filmscanners: FW: Help with SS 4000, please

["Hemingway, David J" <HEMINGD@POLAROID.COM>]

Forwarding per Roberts request.
David

-----Original Message-----
From:   Robert DeCandido, PhD [mailto:rdcny@earthlink.net] 
Sent:   Saturday, July 21, 2001 3:11 PM
To:     Hemingway, David J
Cc:     rafeb@channel1.com
Subject:        Re: Help with SS 4000, please

Hello David,

As per your suggestion to resolve my Sprintscan 4000 problem, I removed all
traces of Silverfast from my Computer and then downloaded the new Polacolor
5 from the Polaroid Web site.  It (Polacolor) worked just fine, and scanner
worked just fine! I then went to the Silverfast web site and downloaded the
most recent version of Silverfast (5.2) again.  The same exact problem once
again, namely the "Error in start scan: Cannot start scanner" message.  The
SS4000 will do a pre-scan but nothing more (and not eject the film holder
either).  So, the version of Silverfast that once worked on my system no
longer does.
However, this seems to have been a fortuitous software-related problem. I
have now used Polacolor 5 for the last several hours.  I do 99% of my
scanning in 48-bit mode on a PC with Photoshop 6.  I can say the following
about Polacolor 5 vs. the latest Silverfast software I had been using for
the last 10 months.  (Again, this is for 48 bit scans):
1.      The set-up for the proper interface between the scanner and
Photoshop is much more simple and easy to do with Polacolor 5.  By
comparison with Silverfast, I could never quite follow Ian Lyons tutorials
for properly calibrating the scanner (with the IT-8 slide).  Also, I had
major difficulty with setting up the proper Silverfast plug-in so that it
would export a scan with the proper color management profiles (ICM; see the
Lyons' tutorial on SilverFast AI 5 - Part 1, pages 7-9).  The Polacolor
software makes this much more simple.  One has a choice of tagging a scan
with a given image type (eg., Kodachrome, Agfachrome, B/W negative/ B/W
slide, etc.), or simply Adobe RGB (1998).
2.      In Polacolor, when I tag a scan with Adobe RGB (1998) and then
export (open) in Photoshop 6, the levels appear in the center of the graph.
I found that with Silverfast (following their version of the same
procedure), many scans would open in levels too far left (shadows clipped)
or right (highlights clipped).  So another advantage to the new Polacolor
seems to be that high-bit (48 bit) scans can be worked in Photoshop that
much more easily.

All in all, thank you for your quick response.  I cannot describe the
sinking feeling one has in one's stomach when a scanner is functioning fine
one moment and then is dead the next.  Somehow, somewhere in the span of a
minute, something was corrupted in the software.  I really want to commend
you for answering my plea so quickly, and another thank you to Rafe (from
the Filmscanner list) who also suggested several things to try.
I suppose in summary I want to say thank you again.  You cannot know how
important a concerned (speedy) response to a worried customer is to that
customer (me in this case).  I have read so many not good things about
Customer Support regarding certain scanner companies.  I consider myself
lucky that I have the Sprintscan 4000 and access to its Customer Service.
In the future I will stick with Polaroid.
Finally, please post this to the Filmscanner list.  Since I receive the list
in Digest form, my posts never quite make it to the list.  
Thank You!
Robert DeCandido, PhD
New York City


"Hemingway, David J" wrote:
> 
> Robert,
> On the 4000 you can just "drag" the holder from the unit.
>  I suggest you:
> 1 - de-install both SilverFast and PolaColor Insight software
> 2 - Look around for any Polaroid directories and delete them.
> 3 - Install Insight and see if it scans correctly. The latest version on
our
> website is 4.51. Version 5.0 will be available soon. Even though you will
be
> using SilverFast as your scanning application we need to establish basic
> functionality with Insight.
> Thanks
> David
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:       Robert DeCandido, PhD [mailto:rdcny@earthlink.net]
> > Sent:       Friday, July 20, 2001 8:16 AM
> > To: HEMINGD@POLAROID.COM
> > Subject:    Help with SS 4000, please
> >
> >
> > Hello David,
> >
> > Found your email on the Filscanners list; could you point me in the
> > right direction to solve this problem?  Thank you ever so much:
> >
> > For a Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 that has not been moved,
> >  touched or otherwise jostled...
> >
> >  Last night while happily scanning away, my scanner suddenly (about a
> > third of the  way through a scan) stopped scanning and the yellow
> > light started
> >  flashing.
> >
> >  The film holder came to a halt and I got the following error message:
> >
> >  Error in start scan: Cannot start scanner
> >
> >  At that point I cannot use the eject button to get the slide holder
> >  out. However, I can start again and make a pre-scan using a
> >  workaround from the usual procedure (see below).
> >
> >  The device is still recognized properly in DM.
> >
> >  Anyway the problem is as follows: I can do a pre-scan of all slides
> > on
> >  the holder via Silverfast, and the four images come up on the screen.
> >  However, when I go to do the actual (48 bit) scan, I get a Silverfast
> > error message that the
> >  Scanner will not start. I watch the scanner begin to accept the
> >  plastic slide carrier into the chamber where the light source is
> >  located and then stop dead just as the full scan begins....
> >
> >  I have managed to get these blue screen error messages:
> >
> >  aic78xx(01) + 00007F18 Error: OD : 0028: C2E079 B8
> >
> >  And I can also coax this Windows error message: Polaroid.8BA
> >
> >  However, try as I may, I cannot get the scanner to do an actual scan,
> >  despite being able to do a pre-scan. One last comment: I cannot do
> >  the pre-scan from the main menu (choices in Silverfast are Prescan,
> >  Scan RGB, Quit, Option). I can get the Pre-scan done if I go to the
> >  vertical column of Silverfast buttons that runs along side the area
> >  where the actual scan or pre-scan comes up on the screen and
> > clicking
> >  on the green arrow.
> >
> >  Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
> >
> >  Thanks ...I sent this problem/question to the filmscanner list and am
> > hoping that you can help
> >
> >  Robert DeCandido, PhD
> >  NYC
> >