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HI,
Tim!
I had
the priviledge of beta testing an SS120 last month and can say only one
thing:
WOW!
Don't
get me wrong, it's not the perfect scanner, but it sure comes close. If
Polaroid makes the minor changes to the software and film holders that I
suggested, this will be an exceptionally good scanner, especially at the price
point that I expect. (under US$3000 as I recall, but don't hold me to this-- I'm
only a lucky guy who had a chance to beta test one).
The
SS120 brought out details in some of my images that I never knew was there...
For example, the weave of the fine cloth of my wife's dress from a full body
shot, the fine hairs on her arm, the detail of her eyes...
Individual sand grains on a rock at the beach... all things that aren't there at
1180dpi on my Minolta Scan Multi.
Normally, I use Vuescan but was not able to use it successfully with the
SS120 so I was unable to use the multiscanning ability that I so often use with
my Minolta. I didn't find any way to multiscan using the Polaroid
software. I also have some variablity of the frame spacing on my MF
cameras, so, due to the inability of the software to adjust the scan position
sufficiently, I'd have to scan one frame and then remove the film holder and
readjust the film for another frame. This is probably the worst complaint
I have with the scanner. I did, however, make a suggestion for a way to
overcome this and also at the same time allow for batch scanning (something I
like to do!)
All in all I liked the SS120 and would have
waited to purchase my Minolta, had I known that it would be out soon, if the
price is as I expect.
Be ready to upgrade your computer's memory,
however! I made many ~450Mb scans of color images (at 48bit color and
4000dpi) and Photoshop takes near forever to do anything useful on an image that
large with even 500Mb RAM and a 450MHz Pentium II processor and large RAID array
working disks! I received my second 512Mb RAM shortly after I sent the
SS120 back, so now I can retreive all the images I stored one per CD and work on
them again!
Anyway, if you haven't purchased a MF film scanner yet,
this might just be the one!
My opinions, and worth what you paid for
them!
Guy Clark
-----Original Message-----
From:
Tim Halloran [mailto:tkhalloran@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Wednesday,
April 25, 2001 9:35 AM
To:
filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Subject: filmscanners: Any Polaroid
Sprintscan 120 Info
I have started hearing about the Nikon 8000, but haven't
heard a thing about Polaroid's Sprintscan 120. I would certainly like to
see something on the Sprintscan in order to make a better decision on which to
buy.
Tim Halloran
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