Aztec Premier

[Frank Petronio]

I know several artists who sold their high-quality prints for more than $450 who gave up because it was unprofitable.

$250 for a quality 20x24 inkjet from a drum scan is pretty much untenable, that's pretty much the out-of-pocket cost alone.

[Lenny Eiger]

Just curious Lenny, how long does it take to spin in a large scan like this?

The Premier is a pretty fast machine. A 4x5, at about 1.7 Gigs, is about 20-25 mins. The 8x10's are a bit larger, at 3 Gigs, about 35-38 mins. If I am really moving, i can do about 8-10 a day. However, I also bring each one up, make sure there are no mistakes or bubbles, etc., that snuck in. I also do a quick spotting, about 10 mins or so, just to make sure everyone is happy... If I don't like the scan, I do it again... I did one over just this week...

I have also done the 8x10's at 8,000 dpi, that takes hours (24 Gigs). Only useful for really large prints. I made a 21 foot print at 400 dpi with no interpolation, another guy did one at 35 feet for a huge billboard... pretty crazy...

Lenny

[Noah A]

At those print prices I can see why $150 for a scan would be painful. (And only you know your market and target audience, so I'm not suggesting you change your prices.)

I think of the scan as part of the production of the photograph, not as part of the expense of printing. For me it fits in with film and processing costs, travel expenses, etc.

I recoup my those expenses through print sales but also through editorial licensing. Regardless of how you think about it though, you're correct in wanting to maintain a margin on your print sales and all of the expenses need to be accounted for somehow.

I do a few hundred scans a year on my Howtek 8000, all 4x5 at this point. While only a portion of those ever get printed for exhibition, I like the idea of using my scans as a back-up archive to my original film. I make 4000dpi scans so they end up around 1.6GB and as Lenny said, they take around 20 minutes to scan and about 20 minutes to load up the drum with four 4x5's, preview the images and make my settings for each scan.

My goal is to scan the film once then leave it safely stored away forever.

For the print sizes you're talking about, if drum scans aren't cost effective, you could probably get away with Imacon scans. I don't know where you're located but in many cities there are rental houses where you can rent time on the Hasselblad or Imacon scanners. Here in Philadelphia we have a place where you can rent one for $50/hour. You can do fff scans which are sort of like raw scans, then you can process the information later at home when you're not on the clock. I haven't done it in a while but I think I could get seven or eight 4x5's scanned per hour. The Imacons only do 2040dpi for 4x5, but the scans are good and will easily go to 20x24. The main downside besides the lower resolution is that you'll spend more time cleaning your scans. The Imacon picks up every little scratch on your film. Fluid mounting on a drum minimizes some of these surface flaws.

The drum scans are definitely better, but the Imacons can work for many applications and they are much cheaper.

[pdmoylan]

Well Gentlemen,

I received a surprise package from the lab in question yesterday with the completed redos including scans, this after delays and my request that they redo only one image so I can get it mounted and sold. Drum rolls... the results were exceptionally good including the scans.

The only problem is that UPS bent the box and I have several creases in the prints.

I assume there is nothing I can do to eliminate or minimize the creases. Any suggestions?

[Daniel Stone]

hopefully the package was insured, and that the lab(in question) didn't use a big enough box...

see if you can get them to re-print it, to me it sounds like they didn't take as much care as they should have when packing it up... Call the lab first, and let them know. Then they can b!tch to UPS, not you. But they can save "face" by getting the customer(you) the product delivered safely

-Dan

[IanMazursky]

Depends on the type of print and how bad the crease is.
If the paper white is showing through, then i would reprint.
If its not, then a heat press might make it less noticeable. You could always spot it but that’s a lot of work.

Hopefully as Daniel said it was insured. UPS is known for using the boxes they carry for bowling.
I once had a 4 foot metal piece from an HP printer shipped to me from overseas.
It came in as an L! An L! How is that even possible, but it happened and UPS took months to settle the case.
Same thing happened when i shipped my 12x20 Korona up to turner for new bellows.
They mangled the box, the camera sustained some wood damage.

That’s why i now use Fedex for all of my shipments. They take much better care of everything.

Good luck!