Heidelberg Linoscan 1800

[ADG]

Hi,
How would the above scanner compare with the latest consumer Epson 4990/Canon9950/Microtek 1800 etc units for scanning provia 4x5 for printing up to 20x24?
There seems to be support from Vuesan for this scanner on XP, has anybody got hands on experience to share?
Thanks in advance

[Brian Ellis]

If you're thinking of buying the Linoscan I'd say don't, Heidelberg provides absolutely no support, tech, repair, or otherwise, for these old scanners (I'm assuming the 1800 was discontinued around the same time the 1400 was, which was about four or five years ago). About a year ago I needed some repair work done on my Linoscan 1400, it started creating several fine lines across every scan. Heidelberg gave me the phone number for some independent repair facility in the U.S. that supposedly could work on the 1400. When I called that number I got a message that it was no longer in service. I sent three or four email messages to Heidelberg in Germany informing them of this and asking about other facilities. I never received a response to any of them. So completely apart from performance, I wouldn't buy any Linoscan for this reason alone.

With respect to performance, I'm not familiar with the 1800. Is that the Mac version of the 1400 or is it otherwise comparable to the 1400? If so I can tell you that once I switched from Newcolor 5000, the software bundled with the 1400, to Vuescan I got excellent results. I'm not in a position to make a scientific comparison of it with the Epson 4990 I now own. FWIW my impression is that I occasonally seem to get a little less shadow detail from the 4990 but otherwise they seem very comparable and of course without the ability to make comparison scans I could be wrong about the shadow detail. On screen the images from the Epson don't appear to be as sharp as I remember from the Linoscan but I could be wrong about that too and in any event the prints are prefectly sharp.

If you're thinking of buying one, and assuming that the 1800 is similar to the 1400, it's a SCSI only scanner and you'd want to be sure that it's compatible with your XP operating system. I've read in several places of people having problems trying to use older SCSI scanners with newer operating systems.

[David F. Stein]

Brian's comments should be noted, but these older scanners go for so little compared to new of comparable quality (if anything being made today is so; maybe, Microtek) you can afford a dud and go on to the next one, quite literally. Every time this question comes up, the point is missed. It is as when folks ask of a consumer grade HP printer is the equal of the Epson 2200. No, it is not, the Epson 2200 is a professional machine made to higher construction and performance standards. Same with these scanners, the UMax Powerlook and larger; the Linoscan and Heidelberg; and many Microteks (the guts of many Polaroid and Agfa scanners of the past) are professional quality. Heidelberg couldn't compete in the consumer marketplace with the level of service they were-at one time-providing. These scanners can be opened up to get to the glass on the inside, great optics, etc. Probably the greatest "deterrant" is that they can be noisy. I work on the Mac, where things are easier for SCSI, USB or Firewire. With Vuescan, any scanner I have ever tried has performed well, except for an older Minolta 35mm scanner, and the Mac version of the Linotype software is one of the most powerful scanning programs ever developed, designed more for Prepress than how we are using them. I have taken 6x9 negs to 13 x 19 and there is outstanding detail. In the case of the Powerlook, there was a fellow on eBay who sold, serviced and had parts for the UMax scanners at excellent prices. I'm sorry I didn't pick up a tabloid version while still available. Legacy Mac scanners are affordable enough that a computer can be dedicated to a scanning station and, again, that is the way to go. Your results may vary.

[Brian Ellis]

I'll add a couple comments to lensworthy's message. Yes, the Linoscan is definitely noisy. Though that didn't bother me it might someone else. And yes, the bundled software was very good. There was just some sort of incompatibility between it and the operating system (ME) I was using at the time. About once every three scans the Linoscan would just stop in mid-scan and I'd have to start all over again. Sometimes it would take three or four tries before I could get a complete scan. It drove me, and the excellent U.S. tech support people Heidelberg provided back then, crazy. We never did get the problem sorted out so I just accepted the considerable inconvenience. Then one day I decided to give Vuescan a shot and the problem completely disappeared. But when it worked Newcolor 5000 was great. And you're right about the build quality of the Linoscan - it's about four times bigger and four times heavier than the 4990. When I took the 4990 out of the packing box I kept looking in the box for something else, I had no idea a good flatbed scanner could be that small and that light.

[André Thomas]

Last year I decided for a Linoscan 1800 with Linocolor 6.0 (running on an old 7200 Mac). The Linocan with my configuration (SCSII - Power Mac 7200) is slow but the scanner has a good dmax. I'm scanning medium format and large format film an I'm very happy with the results.

You can get a silverfast driver from http://www.aixtema.de for the linocolor, so you can use a Mac with OS-X or a PC with Windows XP. They also have a support for these scanner.

I recommand you to have a look at SCANPLATES with Magnetic Cover: http://www.diacover.de/en/basics/frameset.htm They are easy to use and are better than the original plates that come with the linoscan.

Unfortunately I have no access to a Epson 4990/Canon9950/Microtek 1800 to make a comparioson.

Good luck,
André

[Ted Harris]

The Linoscan 1800 usec UMax 'guts' (the Powerlook III IIRC). My guess would be that it will NOT outperform either the 9950 or the 4990 and will not even come close to the 1800f. Will it perform adequately for LF? Yes, adequately but not a lot more than that and all the previous comments regarding service and support are right on the money. If you are looking for a used scanner at a real bargain price I'd suggest looking for an Agfa Duoscan 2500 which is a repackaged Microtek 2500 (not the newer 2500f but close in performance)> These seemto pop up in the $200 range with some frequency.