Howtek ScanMate F10 scanner

[Jose Amado]

Dear All,

I heard Howtek ScanMate F10 scanner still is a nice scanner, despite it was made about 8 years ago (?). I'd like to know if anyone in this forum has experience with such a scanner, telling me what are its main pros and cons, and if there is software available to run it with a Leopard Mac Pro.

If this matter has been object of discussion, excuse me for putting this again, but I didn't find any reference about that scanner here.

Thanking you in advance for your help,
Jose

[Bruce Watson]

The old Howtek flatbeds aren't all that well known. Especially here, which is a large format photography forum. Our main focus is supposed to be large format cameras, lenses, film, etc.

You might want to try the Yahoo group "ScanHi-End" since their focus is on high end scanning. There are lots of Howtek users there, some of whom surely can tell you something about the Howtek F10 flatbed.

[Ben R]

This is the digital hardware section of the forum Bruce, why the send off? This section is all about talking about scanners, just read through the posts on the first page.

[Clueless Winddancing]

I am confused with the combining the names of two different scanners. ScanView ScanMate flatbeds and old Howtek flat bed. Were they merged at some time? If not then my guess is that the European support for ScanView ScanMate flat beds still supports them. They are SDS or something close to that.

[Jose Amado]

Thanks,

Bruce, I know that this forum main focus is supposed to be large format cameras, lenses, film, etc. Thank you for the Yahoo link, I knew it already, but I do prefer this forum threads and very useful information it provides, at least to me. I can even say if I presently own a 4x5 camera, LFPF was behind my buy decision...

And under the etc subject Ben is right, this includes scanners too, and on this forum I saw very interesting scanner discussions, that's why I put this thread concerning the F10. I remember quite a few threads with IQSmarts, Cezzannes, Supremes and so on.

C W, I think you are right, maybe the F10 was sold in Europe and USA with different designations, or it just happened they got different names because of companies trading, like Scitex, Creo, now Kodak.

I look forward to get more info about this F10, because maybe I can buy one in Germany, sec hand of course. My purpose is to scan film, I'm a bit tired of my 4990.

Kind regards,
Jose

[Bruce Watson]

Bruce, I know that this forum main focus is supposed to be large format cameras, lenses, film, etc. Thank you for the Yahoo link, I knew it already, but I do prefer this forum threads and very useful information it provides, at least to me. I can even say if I presently own a 4x5 camera, LFPF was behind my buy decision...

And under the etc subject Ben is right, this includes scanners too, and on this forum I saw very interesting scanner discussions, that's why I put this thread concerning the F10. I remember quite a few threads with IQSmarts, Cezzannes, Supremes and so on.

C W, I think you are right, maybe the F10 was sold in Europe and USA with different designations, or it just happened they got different names because of companies trading, like Scitex, Creo, now Kodak.

I look forward to get more info about this F10, because maybe I can buy one in Germany, sec hand of course. My purpose is to scan film, I'm a bit tired of my 4990.

Jose, no disrespect intended. I wasn't trying to run you off; I was just trying to get you answers for your questions. As you can see from this thread, there's little to no information on these scanners here.

All I found on these scanners was a specification sheet (http://www.promarketinc.com/pdf/howtekscanmatef10.pdf) full of the normal manufacturer lies (excuse me, that should read "partial truths" ;-) about resolution and Dmax. This isn't, IMHO, useful for anything other than to verify the name and model number. Without someone who has actually used one to talk about it, well, you can't learn much.

Sorry if I offended anyone. But I was pretty sure that Jose wasn't going to get his answers here. And so far that's been the case. Hopefully someone will prove me wrong. Anybody???

[Tyler Boley]

...
Sorry if I offended anyone. But I was pretty sure that Jose wasn't going to get his answers here. And so far that's been the case. Hopefully someone will prove me wrong. Anybody???

As a member of both lists, and others, it was the perfect suggestion frankly. There may be people on that list with some knowledge of the scanner that are not members here or connected with the concerns of this list at all. Why not cover all the likely bases? We all refer each other to outside sources all the time, I'm not sure what the problem was here...
Tyler

[Jose Amado]

Thanks Bruce,

There is no problem at all and I've already thank you for your first (and quick) reply to my thread.

I looked at the specification sheet you found, and I could see that Howtek made those scanners on 1999 ... the F10 is a bit older than I suspected, the positive point is that it was the better of the three Howteks. I saw that it has a SCSI-2 interface, which is not compatible with my MacPro, but I can connect it to a PC I still own, that has a SCSI-2 i. board. The bla bla scanning technology they talk about seems the same used by Kodak Eversmart scanners, is it?

If that F10 is in good condition, it should be better than my 4990.

But even in good condition, if it brokes something who can fix it? The fact there are not many answers here alerts me against those scanners, I think I'll stay out, I'll check for an Eversmart in EU market.

Kind regards,
Jose

[Jose Amado]

Hello,

I just bought on a newspaper auction:
one Scitex EverSmart and one ScanMate F10... basis was 750 Euro, I bought both for 1050 Euro. They seem in good condition, with no marks on the glass, hope they still work good. Another folk bought a pack of five Macs G4 (450 MHz), two of them were connected to those scanners, he said that he doesn't need all of them, so I'm thinking buying him those two Macs if the price is ok. At least I'll have the SCSI connections on both Macs ready to work. My MacPro doesn't have the SCSI board, but I can connect it with the G4s.

Despite of its age the EverSmart should give nice results, I don't need too fast scans, so it should be ok for me. The F10 is quite impressive, it has it own stand, like a Star Trek device...

I would like to have some feedback if anyone still uses the Scitex EverSmart, and how it compares with the more recent scanners... it was so :( heavy to carry (fortunately I had :) help on the transport...)

Thanks,

Jose

[Ben Hopson]

Congrats on the scanners Jose. Did you get the software for the two scanners? That can be very expensive to purchase.

Good luck,

Ben

[Jose Amado]

Thanks Ben,

That's why I want to buy the G4s...

[Eirik Berger]

Jose.

Congratulations with your new scanner. I recently purchased a Scanmate F8plus, which is quite similar to your F10. The producer of this scanner was the Danish company Scanview which later merged with Purup Eskofot - now Esko. It is out of production of course, Esko don´t make scanners anymore. I think Scanview scanners was sold under the Howtek brand in the US. I am impressed with the F8plus, spesially the DustFree™ template system, which enables glass free scanning.

There is a small danish company that have support on Scanview scanners, and they also have the ColorQuartet software available for both Windows, Mac OS9 and OSX. The software is free to download and try for 30 days. At day 31 you will need a dongle. It is not for free but it might be worth it if you want to work with Mac OSX. Send an e-mail to Michael at ABC-scan and ask for a price on a dongle.

As I wrote in another thread, the only thing I don´t like about the CQ-software is that the preview scan turns black if you use custom made monitor profiles made from Gretag Macbeth software (I use EyeOne). This is not a problem if you do all your editing on a different computer than the one using the scanner.

[Eirik Berger]

I forgot the link to ABC-scan:
http://www.abc-scan.dk/International/index.htm

[Jose Amado]

Hello Eirik,

Thank you very much for the very useful info about the F10 and its software provider ABC-scan.
I'm going to contact them through the link you gave me, as soon I have the G4s working. I am keen to watch the results from both scanners, F10 and Scitex EverSmart, I forgot to mention that I have some scannings already done by another F10 in Lisbon, which are ok (much more detailed) to me compared to my 4990 ones.

Best,

Jose