Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Azalea Festival 2013 Part 1, and my new scanner

Well it's been over a week since I posted last. I've been entirely swamped - but that's a good thing usually! This past weekend I shot several rolls and sheets of film at the annual Azalea Festival. The past several nights I've been busily scanning them with a piece of gear I also acquired over the weekend - a new scanner!

Since starting this blog in 2011 I've had several different scanners. At first I was using an old Agfa 2500T SCSI scanner and the FotoLook software. It was a decent scanner but plagued with dust and other issues causing banding and other problems. I finally had to replace it when I built a new computer and upgraded to Windows 7, which I couldn't get to work with the SCSI interface. I then purchased a Microtek ArtixScan M1, a newer scanner from the same manufacturer that used a USB interface. It was also quite a nice machine but not perfect. The Silverfast software wasn't really my cup of tea and it was a bit cumbersome trying to scan a lot of film with it.

I also was terribly unhappy with 35mm film scans from these flatbeds, so I run a Minolta Dimage IV for 135 scanning.

What I ended up purchasing is a massive (200 pounds!) pre-production scanner, a Screen Cezanne, made by a subsidiary of Fujifilm. This bad-boy also utilizes a SCSI interface but only runs on a Mac anyway - but it came with an Apple G4 to run the thing. I had to really learn a whole new process and while not perfect, I'm starting to get the hang of things. This unit is also good enough optically to use with 35mm film, so I can get rid of the little Minolta too now.

Anyway, all scans from here on in will likely be done with this guy. I've already noticed quite a difference in quality, both in resolution and tonality, from my scans with it.

Well, back to the photos. I shot a roll of TMX in my Nikon SP, a 220 roll of Fuji 160NPS with my Yashica 124G, and several sheets with my Polaroid 900 at the festival. Here are some of the TMX shots (developed in T-Max developer diluted 1:32 for 1 hour semi-stand):








I'm finishing up the color film scans so I will post those tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. Looking at all the photos, it seems that you have used the most out of your new scanner. Nice choice! It’s really wise to invest on a device that functions well and gives good quality at the same time.

    Ruby Badcoe @ Williams Data Management

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  2. Nice photos! Did you purchase another scanner after this one? Looks like this one has some amazing features that are highly beneficial for your filming and photography. It certainly worth investing in a quality tool like that!

    Stasia Snellgrove @ ALB Image

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  3. Hi!

    No, I am still using this scanner, and I plan to for a long while! It has the benefits of great resolution, excellent dynamic range, and best of all, high throughput due to the size of the scan area. There is nothing on the market new that has that capability, surprisingly.

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