[filmscanners] Re: New price on Flextight Photo in UK

["Simon Lamb" <simon@sclamb.com>]

Austin Franklin wrote:

> >
> > Austin
> >
> > All sharpening was off, we double checked it to ensure an even test.  We
> > also turned it on to see the difference and, to be honest, the
> > Flextight was
> > as sharp with sharpening turned off as the other two were with it
> > turned on.
> > Turning sharpening on in the Flextight did produce absolutely stunning
> > scans, the best I have seen I think.
> >
> > I have sent an email to Imacon to check that there is no hardware
> > sharpening
> > being done without the being aware of it.
> >
>
> Hi Simon,
>
> How do you know sharpening was off?  See Moreno's post...point is, it's
not
> so easy to know what the hardware is actually doing!
>
> Regards,
>
> Austin
>

Good point and I saw that post and am waiting for a reply from Imacon.
However, even if sharpening is applied (and if it is it is done very well
indeed) the quality of the output was what I was concerned with and that was
superb.

I have read many reviews now on the SS120, Minolta Dimage Multi Pro, Nikon
8000 etc. and the only reviews I have read that do not state any real
negatives are the one regarding the Flextight (and the real negative for
many is the price).  The scanning software is reputedly the best available
(barring the obvious benefits that Vuescan brings to other scanners), there
is no talk of banding (as can be seen on Nikon and Dimage scans with the
three CCD lines (Vuescan resolving this by using only one line as per the
Nikon recommended fix for the problem),  edge to edge sharpness is as good
as it gets without a real drum scanner and the Flextight is generally
regarded as a reference scanner.

Now, given the recent price reductions, for another £1,000 more than the
competition, I can't see any reason to consider any other scanner over the
Flextight.  I am always open to contrary views though, and if anyone can
provide good reasons not to go the Flextight route (barring saving the
money) then I would take all advice on board.

As you know Austin, I have been wanting to upgrade my scanner for a while
and have seriouslky considered the Leaf 45 in the past.  However, getting
hold of a good one in the UK is nigh on impossible and I can't seem to get
satisfactory enough answers from eBay sellers to make me comfortable paying
to import one from abroad.  I do a lot of black and white and the Leaf, as
you have stated, excels at real b&w as opposed to averaged out RGB scans.
The film profiles in the Flextight software gave me the opportunity to see a
Delta 100 scan like I have never seen before emerge from the scanner.

As with my other photographic purchases, I want the best quality in all
parts of the process, from taking the image through to piezo printing the
output.  Right now, I believe the Felxtight provides another strong link in
that quality chain, without the negatives I consistently read about with
others scanners, and at a reasonably comparitive price.

Simon


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe 
filmscanners'
or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or 
body