, things happen when you hand your negs over to another person. It'll drive you nuts but it going to happen occasionally. If the service provider is a quality person, it could be an opportunity to form a bond around the civility that's maintained.

[bob carnie]

Probably some of the best advice I have read here and on other sites in a very long time.

Back in the old days when I shot a lot of commercial film the lab that I used routinely scratched transparencies, and they were the best in town, frustratingly (hinterlands). I had other labs do amazing things, too. One lab had the temerity to burn down with the film from the biggest shoot I had had to date (involving models and an airplane on a tarmac).

Not to make light of the situation, but, things happen when you hand your negs over to another person. It'll drive you nuts but it going to happen occasionally. If the service provider is a quality person, it could be an opportunity to form a bond around the civility that's maintained.

[Brian_A]

Bill L,

Chrome in Georgetown does great scanning work. Up in Baltimore there's a place called Full Circle and I think he does drum scanning there.

http://www.chromeimaging.com/home.html

-Brian