Microtek i800 Scanner for color slides

[Rick Turkel]

I bought the title scanner to convert some 2000 travel slides to digital format. I succeeded in scanning the first 5 carousels (about 440 slides) with no problems. I turned both the scanner and the computer off for a day because I knew I wouldn't have time to work on it. When I turned the machines back on and tried to continue scanning, it got as far as the first slide scanned when the computer emitted an ominous beep accompanied by an error pop-up which contained the word "Error," a red circle containing a white "X," and a box saying "OK;" no info on what the error was or what caused it. :( The glitch must have occurred before the scan was saved, because it didn't show up anywhere on my computer. Any further attempts failed even to even get that far. I uninstalled the software and then reinstalled it 4 times, with no change in the scanner's behavior.

Anyone have any experience with this problem?

[BrianShaw]

I haven' seen that exact problem but mine has sat idle more than its been used because of software (I think) problems. Recently reloaded software but this time from Microtek site not the disk and having better luck. I still think it is slightly out of focus, though.

[Rick Turkel]

Thanks for the quick reply, Brian. I visited the Microtek website, but with limited success. As you probably know, the company has gone out of business, but I saw some software there that seemed like it might work. However, when I tried to run it on my computer, Windows gave me a security warning that the author was "Unknown" and the digital signature was missing, so I never ran it. Another issue was that the software on the website was older than that on the disk that came with the scanner - and that was from 2007! My software doesn't have drivers for XP, although it did work for >400 slides. Did you notice anything newer than 2007 with drivers for XP?

Rick

[Oren Grad]

AFAIK they haven't gone out of business, but they certainly have scaled their US sales and support operation way back.

Have you checked this page for whatever updated drivers you want to try?

http://support.microtek.com/product_dtl_2.phtml?prod_id=139

FWIW, my i800 worked under XP and continued to work when I transferred it to a Vista machine in 2009 and downloaded the appropriate drivers for it. I had a lot of trouble with it early on under XP - Microtek ultimately replaced my first one under warranty - but it's been more or less OK in very limited use over the last couple of years.

Afraid I've never tried scanning slides with it.

[Rick Turkel]

Thanks for the quick reply, Oren. The page you cited looks very good. I'm in the middle of something else right now, but I'm going to check it out as soon as I get done.

Rick

[Rick Turkel]

Oren,

I read through that website and followed all the instructions. Unfortunately, when I uninstalled (for the fifth and sixth times :( ), the same problem reappeared - the scanner appears to be functioning properly, but just as the first scan is completing I get that same ominous beep and a Mictrotek ScanWizard 5 error box with nothing more than a red circle containing a white "x." Might you have any further suggestions?

[BrianShaw]

Have you tried ScanWizard Pro? I've found that to be more complex than ScanWizrd5 but more reliable.

[al olson]

Have you tried ScanWizard Pro? I've found that to be more complex than ScanWizrd5 but more reliable.

Brian is right, I found ScanWizard5 unreliable as well. I made the mistake of installing both of them and then ignorantly selecting ScanWizard5 to perform the scans. When I wised up, it worked better (not great, but better) with ScanWizard Pro.

This dog has a lot of problems (I sold off a good Epson 4870 to get the 8x10 capability and the fictitious dMax) some of which cause artifacts to be stored in your settings files. Tech support was never great either.

[Oren Grad]

Of the Microtek software I've only ever used ScanWizard Pro, so I'm afraid I don't have anything I can suggest about troubleshooting the non-Pro version.

[Preston]

The following procedure may help:

Uninstall all versions of Scanwizard using the Microteck 'uninstall' routine.
Search for and delete a folder named "Microtek". This folder should be in the root of your primary drive, e.g. C:\ (Do not delete any other Microtek folders, subfolders or files)
Restart your computer
Access the Microtek downloads for Scanwizard Pro Version 7.132 and Color Management System Version 2.32 appropriate for your operating system
Turn off any antivirus software
Download these two files to your desktop.
Unplug your scanner from your computer!
Close any programs that may be running
Install the Scanwizard Pro driver.
Restart your computer
Install Color Management System Version 2.32
Attach your scanner to your computer
Restart your computer
Enable your AV software.
Try making a scan.

I used this procedure to install Scanwizard and it worked nicely. I hope it works for you, Rick.

--P

[tenderobject]

Guys, i'm very sorry to bump this thread. I think it's better to just post some of my inquiries here.

Anyone here have the i800+ LED version? Does your computer detect it as 4800ULED? Would Vuescan software works with your i800+ version? I'm having a hardtime with this scanner especially with Vuescan. I tried Scanwizard Pro an EZ but i could only get decent colour scan with the PRO. I think i still need to profile this to my system. Anyone can give me some tips? Sorry, i'm new to digital workflow. I'm still in the learning process..

Thank you!

[Preston]

I'm having a hard time with this scanner especially with Vuescan.

Send Ed Hamrick an e-mail detailing the issue(s) you're having. Be sure to attach a copy of the VueScan logfile. Ed is pretty good about helping resolve issues. The more detail you can give him, the better.

If you installed the Microtek IT8 profiling software and the IT8 target files, you can use this to profile the scanner. You must make absolutely sure you use the IT8 or Q60-E1 data file that matches the calibration target transparency. You can find this in the lower left corner of the target tranny. For example, mine is 2004.02 for my Kodak target.

