Medium format and scanning

Blasted

Blasted

Suspended / Banned
Messages
927
Edit My Images
Yes
So I recently I strayed away from digital and started to dip my toe in the world of film. I got a cheap RB67 off the internet and was immediately blown away by the tactile nature of it all. I love the film, the mechanics and the thinking about the shot. Next thing I know I've gone and bought a couple more cameras, a tonne of film and I cant see it stopping just yet.

Not to compromise the quality of medium format I got it into my head that I need a decent scanner as printing at this stage isn't really an option. I read around as you do and finally got hold of a screen cezanne elite. Old kit, great quality, lots of issues.

In anticipation of getting some recently processed negatives through the post I cranked up the scanner and set about updating the software to the latest version (still a number of years old). I'm sure I noticed before I did anything that the server didn't connect to the scanner. Anyway, after updating everything it appears that the server doesn't see the scanner and has no intention of doing so.

To say I'm frustrated is an understatement, maybe its the cans of beer I had whilst trying to sort the issues out but I'm one small step away from taking a lump hammer to it. It worked before, whats wrong now?

This leads me to the question of, do I continue to push to get this system working? It has done until recently and produced great images, or do I jack it in and go for something like a V750? *Am I compromising the essence of film?

*I accept printing in a darkroom will probably be much better


Views appreciated, if anything to pacify me before I get through the wine and lose the plot.


Thanks
 
My initial opinion is that of, if it worked before AND you are happy with the results, perhaps spend a few quid and get an old (dedicated) pc that will run it for sure? Cheaper than a V750!

I'd then say that for MF, a V750 is not worth the money. Other scanners such as the V500/V600 will very adequately scan MF. Most people scan their film. It's a shame that printing generally takes up valuable space - more so than scanning at least - but that's the way it is. I recently got planning permission to make a darkroom, but only for B&W. I'll still be scanning my colour work.
 
Thanks, this thing needs an old Mac and with me being a PC person I do struggle. I'm sure its some software issue somewhere as the scanner seems fine, but its so frikkin annoying.

I have a V500 already but worry that I'm defeating the object of MF by using it.
 
Last edited:
I scan my 5x4 frames on a V700...

At the end of the day, sure, by scanning we're adding another stage of interpretation to the final result, but what ever "colour" the scanning process adds to the final image, the characteristics of the film are still captured as well. Effort can then be expended to correct for the scanner if desired.

I hear you on the mac side of things as well. Just the thought of using them makes me shudder :D
 
I hardly notice a difference between my V700 with fancy betterscanning holders and anti-newton glass and my V500 with the bog standard holders. The V700 copes better with dense negatives/slides and it can scan more frames in one go, but in terms of sharpness and colour it's a wash. In my experience, the additional layer of interpretation that a scanner introduces is less than the colour interpolation of a bayer filter array - I often notice that scanned negatives pick up a wider variety of colours, such as differing shades of green, compared to digital RAW files of the same subject.
 
Couple of guys here have a Screen Cezanne I think... @robhooley167 might be able to help you...
 
@PMN is the one to talk to regarding the software side of it, he might actually know what he's doing...
 
I can't help with the screen cezanne, but if it turns into help required for old macs then I can help :) I use them for my Flextight and Nikon scanners.
 
Thanks @dejongj I'm pretty sure its a computer issue as the scanner starts up and runs through its tests fine, its the server part of the software that doesn't see the device. I'm going to have a play with it in the week and see if I can do anything, problem is I'm not a mac person.
 
Luckily there are plenty of those on here. One of the first areas to look is the system profiler. Generally to be found at the top left under the apple menu in about this Mac.

It depends a bit on what version OS you are running. But good luck and have fun :)
 
I have been very happy with my Epson V700. Don't use a great deal of film presently, but it is an excellent scanner and they do come up secondhand occasionally. Seem to recall one here or on another forum taking some time to shift. Use mine with Windows 7
 
It looks like I may have saved the day. For some reason I decided to check the inside of the SCSI cable connector and low and behold there was a bent pin right in the corner. I managed to straighten it back out with a small screwdriver but will no doubt have to get a replacement cable as its not perfect. I checked the system profile and it saw that the scanner was connected, phew. Following that I had to go through and get rid of all instances of the software and re install a few bits I had deleted a bit to eagerly.

Firing it up I re installed and then updated as I originally intended to do. Starting the server wasn't very good, the computer kept crashing. After a number of attempts I opened the software first and then the server and managed to get it to play. I've run a couple of test scans and it seems to be doing what its supposed to.

I still have it in the back of my mind that at some point I may have to get something more modern.

Thanks for the offers of help, I may need them again at some point.
 
Somebody on here just recently mentions that they are able to run their scsi scanner on win 10 using just the drivers they got with the card and the bundled software, it may be that the software that runs the scanner is less sophisticated than the Cezanne software, or it may be that win 10 is just more receptive to old legacy stuff than 7 & 8..I dunno
If I find that post I'll link it here, god knows where I read it
 
Don't know if you might get anywhere with the contact form on the Screen site, see from here:

http://www.screen.co.jp/ga_dtp/en/

There's a Downloads section that has scanner files dating to 2010, which suggests they would be later than OS-9, but I couldn't get the two I tried to unzip...
 
Thanks guys,

@joxby the software is mac only so I'm not sure how you could get it to work with windows unless you used some sort of emulator. Plus I'm staying away from windows 10 for the time being.

@ChrisR I'm up to date with the latest versions even though they are old now, there's been no support for a long time.

Its a shame that the high quality scanning options for film is so limited now, but I can understand why very few people are developing them with the world being digital.
 
Well at least there are the Epson V750 lot, and also the Plustek 120, so it's not completely dead. But I believe that device you'v got gives really good results.
 
ChrisR said:
Well at least there are the Epson V750 lot, and also the Plustek 120, so it's not completely dead. But I believe that device you'v got gives really good results.
Click to expand...

There's the Reflecta MF5000 too. I've seen good reviews for it but it's a cool £1,500 or so.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top