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ARTIXSCAN F1 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Hi Jürgen,
I think your scans are great and a very impressive advert for the F1.
Please could you tell me if digital ICE works with film on the scanner because the pictures you post are spotless and I wondered if you had needed to clean them up at all or if ICE had done it automatically.
Thanks,
John
 
Ulrik,

Of course I did warn Jürgen because he is a good forumfriend and we need him to continue the excellent job he does with the tiltsensor.
I am sure he has a nuclear vault to store his CFV back in.
Besides that have you any idea what shipping a lead wall costs?

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Paul
 
John

Digital ICE is a purely hardware function of a scanner . The ARTIXSCAN F1 has that function .
It must be activated in the scanner software .
I did nor use that function for the posted scans .
I use a JOBO antistatic brush and a DUSTOFF airgun . The airgun has to be used very
carefully , of course . Don't shake the aircan before use and do not use full pressure .
Then you will not have any moisture on your films .
I did not have to clean the slides before scanning , just a little "airbrushing" .

The JOBO antistatic brush is just 7cm wide and is extremely soft .
BTW , I use the same proceedure for my CFV back (when neccessary) . No trouble at all .

And TILT SENSOR , my digital friend , likes to be tickled with that brush .
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Regards Jürgen
 
Jürgen,

Thanks for showing us the first results with the Artixscan F1.
You are amongst the brave that are not afraid to show first results with new equipment.

I would like to compare the results from the 848 scanner and the F1 under better conditions.
I am very impressed by what you have shown us.

Paul
 
Hi Jurgen,

> The Artixscan has no lens at all...

Unless it scans using a sensor that is as wide as the film, and is literally right on top of the film...it more than likely has to have a lense somewhere. They do say the optical path doesn't have an "interfering pane of glass", but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a lense...

Out of curiosity, what made you draw that conclusion?

Regards,

Austin
 
At 100% crop I can see clearly the superiority of the Imacon. but then again, the Artix still hold pretty good in comparison. Hard to tell over the net, but it seems to me they should closer to the Imacon than to my Epson 4870.

Thanks Jurgen, I think I'm much closer on buying this scanner.
I need to buy toys once in a while. I think I still have to wait anothr year or so for used (under warranty) or demo dbacks to come down in price for my budget.

Since I have the glass already, I want to buy a Gaoersi 6X12 camera to go with the Artix. It may be a killer combo. What do you think?

Thanks for your images, Jurgen

Eduardo

PS Don't worry, I won't send you my tranies. Insurance back and for would be too expensive.
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Franly... given the cost of the two units I would have to say the F1 looks great... A better comparison would be between the F1 and something like a Nikon Super Coolscan 9000...

Anyone have one?
 
Austin

I have never taken apart my predecessor scanner nor will I do that with my F1 now .
As you know from the specs , the scanner is able to scan transparencies up to a size of 8x10 inches .
All I try to describe from now on is just an assumption . My conclusion is based on what I see .

As far as can see , scanning is done by moving a "lightbar" and a "sensorbar" along
the film holder , up to the maximum length . Between these two is the filmholder . But you can not really see all parts exactly .
Lightsource and sensors seem to be very near to the inserted film .
You have to insert the negatives or trannies into the filmholders with the matte side pointing to the top .
(If you do it the other way round , the scan results are unusable . Lots of reflecting light) .
That means to me , the lightsource is on the top of the film . This would imply the sensorbar is below the film .
I can hardly believe , that there is still a lens in between . At least not a RODENSTOCK lens as in the HASSELBLAD X1 and X5 . No room . And what kind of lens should that be ? ? ?

So , if you can get a hand on a drawing of the F1 scanning principle , I would like to get a look at it .

Regards Jürgen
 
Richard

As I stated before , I do not want to compare an IMACON848 to the F1 . It just happens , that I have scans from the very same tranny from these two scanners .
These two are too different in design and price .
The F1 costs 1000E inclusive the SILVEFAST Ai STUDIO software .
The HASSELBLAD X1 or X5 cost at least 10 or 15 times as much .
But up to now , I am satisfied with what the F1 produces for me .

Regards Jürgen
 
Hi Jurgen,

Typically, flatbed scanners, when scanning transparencies, have a lightbar on one side and "something" on the other side that moves with the lightbar. That "something" is typically a mirror or prism. That mirror/prism then reflects at ~45 degrees (optionally) back to another ~45 degree mirror/prism, then through a lense and then to the sensor.

I think what they are saying in their "no pane of interfering glass" is you don't lay the film on the flatbed part (I assume the flatbed part has a pane of glass still?), like an enlarger or an Imacon or a Leaf (or typically any dedicated film scanner) the film is in a glassless holder. Nothing revolutionary about it if that's what they are doing, there are other dual-mode scanners that have a separate method of film scanning that doesn't use the flatbed glass.

Best Regards,

Austin
 
Daer Jurgen,

I understand and I am greatful for the information. I think this might be the first review of the F1/M1 anywhere!
 
