Group Drum Scanner Buy - SF Bay Area?

[John Rodriguez]

Any people in the San Francisco Bay Area interested in pooling resources to purchase and maintain a drum scanner? I'm thinking we purchase a used scanner as a group for personal use only and park at a mutually convenient location, splitting all maintenance costs. Any interest?

[Peter Langham]

possibly.

[mortensen]

Relocate to Copenhagen, Denmark, and I'm your man :D

[Peter Langham]

I'm in the North Bay and wouldn't mind traveling to the central bay area.

[tnabbott]

I'm in the City and would consider joining in on this..

[nonuniform]

I'm in the city, have a studio in Oakland and would definitely participate, and offer some space for the scanner.

[John Rodriguez]

Sounds like there's enough people to at least discuss more. I'm in the east bay, and could travel anywhere in the Bay Area.

We'd be looking at-

Scanner - $2000
Cheap desktop and SCSI card - $300
Decent monitor - $500
DLP Software - $2000
Materials (fluid etc) - $200

So somewhere in the $5k range to get started. Possibly more if the scanner needs to get serviced immediately. After that we'd be looking at ongoing maintenance/repairs. Everyone would need to be OK with paying a sudden repair bill.

Sounds like we have at least one option for space. The key will be making sure the space is available at times convenient for the group. We'd probably also want to get some renters insurance on it.

Anyways, just some thoughts to get the ball rolling.

[Bodyslam]

Interesting idea. I'm not going to join, since I have my drum scanner running already--unfortunately not in a location where sharing would be feasible. But if you want one still fairly green drum scannerist to come along and help you get it rolling, I'd be happy to help.

[brianam]

Yes, possibly. Especially if joining in would better the price of scanning, say a 1/2 dozen negs/slides at LightSource.
They have Heidelberg S3900 and Primescan D8200 drum scanners. Prices are pretty competitive.
Not an endorsement -- I have not yet used their services, but was looking to do so this year.

[Lenny Eiger]

I'm in the North Bay, with a Premier. I'm certainly open to helping you folks.... if we can find a way. Maybe group rates or something like that...

Lenny

[nonuniform]

If I make 10 scans in a month, I've ~paid for my share. I'm still interested.

I'm curious about usage patterns by those that have a drum scanner. is it something you use every week, every month, every quarter....? I'm guessing that I would continue to make low-res scans for selections, and then make hi-res scans once or twice per month of the final selections of images. That would probably be about about 2-4 images / month.

[Peter Langham]

I am interested. Thew money should be ok if we can find enough people. I am also interested in looking at Lenny's offer. You can't beat his expertise and equipment. Working out something with him might be a great option.

[Asher Kelman]

I'm in the North Bay, with a Premier. I'm certainly open to helping you folks.... if we can find a way. Maybe group rates or something like that...

Lenny

Lenny,


Do you have a link to your rates and what would you consider for group rates.


Asher

[Lenny Eiger]

Lenny,
Do you have a link to your rates and what would you consider for group rates.
Asher

Asher,
My current rates are available at eigerstudios.com.
My general policy is to deliver the highest amount of quality I am capable of for each scan. I do not charge by the megabyte. All scans are 16 bit RGB. The scan prices are already discounted from what most places would charge for the size. 35mm and medium format is done at 8,000 pip, 4x5 at 4,000 and 5x7 and 8x10 at 2666.

I am acutely aware that there are other excellent scanner operators on this forum and that this forum has some good rules about commercial behavior, which I would like to respect. I would suggest that if there is interest a group could get together and I would be happy to discuss this offline...

Lenny
eiger@eigerstudios.com
707-763-5922

[Manuel Orellana]

Hi guys:
I am interested. I live in Stockton, CA. It is close enough to the Bay Area to consider it.

[SergeyT]

Getting a scanner and making the first scan is not all that difficult or expensive. Making it work for everyone in the group is not that easy.
The access, availability, training and maintenance is the whole different story.
Beside the initial expenses on equipment there should be a (substantial ?) per hour/scan charge to make this thing work. Which at the end is likely to make the cost-quality factor not much different than getting scans @ "group rates" from some reputable place.