URGENT>need advice on buying a used Imacon Precision II Scanner.

[l2oBiN]

I have a person trying to sell me an Imacon Precision II scanner. Since i jbow cery little about this scanner, i have a number of question regarding purchase.

1. is the Precision II is still a good purchase, and at what price? ( I am currently using the epson v700 for scaning 4x5 film and I am wondering how much of a step up is the precision ii compared to epson. The price differential is quite big!

2. Who services the scanners and at what price? I am in Sweden.

3. Is it compatible with newer type computers such as mac laptops with macosx 10.7?

4. What is the best scsi adapter for a computer system in question 3?

5. How long do the scanners last (i.e. life time) and is there a way of telling how many scans it has done or generally what is the wear on the machine?

6. What things should one look out for when buying one second hand? What sort of questions should I ask him. I cannot go and test the scanner, he would have to ship it to me...

7. What are the power requirements of the scanner? I am planning to move fro
Sweden to Australia and I would like to know whether the scanner should be ok with power in both countries.

8. Which mask is the right one for 4x5 scaning, and how much dies it cost?



Marko

[f16sunshine]

I had a chance at a 10 Year old Flextight last winter.
One of the things that turned me away was the potential expense of Service.

Consider this. A new Flextight X5 cost $25,ooo.oo . A two year extended Warranty for that X5 is $5,ooo.oo.
That's not a typo it really is 5grand or 20% of purchase price for two years of warranty. Does that tell you about the need for service?
One person I spoke with told me the alignment is very tricky. Banding can occur from only the slightest bit of misalignment.
That's what I know. Not much first hand but, I did look quite seriously at acquiring one.

[f16sunshine]

Originally Posted by PKR

The best high end scanner is the one owned by your local lab. My experience.

Good Medium and large Format scanning is not as common as it used to be.
Here in Seattle we used to have Ivey Seright.
Anyway your point as I take it is right. Scanning hi-Res is an art in itself.
If I see something special in a scan I do on the V700 then I send the frame out to a pro.
If a person has a higher volume of need, I suppose it makes more sense to buy or even, to hire out their machine if scanning is an interest.

[135format]

I rekon you would be far better off with something like an IQSmart 3.
The scan resolution on the imacons / flextight scanners reduces as your film format gets bigger so for a 4x5 neg you are only getting just above 2000 dpi which is worse than an epson V700. Whereas the IQSmart will scan at its highest res for all film formats upto A3. Don't be fooled into thinking an Imacon is the best thing since sliced bread cos they ain't.
In the UK one of the main pro dealers in London is only selling one or two a year and that must have been over a year ago they told me that. There is a reason for that.

[Frank Version Two]

I wouldn't buy a Imacon these days, you would do better to use the Epson to proof and then send out for drum or Creo scans for your finest work. It helps you edit better. If you must buy your own high end scanner, buy two since you'll need the parts. Also get a dedicated workstation and a good monitor, not a laptop. Either do it right and spend a moderate amount of money ($5 to $10K US for two drum or Creo iQSmart 2 or 3 scanners and a vintage G4 OS9 Mac) or you'll just end up with an expensive old Imacon that won't work well and leave you dissatisfied.

If you must get an Imacon at least get one with Firewire.

Besides didn't you ask this question on the LFPF? At least there people scan. The user base here complains if WalMart charges $1 per scan hahaha.

[kbg32]

I worked at a photo agency that had two Imacons. They were constantly being serviced. I would never recommend one.

[xvvvz]

>>I am currently using the epson v700 for scaning 4x5 film<<

The v700 and 4x5 can produce really nice scans if you get everything optimized with the scanner and your workflow.

Whenever you compare scans with an Imacon, remember that the Imacon software does a huge amount of sharpening behind the scenes so an apples to apples comparison with other scanners takes some tweaking. It has been a while and I would have to look up the number to confirm it but I believe you need to enter -120 in the sharpening dialog/settings to get the equivalent of no sharpening.

Doug

[Sparrow]

Hi Frank ... nice to see you

[jasonrutter]

I have an Imacon 646 here at work and it makes wonderful scans. I however would be very hesitant to own one personally. It cost us $700 to have it adjusted last summer by Hasselblad. It took about two weeks to come back which was amazingly fast. However it came back in worse shape then it left in. It must not have been reassembled properly which caused or parts to come out of alignment and move around inside it. It was a horrible scene inside that scanner.

I then had to ship it back to Hasselblad to have repairs done on it. I still am very displeased with the experience. That alone makes me not want to deal with owning one myself.

For what ever reason with the newer macs I find I have to turn on the scanner and then restart my computer to get the flex color software talk to the scanner. Running OS 10.6 & 10.7 on a MacPro and MacBook Pro. Firewire to 800 to 400 cable into the scanner. I have no idea if a SCSI to FW adaptor would play nice with 10.7 or not.

[robdeszan]

It's probably too late but for what it's worth, I have been using one for two years (Flextight Precicion II) and I continue to be impressed by the scans. I have owned a dedicated Konica-Minolta film scanner (sold) through the Epson (Medium format) and now the Flextigh (alongside Epson V700 with Betterscanning film holders). I use Epson for proofing and Imacon for proper scans and this arrangement has been great for me. While Epson is capable of reasonable scans, when it comes to detail, tonality and colour consistency, there is simply no comparison to the quality of the scans you get with the Flextight. Yes, it has it's quirks (which scanner doesn’t) e.g. you need to use tape to hold film in one place in the magnetic holders but the overall design, quality of the machine and ease of use are great. I use the .fff format from Hasselblad with their latest software on my main Windows 7 64bit machine to process the files. You get a type of a RAW file, scanned at a maximum resolution so you can perform any colour adjustments, sharpening, size etc. as you please.

I got it of of Ebay for £1800 in the UK (mint condition with a scanning station - an older Mac with SCSI connection used only for scanning) and thought it was a really good deal. Especially that it was ready to use out of the box. Never had any issues but there are some scanning tricks and methods you need to learn, as with any other scanner, to get best results.

Basic preventive service in the UK costs about £250 + VAT but you pay £150 for shipping (Including Europe, shipped in a purpose built case) a friend from Gemany had one successfully serviced recently (belts, springs, lube + adjustment done). I have also used Hasselblad UK before and they've always delivered good service.

Saying that you can get basic parts like tensioning springs and belts, the lube etc. for peanuts compared to Hasselblad prices if that's the ONLY thing you require. Changing these parts is very easy. It also eliminates the need for shipping it anywhere. You should visit yahoo groups and search for Imacon discussion group, really helpful bunch of people and a great database for any issues people may have encountered with these scanners, including compatibility information with current OSs.

All in all, I would still recommend one.

Pat

[Rogier]

Verify what connection it has. All the older versions have a scsi connector. Verify that you can connecti it to your computer.