Frank, Of course, abolutely, you have to learn the scanner and the software to get the most out of it. You'll also over time adjust your film exposure and processing to take more advantage of the scanner. And yes, you can probably make some machines outperform others if you make the effort. I don't doubt it for a minute. I wasn't trying to downplay operator experience.
The question is, how good is good enough? The individual photographer has to decide. Since you can't gain a year's experience (which wouldn't be enough) with every machine you might be intererested in, you have to find another way to make a decision.
It's similar to how you buy a view camera. You research the market, talk to people, ask questions, look at your bank balance. You try to get your hands on a couple and try them out. Then, when you buy, you try to get the biggest bang for your buck.
All I'm telling QT really is, drum scanners aren't that hard to use, fluid mounting is worth the effort and not that hard to do, and the bang-for-the-buck quotent is very high since drum scanners are suddenly so inexpensive.
I'm also telling him and anyone else that wants to know that it might be wise to find out if the quality level works for what you want to do. For you, drum scans aren't worth it. For me they are (but not at the level of a Crosfield 6250, or a six ton Hell 3400). For what we do, we are probably both right.
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