I recall someone mentioning somewhere that one of the cheaper Microtek
scanners which had a transparency light attachment which was designed
for 35mm film strips could be adapted to allow it to scan full bed
images (at least as wide as the transparency film strip lamp) by adding
a couple of rare earth magnets to it on either edge... OK, I know, by
now you are all thinking I'm nuts, but follow me with this.
This is actually pretty ingenious (I think actually Microtek developed
it and uses it on some of their scanners already, which cost more, so
this is a "hidden feature".
The transparency lamp is slightly wider than the bed, and fits over the
side bevels of the surface, and it has a length of power cord which
allows it to be positioned anywhere on the bed. The way it works is that
the scan bar inside the scanner either has metal tabs or what I believe
to be the case, is already manufactured with a set of rare earth magnets
embedded into it at the very edges (placed there for the more expensive
model). By attaching a set (one to each edge) on the transparency light
(or course, making sure the poles are aligned to attract and not repel
the internal magnets (if they use them) the light is dragged along as
the scan head moves down the bed. It seems like a really simple and
very intelligent idea to me.
Of course, flatbed scanners have "sweet spots". Normally, the
manufacturer uses that place for scanning of smaller format negatives to
take advantage of the best resolution. However, since this person wants
to scan very large negs (x-rays) this isn't really an issue.
Art
Roger Smith wrote:
> At 10:37 PM -0400 5/28/03, Ken wrote:
>
>>I looking to purchase a flatbed scanner to scan x-rays (8x10 size) and other
>>flat objects.
>>
>
> You might take a look at the Microtek 1800f. It is much more
> expensive than the other scanners you listed, but it does scan 8x10
> transparencies.
>
>
>
> Regards,
> Roger Smith
>
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