Yeah, totally! I've seen 4500's and similar scanners go for $1500. They're incredible deals—unless for some stupid reason you value your time.Originally Posted by zhengjdc
I know one photographer who bought a 4500, and it basically drove him to shoot digital. He had maddening problems with air bubbles.
Honestly, you couldn't pay me enough. I'd much rather pay Lenny Eiger to do it! He's the guy I would contact if I had some MF that needed scanning.
Ben, thanks for the vote of confidence!
I was very fortunate just as I got my scanner to be shown how to mount by someone.... I don't do it exactly like him anymore, it's a matter of how one holds one's hand, the pressure on the tape, what to do first and second. It's always been my contention that it takes about 35-45 times before you get it right. Bubbles are also caused by having a sub-standard mounting station. It could be as simple as replacing the springs. The older metal-sided mounting stations were notorius...
I remember a story Aztek told me about a scanner that was sent to them via UPS or Fedex. The driver kept flipping it over from the truck to the door (instead of using a hand truck, I suppose). They stood watching him in amazement. When he got to the door they simply refused it. By that time it was a destroyed machine. That's why they insist on specific custom shippers now... there are plenty of maddening things that can happen, beyond bubbles....
Lenny
EigerStudios
Ok, I found a seller who sells a used Aztek d4000, but when I got their the machine threw an error code F702, which he claimed to be the bad belt... He contacted me 1 week later and claimed that he had fixed the problem and consistently reminds me that sellers from U.S.A are also querying about this item. I am about to give it an actual scan... wonder whatelse could go wrong with the machine.
Btw, how do you examine the drums? the drums seem to be fine but under heavy lights, I saw it isn't smooth, as if they are machined by very tiny sand paper.
The thing comes with 4 drums, mounting fluid, station and an old mac.
Originally,He asks only for $500 initial and claimed that I can fix that f702 problem by myself with which he won't bother, but now he says he had fixed this belt problem, and the price will be higher, Sounds fishy?
I'm no expert on drum scanners, but if the drums aren't PERFECTLY CLEAR, I wouldn't use them for scanning film(transmissive light), but ONLY for reflective(prints). The drums need to be perfectly clear, with no scratches or pitting(what you describe as "fine sandpaper").
I'd stay away from this deal, it smells "fishy" to me, really stinky...
-Dan
It does sound a little fishy but that price is very low.
A new drum from Aztek will run you close to $2k. Used, mint condition drums often go for more than $500. A new mounting station could run you $2k, used I'd be very surprised to find one less than $500.
The drums should be very clear, they should not look like they were sanded. Some minor scratches, especially near the edges, are likely on an older drum and may not affect your scanning as long as they're close to the edges (where the tape will go, not in the scanning area). But these drums sound like trash.
Obviously the best way to go is to buy a refurbished scanner from Aztek, but that's quite pricey.
If you can get this scanner for anything close to $500, it may not be a bad deal. But be aware that you'll likely have to spend more money on it, to buy a better drum and maybe parts for the scanner. You may end up buying another scanner for parts...but IF the mounting station is a good one, it may be worth the $500 by itself.
On the bigger issue of choosing a drum scanner to begin with, for me the Nikon scanner is the one that almost drove me back to digital! Issues with film flatness in particular made scanning a real chore. The drum scanner is great since I can load up 4-4x5 negs, make my settings then I can attend to other matters for 80 minutes or so while the scanner does its work.
I bought my Howtek 8000 on Ebay, but from a photographer who offered an afternoon of training at his studio with the purchase. It was very helpful, though I guess not absolutely necessary. I picked up the mounting technique fairly quickly, though as Lenny said it does take some time to get up to speed. I wouldn't let it scare you off though. It's not as hard as some people would have you believe. I was getting scans the first week that were light years ahead of my Nikon scans. Now it's easy, and kind of fun.
And it's a huge cost savings, at least for my business. Decent Aztek drum scans in my city are around $100 for 4x5. I just did 60 scans from a recent one-week shooting trip. So I already paid for the scanner and enough fluid and mylar to last quite a long time...
What do you use the mylar for?
Sorry, I'm not really familiar with drum scanners or how they are used.
Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
--A=B by Petkovšek et. al.
When you mount a piece of film on a drum, you have to mount it with something. One tapes the edge of a piece of acetate to the drum, inserts a piece of film between drum and acetate and squirts an amount of mounting fluid all over it. The acetate is pulled tight - usually in a mounting station with the help of rollers - and taped securely on all sides.
One doesn't want the liquid spraying all around on the inside of a scanner as the drum spins around... so its important to make sure the tape is flush to the drum everywhere.
The film sits in the liquid, which fills in scratches and makes some dust transparent - when you're lucky, which is pretty often.
Lenny
EigerStudios
Museum Quality Drum Scanning and Printing
I thought all the bargains for drum scanners were gone on ebay but recently I picked one up a Howtek D4000 for less than $500, in great condition, with a mounting station and two drums in pristine condition, plus manual and lots of supplies (tape, mylar, etc). The scanner was in an art studio and according to the owner, had seen very light use. I had to make a road trip to check it out and pick it up, but all went well and it is here now in my work room and I have made several excellent scans with it. I had to purchase a copy of SilverFast to run it with OSX system but that was a relatively modest expenditure.
Although I already have an excellent flatbed scanner (EverSmart Pro) my plan is to use the D4000 for scanning medium format negatives and keep the EverSmart for LF and ULF film. I have been using an old Leafscan 45 for medium format B&W film, and it gives superb quality, but the work flow with the D4000 is much faster, and at least of equal quality.
Sandy
For discussion and information about carbon transfer please visit the carbon group at groups.io
[url]https://groups.io/g/carbon
If you are in the San Francisco bay area you can buy my extra ScanMate 5000.
Gale
The scanners are such a pain to ship that some people give up hope of selling them over E-bay. I found mine (a Howtek 4500 plus two drums, mounting station, replacement bulbs, and a Mac) for G3 on Craigslist and they were willing to ship it to me. It ran me about $3000 total, plus probably a few hundred more for supplies. Craigslist doesn't have a global search function, but if you google "drum scan craigslist" you'll see what's out there.
Agree with the Hi End Scan group, people advertise used drum scanners there every now and then/
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