Microtek Scanner problem

[Richard Martel]

Hi,

Running a Microtek 1800f on WinXP CS4. I have not run this machine for quite awhile. Started scanning 5x7 negs at 1800 SPI and found these vertical lines in my scans.

Any ideas or suggestion will be appreciated. I'm not concerned at this time about the Moire patterns that also appear.

Thanks, Richard

[Richard Martel]

Please let me add that the photo is a small crop from the full size scan.

Richard

[aphexafx]

Can we assume that the scan is traveling top to bottom...?

This is a sure sign of a dirty or failing CCD in the scanner.

[Ken Lee]

I got rid of my Microtek 2500F because of those lines. I could never remove them. Nor could I ever send in the scanner for service. Microtek no longer sells or services scanners in the USA.

My Epson 4990 was a fraction of the cost, and has never produced these lines. It is also much quieter, faster, smaller, and lighter than the Microtek. As far as I can tell, it gives better overall image quality as well, albeit with a modest loss of sharpness. But it doesn't crash, and doesn't require restarting of the scanner, or rebooting of the computer. The exasperation and time I have saved, has proven well worth the small loss in resolution.

[sanking]

I owned a Microtek 9800XL at one time and it also produced the same type lines. I never could get rid of them, and cleaned the base glass, lamp and CCD. I sold it on ebay to someone who was only doing scans of prints and it worked fine for him.

Sandy King




I got rid of my Microtek 2500F because of those lines. I could never remove them. Nor could I ever send in the scanner for service. Microtek no longer sells or services scanners in the USA.

My Epson 4990 was a fraction of the cost, and has never produced these lines. It is also quieter, faster, smaller, and lighter. As far as I can tell, it gives better overall image quality as well, along with a modest loss of sharpness. But it doesn't crash, and doesn't require restarting of the scanner, or rebooting of the computer. The exasperation and time I have saved, has proven well worth the small loss in resolution.

[Richard Martel]

Matt, Yes the lines are running top to bottom.

Ken, I'm afraid your correct. I don't think very highly of the performance of my Microtek. Money not wisely spent.

All of a sudden too. Checked some scans from three or four months ago and no lines.
They show up in all three channels too.

Jeeze, I wish I were rich...;-)

Thanks guys, Richard

[Jim Noel]

Clean the glass which should remove the lines.

[aphexafx]

All of a sudden too. Checked some scans from three or four months ago and no lines.
They show up in all three channels too.

It sounds like it might just be dust, unless there is some reason for adjacent CCD sites to go bad together. Get some tools, a bright lamp, a kitchen table, some beer, and head inside. You might be able to fix it.

[Richard Martel]

Matt,

You may be onto something there. I will most likely take it apart and attempt to clean the CCD and optics...It should be a breeze ,after all, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn once and worked on wheelbarrows at one time...Ill let you all know how it turns out. nothing to lose

Thanks, Richard

[Richard Martel]

Found out what the problem WAS. Matt (Aphexafx) hit on it. It made sense, If there was dust on the Optics or senser it would show as a streak. Upon Googling for scan lines for the MT 1800f I came up with an old post by Kirk Giddings;

"There is no advantage to using the glass bed vs. the film holder for 4x5 and one big disadvantage. The calibration slot in the glass holder is also glass and collects dust, a big problem here in Albuquerque. The dust particles create holes in the calibration data and streaks in the scan. This is not an issue with the film holder as the calibration slot is open."

After cleaning the calibration slot...Streaks gone! as the attatchment shows.

Thanks..I owe you guys a beer.

Richard

[aphexafx]

Hey! Glad you fixed it, good job. :)

[Kirk Gittings]

Richard, I'm glad it worked. this forum is an amazing resource. There is a similar issue sometimes with Microteks that is much more stuborn to fix sometimes though and involves getting a clean reboot of the internal processor in the scanner. This problem, if memory serves, involved colored stripes.

