Duoscan T1200... my hunt for the first scan...

[David Richhart]

I am posting this for those interested in buying an affordable scanner for negatives. This is my first scan with an Agfa Duoscan T1200. The image is totally unedited except for converting from tiff to jpeg format. Scanned at 150ppi - 8 bit - grayscale.


http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3076426

The negative is a 5x7 glass plate. Photograph is from the Cincinatti, Ohio, area from around 1910-1913.

I read all the postings on this forum about negative scanners. I wanted to be able to scan up to 8X10 negatives. I am not interested in making large prints, I just wanted the ability to make digital copies of my large format negatives at a reasonable cost. Your descriptions of the T1200 seemed to be what I was looking for. The scanner cost from Ebay including postage was $80.05. The Adaptec 2940 SCSI card from Ebay including postage was $14.90. Total setup cost was $94.95.

This is my very first experience scanning a negative. It will take a while to learn a few of the finer points of scanning. There is dust to get rid of, adjusting the scanner's settings, and some adjustment in photoshop should improve things a lot. Am I happy with my investment ??? YOU BETCHA!!!

[CP Goerz]

I love my t1200 too, quite the sleeper!

CP Goerz

[tor kviljo]

Nice to hear, David! I have for long advocated for the Agfa ARCUS 1200 (up to 8"x10" trannis/negs, the same as T1200 in US?) as inexpensive but quite good approach for poor LF people!

Good luck!

[David A. Goldfarb]

Me too. It's a fairly cheap and pretty high quality way of scanning 8x10". Once you figure out the interface, you'll be able to adjust the image so you won't need too much tweaking in PhotoShop.

[Jeremy Moore]

I don't have a free pci slot for a SCSI card, has anyone ever used one of these with a USB-SCSI adaptor?

Only asking as from experience some things won't work at all through adaptors.

[tor kviljo]

There were a discussion on norwegian photo.net (called www.foto.no - diskusjon, for the Norwegian speaking of You....), and posters told to stay away from the USB SCSI adaptors due to unreliability. I use a standard PC with scsi card, but also a PCMCIA - SCSI card in my laptop. Also the latter works as a dream, and is an option if the stationary does not have a card slot. Bought the pcmcia-scsi card on germab e bay for about $$ 20.

[Christian Olivet]

Yesterday, I become a member of the Agfa T1200 club. I still await shipping. There is a little gadget made by a company called Ratoc Systems which will connect a SCSI to a firewire port. Forget USB, it is too slow. This little gadget is about $90, not exactly cheap but is the only way too hook it up to my Imac. Scanner and adaptor came up to the whooping sum of $200. I have a feeling this scanner should last me some time and since my negs ar 8x10, I think the low resolution is plenty for my needs. Will see!

[Christian Olivet]

Jeremy here is a link http://www.rexpccard.co.jp/english/products/subpages/firerex1.html This thingy has been tested with the T1200 and it is apparently compatible.

[Jeremy Moore]

I found a Duoscan HiD locally for a good price so I jumped on it (yay! no $40 shipping charge for a huge scanner). In the end I have decided to take one of the cards I have out of its slot and put in a SCSI card. Thanks for the heads-up on the USB devices not working reliably.

[Jon Wilson]

I have computers and scanners, but I am computer illiterate. I am able to use my Epson 4870 Photo scanner with my HP laptop, but does anyone know if it is possible to use an Agfa T1200 scanner with a laptop which has a 4 gigs ram and Vista Windows? I have not been able to figure out what I need to make it work, if at all with my laptop. I have the agfa software and the scsi board in another computer system, but it is just too slow. I want to be able to scan my 5x7 and 8x10 negatives. Jon