Jürgen,

I have the Epson Perfection V500 which has digital ICE but I find that however careful I am I still get dust on my transparencies. I use canned air and a Kenro antistatic brush but still find there is dust. I find that on the V500, Ice does not really remove the dust, just some of it. Epson are unable to comment. Since, as you say, it is a hardware matter, I may ask them to look at it but that presumably means sending it back to them.

In other respects, it is an excellent scanner but I find that Vuescan works better than Epson's own software and Vuescans proprietory infra red cleaning works better than ICE. I am sure that should not be the case.

On my old Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 digital ICE works very well indeed.
 
This whole subject of dust control is an interesting one.

Back when working in the darkroom we all had stringent procedures to tame dust, and certain types of enlarger lighting helped mask it even more.

Now with scanners there are technological methods to deal with dust to varying degrees of success. Some of those have the trade off of additional time spent per scan .... in some cases a lot of extra time. And there is the lingering suspicion that some of them slightly degrade the image quality.

If I recall correctly, users of the Minolta MultiScan MF scanner hacked the light and replaced it with a more diffused source, which not only improved the quality of the scans visually ( more enlarger like) but also mitigated the dust issue to some degree. I have also noticed the same thing with my Imacon 949 which is the only Imacon with a more diffused light source.

What I've found is a collection of techniques tends to outperform just one. Like a diffused light source, some form of scanner program dust control mildly applied, and Photoshop dust and scratch tools set carefully by enlarging the image to at least 100 or 150% and watching as you adjust the sliders.
 
Hi Marc,
I find that Photoshop's dust and scratch tool just doesn't work for me or if it does, it spoils the image so I tend not to bother with it now.

I have read that ICE can degrade the image but I have not noticed that as a problem with my Minolta Dimage Scan Elite. I read about the fix for the MultiScan MF and emailed the inventor but he told me that it cannot be done on the Elite Scan. I don't think it would work on a flat bed like the V500 but it's a thought.

Interestingly, I have now discovered that ICE works fine with the V500 for lower resolution scans. It is when I scan at the native resolution that ICE is not so effective, which is a bit of a pain. I have taken the issue up with Epson. They want me to send ex&les but the files are over 1GB in size so I am waiting to hear from them if I can send such large files.
 
Hi Jürgen,

I was told by Microtek that Digital ICE will not work with film on the F1 but only with reflective scans. I thought this was surprising as it is usually the other way round and I wondered if you had found this actually to be the case.
 
Hi John, your experience mirrored mine concerning the use of Photoshops Dust and Scratch
function ... until I had an expert retoucher I use for commercial work teach me how to use it more effectively. The secret is in 1) selecting areas, not application to the whole image, 2) doing it with the image at least 100% view so you can really control the pixel range 3) use of History brush for application and then the Fade tool for even more control. 4) optional use of channel application since in color work the degree varies by channel, just like it does with noise. Sounds complex, but isn't in practice.

So, I do not use it wholesale, but in a much more subtile and controlled way, and only as part of a ongoing dust control "system" of various steps as I mentioned above.

Also, I will be doing a ton of scanning after the New Year and am anxious to try my new "Arctic Butterfly" from VisableDust for the film prep. This is primarily designed for digital sensor cleaning, but I will be using it for film also. It is a motorized brush so you can turn it on and create a fresh electrostatic charge, turn it off and then it collects dust like a magnet. I was skeptical until Irakly cleaned the sensors on my Leica M8s with his. I immediately thought of a film scanning application as well, and ordered one immediately.
 
Hi John

On page 13 of the english instruction manual of the F1 scanner, it reads as follows :

1) Scanning damaged photos: This scenario utilizes DIGITAL ICE for reconstructing damaged photos .

2) Scanning damaged positive film : This scenario utilizes DIGITAL ICE for correcting flaws that my be present in your positive film .

3) Scanning damaged negative film : This scenario utilizes DIGITAL ICE for correcting flaws that my be present in your negative film .

I have not tested any of the above situations yet .

Jürgen
 
Austin

I have found a drawing of a flatbeds scanner principle .
Yes , you are right , there must be a lens . The lens is not of the type , we would imagine .
For ex&le a MACRO SIRONAR , but that does not mean , it is a bad lens .
What surprises me , is , that this is not mentioned in the specs. anywhere .
But autofocus is mentioned .

Jürgen
 
Hi Jürgen,

Thanks for that. It just shows doesn't it?

This is the reply I had from Microtek Tech support to the same question:


"Hi,

Pro and Non Pro are software issue and ICE doesn’t work on film scanning.



Regards,



Tech support



-----Original Message-----
From: photoscapes@blueyonder.co.uk [mailto:photoscapes@blueyonder.co.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 12:28 PM
To: Support@Umax
Subject: RE: ArtixScan F1



Hello again.

I wonder if you could tell me what the difference is between the two models of the F1. I have looked at the specs in an advert on the web and cannot see any difference between the Pro and non Pro models apart from the price.

Also please could you let me know if ICE works with film scanning as it is primarily the film scanning aspect that I am interested in?

Thanks.

John Strain"
 
Hi John

I am away from home for a couple of days .

I can hardly believe what you report , because it it opposite to what MCTROTECH's documents say .

When I am back , I will "chrunch" a color slide and try out , to see what happens , and then give feedback.
 
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