[Richard Martel]

Hi Kirk,

Yes, it is an amazing forum. A great exchange of thoughts and ideas. Would you happen to know how to or what's involved in a Microtek processor reboot that you mentioned? I doubt that that MT USA would do it now that MT is no longer supported here.

thanks, Richard

[Kirk Gittings]

As I remember it (I haven't owned one in sometime) it involved something like turning off the scanner, unplugging the lid, unplugging the scanner, waiting 20 seconds or so, plugging the lid back in, plugging the scanner back in and turning it on. I'm not sure anymore.

[Richard Martel]

Thanks you Kirk. BTW, I checked focus on my MT 1800f and it appears to be at the top of the glass platten. I'm going to try fluid mounting and see what develops :).
It seems like the latest rage is the Epson V 700-750.

Thanks again guys for all the insight.

Richard

[al olson]

I can also offer the solution that I found for my i800 Microtek.

It seems that when the scanner develops any of these streaking artifacts it stores them in the scanner driver's data folder so that they are available for subsequent scans!!!

The solution from the Microtek KnowledgeBase, Article No. KB-03007, for ScanWizard Pro:

1. Close all Windows programs that are open.
2. From the Desktop double click on the My Computer.
3. Locate the C: (Drive) in the My Computer window and double click on it.
4. A list of folders contained in the C: Drive will display. Locate the Windows or Windows NT folder and double click on it.
5. Inside the Windows or Windows NT folder you will find a folder called Twain_32. Double click to open the Twain_32 folder.
6. Inside the Twain_32 folder you will find a folder called ScanPro. Double click to open the ScanPro folder.
7. Inside the ScanPro folder you will find another folder called Data. Double click to open the Data folder.
8. This will display all files within the Data folder. Next, click on Edit menu and then click on "select all" from the menu, this will highlight all the displayed files.
9. Now delete all files by pressing the Delete key on the keyboard. By deleting these files you are simply resetting the original default settings for the Microtek ScanWizard Pro driver.
10. Once you have deleted all files close all Windows and return to the Desktop.
11. Finally produce a new scan. If the scan looks good then you have successfully resolved this problem. If the scan still has output problems then you will need to uniinstall and reinstall ScanWizard in safemode.

NOTE:
Microtek's solution is to delete the settings files, which means that all of your custom settings must be reestablished. This is a curious software design that will save errors for the next scan in the settings files, or anywhere else.

This solution is a hassle because you may encounter new errors with the next scan! I would never buy another Microtek scanner!!!

[Richard Martel]

Hi Al,

Thanks for that bit of wisdom. I don't think too many folks are going to be buying Microtek.
I spent a number of fall seasons hunting around Pagosa Springs back in the '60s when I lived in Colorado Springs. Fond memories. Red Ryder still around ? ;-)

[Doug Herta]

My 1800f never really lived up to the promises I kept hearing about. I figure having it shipped to me when it was new was the beginning of the end. I'll bet it got bounced to death before it reached me. I have a terrible striping problem which I guess can be solved by cleaning something (archive search or can someone point me to the specific article discussed above?). Scanning reflective material causes the scanner to moan, take the first bits of data from the scan and swipe a giant stripe across the whole area rather than doing an actual scan. Driver upgrades, scanning software upgrades, even a promise from Microtek for "special pricing" on that new scanner that took forever to make it to market. Now they are out of the market. I think I have a $1300 paper weight.

I was so excited about the whole digital thing back in 2001-2002. The Epson 2000P printer, the Mikrotek 1800f scanner, the monitor and printer calibration tools. I never really got the kind of results that I kept hearing about. Maybe I just got a bunch of bum equipment. Maybe I just didn't spend the time required to drain little $30 thimbles of ink onto paper to get it dialed in.

If one were to start over, what would the fine digital minds of this forum suggest?

Anyone want a scanner, cheap? How about a printer?

[Gem Singer]

Scanning and inkjet printing aren't for everyone. Notice the number of people who purchased large format camera outfits only to find that LF photography wasn't their cup of tea. They usually put their LF equipment up for sale and take the loss.

If I were starting over again, I probably would purchase a high end digital camera outfit with, at least, one shift lens.

I would give up film developing and enlarging, as well as wet scanning negatives.
However, I would concentrate on learning all that I could about Photoshop, especially stitching and fine art pigment ink printing.