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View Full Version : Screen Cezanne FT-S 5000 or Kodak Eversmart Surpreme



pivot
4-Jul-2010, 06:29
Hello,

I got two offers and both seem very attractive. The two scanners are fully working.

Screen Cezanne FT-S 5000
Mac G4
Colour Genius 2.1
3300€

Kodak Eversmart Surpreme
Mac G4
software
4500€

Which one would you choose and please explain why?

Thanks

Peter De Smidt
4-Jul-2010, 07:16
I have a Cezanne. It's a good scanner. The Eversmart Supreme, though, is probably a bit better. Two reasons come to mind. One, the Supreme is newer and was updated longer. Second, the Supreme does stitching on the fly. That means you can get max resolution for any film size. With the Cezanne, film size determines max resolution. Yes, you can scan in strips and combine in Photoshop, but with the Eversmart you don't have to bother with that. In any case, both are very good units.

Do you have service available where you live for either one? If so, that'd be a big plus.

pivot
4-Jul-2010, 07:32
Comfort in handling is a good reason to pay little more.
I am not sure about the service but I'd know where to ask...

Frank Petronio
4-Jul-2010, 10:18
With a lot of these older high-end devices, the laid-off/retired technicians who serviced them for the OEM have gone and set-up their own freelance service businesses. Usually they are a very good deal since there is no corporate overhead and there are "donor" machines for parts.

Be sure to check that option out before leaping.

8x10 user
4-Jul-2010, 12:19
The other thing about the Supreme is the CCD is thermoelectrically cooled to reduce noise.

Make sure you test the actual scanner before committing. There could be something wrong with it that could reduce the quality of the scan.

pivot
4-Jul-2010, 13:27
Is there a significant advantage to wet mount on the Supreme? I am asking because I don't want to mess around with fluids unless the difference is huge.

8x10 user
4-Jul-2010, 13:44
I found the difference to be significant but the AR baseglass that came with my unit is not perfect. I purchased a separate baseglass from kodak that is designed for fluid mounting and the results are very good. If I had a new AR baseglass the results might be different.

What are you intending to scan?

In terms of price the Supreme that you mentioned is a better deal compared to what I have seen both scanners sell for in the past.

I actually just picked up a Cezanne 5500 for a family member. I should get a chance to do some comparison tests in a couple weeks.

Bob McCarthy
4-Jul-2010, 13:46
The scanners are pretty close in capability. One issue to me, is the parent company supporting the product. Creo just stopped supporting everything but the latest iq series. The screen people still answer the phone.

I elected to use the Cezanne over the Eversmart primarily because the screen was less expensive to acquire.

Both are x-y scanners. The stitching is built into the creo software. Screen requires you to use a 3rd party software (cs3/4/5). Maybe an patent issue, I don't know but I see both machines being largely equivalent to the end user and both are very capable scanners.


Bob

8x10 user
4-Jul-2010, 13:57
When you are doing your test scans look for softness, image noise, repeating artifact patterns, focus at the corners, flare (should not be present at all in masked scans), and odd noises. Do your test scans at 5600 with a sharp kodakchrome. Run a calibration on the machine to have it run some additional hardware tests. If you find a problem you would be glad that you went through the extra effort of testing the machine yourself.

Another thing you might want to do is pull out the front folding mirror as directed in the cleaning instructions (available on the hi-end scanner forum at yahoo groups) and look for dirt, scratches or abuse. It is my opinion that many "working" Eversmarts have developed an issue or two that holds them back a little bit in scan quality. There are a lot of optical surfaces to get dirty on these machines. This might be why flare has been reported as an issue with some flatbeds.

8x10 user
4-Jul-2010, 14:02
Kodak is a pain to get help from, especially if you are not in their system already. I do know there are a couple of other places to look for assistance from. I'm not sure, what support is like with screen. I do know that Screen is out of extra locking mechanisms so other spare parts might not be available.

Peter De Smidt
4-Jul-2010, 17:14
I don't find any advantage to wet-mounting with the Cezanne. I did with a consumer flatbed. Sorry, I've never used the Supreme.

Ben Hopson
4-Jul-2010, 17:52
Another thing to check regarding the ES Supreme is weather or not it comes with the oXYgen software and not just the Eversmart Scan software. oXYgen gives you 16bit capability and is expensive if you have to buy it separately.

I have the Scitex oil (fluid) mounting station for my Supreme, but find that I get very good scans without wet mounting. Maybe I will do some testing at some point to see if quality is much improved by wet mounting.

Ben

Willem
4-Jul-2010, 18:53
I got two offers and both seem very attractive.

Attractive about the Screen is that you get the ColorGenius 2 software, which is compatible with OSX (not sure up to which version) and adds to its value. But both prices are cheap only in comparison to the original cost. I paid considerably less for my Screen (albeit with version 1). In other words, if you can haggle, do! :D At that price the seller will long have written off the original purchase.

Peter De Smidt
4-Jul-2010, 21:32
I agree with Willem. 1500 to 2000 Euros would be more in line with what I've seen Cezanne's go for. I paid less than $1000 for mine, but it only came with CG version 1.

pivot
5-Jul-2010, 02:29
Considering the fact that the Cezanne has been revisioned with new bulbs installed and that I get a warranty the price for it is more than fair.