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The Imacon Flextight has been discontinued for a while now. Flatbed scannners are stagnant because there isn't enough demand to drive investment. Sheet-fed docu

by fmajid 3y ago

The Imacon Flextight has been discontinued for a while now. Flatbed scannners are stagnant because there isn't enough demand to drive investment. Sheet-fed document scanners are still lively, but quality has gone down, my 2010 vintage ScanSnap S1500M has a high-quality CCD sensor, but newer models are almost invariably CIS with much lower color fidelity for scanning artwork. High-quality XY prepress scanners like the Cézanne you mention, or prepress leaders like Fuji Lanovia, Creo-Scitex are also discontinued since the industry's gone fully digital and doesn't expect to scan medium-format slides any more. No wonder Gen-Z finds scanners exotic and terrifying: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/27/gen-z-tech-shame-office-technology-printers https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/27/gen-z-tec... The only actively produced scanner that can outperform the V600 is Epson's V850.

buildbot 3y ago
Fair enough - personally, I'd use a digital camera to scan large things anyway, possibly using an XY gantry if needed. Use a monochrome sensor + color filter wheel for extra points. Scanners terrify generations equally in my opinion ;)
- fmajid 3y ago
  I've owned flatbeds since the original SCSI CanoScan 300 in 1994 (couldn't afford the 600dpi CanoScan 600 then), so I'm jaded. The digital camera option works, but only if you have a high-CRI light source, a proper macro lens and a good copy stand. The Fujitsu SV600 is an excellent option as well. Museums actually used scanning large-format backs like the Better Light Dicomed, a flatbed scanner-like back that slots into a 4x5" large-format camera, so the camera is also a scanner...
  - buildbot 3y ago
    Still? I would have thought by now they would have switched to something like a Phase One IXH - https://heritage-digitaltransitions.com/dt-ixh-150mp-cultural-heritage-camera-by-phase-one/ https://heritage-digitaltransitions.com/dt-ixh-150mp-cultura... I have a broken betterlight I got just to put on my shelf haha. Scan backs are neat!
elahieh 3y ago
What a coincidence, I pulled out my S1500M (vintage 2010-10) to do some scanning a few weeks ago (after several years) and found the rubber rollers had melted and become like superglue. Currently reading about how I might try to do an ad-hoc fix, because forums say disassembly and reassembly is very finicky indeed. Now that I learn it's CCD I am more motivated to repair.
- fmajid 3y ago
  The roller kit is a field-replaceable unit and Fujitsu supplies them in a boxed kit, so it can't be that hard (I'm still on my original roller, even though I bout a roller replacemnt kit, so I have no idea how hard it is). It's a great unit, but official software support lapsed a few years ago so I am now using it with third-party software (ExactScan Pro). Here are a few scanners I ran through a comparative color fidelity test a while ago, I was surprised how good it is for scanning artwork when it was designed for documents: https://blog.majid.info/scanner-group-test/ https://blog.majid.info/scanner-group-test/

by fmajid 3y ago

buildbot 3y ago

Fair enough - personally, I'd use a digital camera to scan large things anyway, possibly using an XY gantry if needed. Use a monochrome sensor + color filter wheel for extra points. Scanners terrify generations equally in my opinion ;)

fmajid 3y ago
I've owned flatbeds since the original SCSI CanoScan 300 in 1994 (couldn't afford the 600dpi CanoScan 600 then), so I'm jaded. The digital camera option works, but only if you have a high-CRI light source, a proper macro lens and a good copy stand. The Fujitsu SV600 is an excellent option as well. Museums actually used scanning large-format backs like the Better Light Dicomed, a flatbed scanner-like back that slots into a 4x5" large-format camera, so the camera is also a scanner...
- buildbot 3y ago
  Still? I would have thought by now they would have switched to something like a Phase One IXH - https://heritage-digitaltransitions.com/dt-ixh-150mp-cultural-heritage-camera-by-phase-one/ https://heritage-digitaltransitions.com/dt-ixh-150mp-cultura... I have a broken betterlight I got just to put on my shelf haha. Scan backs are neat!

elahieh 3y ago

What a coincidence, I pulled out my S1500M (vintage 2010-10) to do some scanning a few weeks ago (after several years) and found the rubber rollers had melted and become like superglue. Currently reading about how I might try to do an ad-hoc fix, because forums say disassembly and reassembly is very finicky indeed. Now that I learn it's CCD I am more motivated to repair.

fmajid 3y ago
The roller kit is a field-replaceable unit and Fujitsu supplies them in a boxed kit, so it can't be that hard (I'm still on my original roller, even though I bout a roller replacemnt kit, so I have no idea how hard it is). It's a great unit, but official software support lapsed a few years ago so I am now using it with third-party software (ExactScan Pro). Here are a few scanners I ran through a comparative color fidelity test a while ago, I was surprised how good it is for scanning artwork when it was designed for documents: https://blog.majid.info/scanner-group-test/ https://blog.majid.info/scanner-group-test/