If you have the 'Pro' version of Vuescan, you can use it to profile your scanner. The same caution applies regarding the IT8 data file. There are instructions as to how to profile using VueScan in it's 'Help' pages.

--P

[tenderobject]

Hi Preston,

Thanks for the info. I got a response from Ed. Sadly, My Microtek i800 Plus is not supported by Vuescan. Too bad, Scanwizard Pro is nice but it's a bit Pre historic and i could only use version 7.25 with this scanner. It's such a shame. How i wish Ed could make a solution for this soon. Silverfast Ai isn't a solution because it's a bit expensive for me!

I've installed these softwares already (MSP, ICC Profiler) but since i'm a bit ignorant on digital workflow i'm not sure what do to. My scanner didn't come with IT8 target to work on. Is there any other way i could atleast calibrate the scanner to match my monitor? The first time i used the Microtek softwares i'm getting unpleasant scans but after a few tweaks with the settings i got a few good ones but i'm sure it's not perfectly calibrated but i like the results. Of course it would be much better if my scanner is calibrated properly for future works especially with colour negs and reflective for prints..

I'm trying to research on how to calibrate/profile scanner right now. It's new to me. I remember when using Epson V500 years ago i didn't do any profiling or calibration with it. It's very easy like plug and play but now it's different. It seems like i opened a can of worm with this digital setup!

Hope someone could advice a simple setup i could do with this so atleast i could start and finish this testing phase. I've been testing this scanner for a week now! hahaha

Some samples i scanned a few days ago (Pardon it's small/617 format) Fuji Superia and Fuji ProH

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1044333_669350043078693_1066993513_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1044757_669372879743076_480138346_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1044495_669453443068353_2089024649_n.jpg



Send Ed Hamrick an e-mail detailing the issue(s) you're having. Be sure to attach a copy of the VueScan logfile. Ed is pretty good about helping resolve issues. The more detail you can give him, the better.

If you installed the Microtek IT8 profiling software and the IT8 target files, you can use this to profile the scanner. You must make absolutely sure you use the IT8 or Q60-E1 data file that matches the calibration target transparency. You can find this in the lower left corner of the target tranny. For example, mine is 2004.02 for my Kodak target.

If you have the 'Pro' version of Vuescan, you can use it to profile your scanner. The same caution applies regarding the IT8 data file. There are instructions as to how to profile using VueScan in it's 'Help' pages.

--P

[Preston]

It's too bad you can't use VueScan until/if Ed creates a driver for your scanner.

Some folks don't bother to profile their scanners. They create a flat scan (i.e. no adjustments are made to color or tonal scale using the scanner software) and then use Photo Shop to adjust the resulting file. When you profile a scanner, all you are really doing is making sure that the output colors and grey scale are accurate.

Since your scanner did not come with IT8 targets, Wolf Faust (http://www.colorreference.de/targets/index.html) supplies targets for a variety of film types and sizes. His prices are quite good. This may be a good solution for you.

--P

[tenderobject]

I hope he does make an update that can support my i800 plus version. I've hear very nice things about Vuescan from professional friends but too bad i can't use it. So, i will have to deal with Scanwizard Pro v.7.24 (i thought it was v.7.25 lol)

I'm almost doing flatscan right now but still dealing with cast and stuff will add an hour or less just to fix it. It would be nice if i could get atleast a decent scan and just have a minimal PP in my workflow. I remember using my v500 with mediumformat colour negs. It was a breeze. I don't know i didn't do any profiling with the scanner and Epson software. It was very easy! I think in a scanner like Microtek i800 + Tweaking is necessary. Profiling is a must! I would prefer a profiled scanner to my system than having extra headache when doing PP in photoshop. Right now my workflow is not the best. I scan 1 frame then look for the output after scanning because the preview scan doesn't help me either since the preview is a bit different than the output!!! It such a headache. Then i add a few minutes on tweaking (curves, colour balance or saturation). I'm just annoyed with how this scanner scans my colour negs. I didn't get this sort of problem when i was using Epson scanner and software. :(

By the way, I contacted the local distro in Tehran. I asked them if they can provide me an IT8 target so i could calibrate my scanner. I hope they can lend me one. Let see.

I checked that site a while ago. If ever the distro doesn't want to help me calibrating this scanner i might get one.. Can you tell me which one to get for my scanner? http://www.targets.coloraid.de/ They seem a lot. :D Right now i'm just scanning small and medium format colour negs. I will try some provia next time and maybe colour 4x5 in the future. What can you recommend?

Thanks Preston!

Jef




It's too bad you can't use VueScan until/if Ed creates a driver for your scanner.

Some folks don't bother to profile their scanners. They create a flat scan (i.e. no adjustments are made to color or tonal scale using the scanner software) and then use Photo Shop to adjust the resulting file. When you profile a scanner, all you are really doing is making sure that the output colors and grey scale are accurate.

Since your scanner did not come with IT8 targets, Wolf Faust (http://www.colorreference.de/targets/index.html) supplies targets for a variety of film types and sizes. His prices are quite good. This may be a good solution for you.

--P