Agfa Duoscan Hid in 2020?

[Ratty87]

Hello Everyone, this is my first post, I just registered.

I just received a very old Agfa Duoscan Hid for a few pennies, I should equip a pc with a scsi card to make it work and try it.
I ask to those who own it or have used it in the past, does it still make sense in 2020?
Is it worth equipping and possibly spending a few more pennies on accessories?
I have seen on old threads that many own the t2500, are there any substantial differences? I specify that the use is home and not professional, mainly for 35mm negatives. Thanks everyone in advance

[Bleachedfan]

Any luck?

[pjd]

I don't know anything about scanners, just wish you well - and welcome to this forum. Surely someone can offer some information about the Agfa Duoscan HiD?

[Peter De Smidt]

Is the scanner supported by Vuescan?

[domaz]

According to the spec sheet for that scanner it doesn't seem to have any really compelling specs that make it better than a modern scanner. Is it really worth it to deal with the old hardware for that? If it was a drum scanner or high end scanner it might be a different story.

[Eugen Mezei]

It scans glasless. Which modern flatbed scanner does that?

[sanking]

It scans glasless. Which modern flatbed scanner does that?

One can scan glass negatives with any modern flat bed scanner?

Sandy

[Eugen Mezei]

You can scan glass negatives with any flatbed scanner. You have only to avoid forming newton rings between the glass of the negative and the glass of the scanner.
So the HID would be better suited as it has no glass. You put the negatives (or positives) into a tray that holds the image material from the sides, so it does not lay on the scanner glass.

Look up how the Duoscans work, peek in the manual. They are called duo for the reason that it has two modes to scan: on the scannerglass and in the tray.

[sanking]

You can scan glass negatives with any flatbed scanner. You have only to avoid forming newton rings between the glass of the negative and the glass of the scanner.
So the HID would be better suited as it has no glass. You put the negatives (or positives) into a tray that holds the image material from the sides, so it does not lay on the scanner glass.

Look up how the Duoscans work, peek in the manual. They are called duo for the reason that it has two modes to scan: on the scannerglass and in the tray.

I used an Agfa Duoscan model T2500 many years ago and it was an excellent scanner. My recollection is that it was called a Duo not because of the ability to scan without glass but because of the dual-lens capability that gave resolution of 1250 ppi optical at full coverage, and 2500 ppi optical at a smaller size. However, as I recall it had a SCSI interface, very complicated for modern computers.

Scanning without glass was touted as a major improvement, but I did not personally find that feature offered any improvement in image quality over scanning through glass, as with the Epson V700/750 and V800/850 scanners.

That said, if the OP is prepared to deal with the complications of using a scanner from this period the Agfa Duoscan T2500 is capable of excellent scans. I personally continue to scan with a Howtek 7500 produced in 1994 operated with a Apple G4 Power Mac with a SCSI interface, and do not want to discourage anyone from trying to keep alive unique high quality scanning equipment from our past.


Sandy

[Eugen Mezei]

You are right, they were called duoscan for the two optical systems.

You also had a holder that you put in that lower tray that was glass also. Maybe you used that one? But usually in the lower tray (lower tray = not the glass plate any flatbet scanner has) you have holes where you put your different media (framed slides, unframed film of different format).

SCSI is not complicated, not even on modern Windows. You just need to find the NT driver that works on Win 10 (or 11, 8, etc.). Looking on the net will bring up the needed file.