I still shake at the memory - a couple of years ago a client asked us to scan about 50 APS films. We had never scanned APS before but I knew Nikon offered an adaptor that converted our Coolscans into APS film scanners.
So at some considerable expense I bought one.
It did three frames before giving up the ghost. I got a second, that did better, almost reaching the end of a film before expiring. The third scanned a couple of films (rather slowly I thought) before it too headed to the great APS graveyard. Nikon, Amazon and their pro supplier in London were very good about it but I ended up wishing we’d never agreed to scan the things in the first place. So I removed APS from our shopping list of capabilities.
As soon as you do that you know the demand will come back even if just to torment you, as it has, consistently. Finding a solution has been very difficult, APS is virtually a dead technology and dedicated APS scanners are yesterdays news. So we scratched our heads and we’ve come up with a solution.
So APS film scanning is back on the 1Scan film scanning menu, and our APS price list. And we now smile happily when APS cartridges arrive in the mail.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Photobooks
No, we don’t do photobooks - at the moment. But wait ...
Earlier today I met a company that produces photobooks, and I was blown away. They’re a gem of a team, a fantastic blend of traditional book publishing, craftsmanship and decades of attention to the detail of making high quality books.
Yet here they are grabbing new technology in the shape of top quality digital image printing and combining it with their book building tools. It’s a fantastic combination and the books are superb.
I’d love to be able to offer our clients - and those for our free photo scanning service - the opportunity to get their scans made into top quality photobooks. So watch this space.
Earlier today I met a company that produces photobooks, and I was blown away. They’re a gem of a team, a fantastic blend of traditional book publishing, craftsmanship and decades of attention to the detail of making high quality books.
Yet here they are grabbing new technology in the shape of top quality digital image printing and combining it with their book building tools. It’s a fantastic combination and the books are superb.
I’d love to be able to offer our clients - and those for our free photo scanning service - the opportunity to get their scans made into top quality photobooks. So watch this space.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Alternatives to Scanning
Had a call from a potential client asking for advice - she had some precious photos that a relative wanted to take overseas. Naturally she was reluctant to let them go, but couldn’t afford the cost of Royal Mail Special Delivery both ways and scanning. What could be the alternative?
We came up with a couple of ideas. First take the photos to a local photocopier and use that to make copies. It’s quick, low cost and if the copier is decent the reproduction should be passable. Obviously this doesn’t deliver digital images it would produce a copy of the images which could be taken abroad safely.
The second option would be to use a digital camera to take a photo of each page of the album. A decent camera will focus quite close so you will get a photo of a photo. The key to getting a reasonable result is having a good camera and getting the lighting right. This cold winter light should give a decent result.
We came up with a couple of ideas. First take the photos to a local photocopier and use that to make copies. It’s quick, low cost and if the copier is decent the reproduction should be passable. Obviously this doesn’t deliver digital images it would produce a copy of the images which could be taken abroad safely.
The second option would be to use a digital camera to take a photo of each page of the album. A decent camera will focus quite close so you will get a photo of a photo. The key to getting a reasonable result is having a good camera and getting the lighting right. This cold winter light should give a decent result.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Nikon Woe Gone
The Nikon medium format scanner arrived, and has gone.
It was dead on arrival. That’s the risk you take with secondhand equipment but luckily the vendor was one of the decent people on eBay and we were able to resolve the issue very quickly. But that’s not what I wanted to say. While it was here I contacted a Nikon authorised repair shop and asked for a ballpark figure for fixing it - this is the story.
The unit powered on and went through its POST (power on self test). Green slow flashing lights to begin then a short series of rapid green flashes before returning to solid green. I have been told by the Nikon repair man that any pulse of rapid green flashing during POST indicates a fault. Flashing at the end indicates logic board issues.
My computers could tell a Nikon Coolscan 8000 was attached but nothing could be done to bring it to life.
The Coolscan 8000 has a main computer board holding its logic and that was most likely the cause of the failure. To replace that would cost some £350, plus, £100 labour plus shipping / transport there and back. Oh, and don’t forget VAT now back up to 17.5%. So the repair bill could easily be over £500. That’s not far short of what these units sell for on eBay anyway. Compare that with the cost of a comparable top-flight Epson and draw your own conclusion, I did.
It was dead on arrival. That’s the risk you take with secondhand equipment but luckily the vendor was one of the decent people on eBay and we were able to resolve the issue very quickly. But that’s not what I wanted to say. While it was here I contacted a Nikon authorised repair shop and asked for a ballpark figure for fixing it - this is the story.
The unit powered on and went through its POST (power on self test). Green slow flashing lights to begin then a short series of rapid green flashes before returning to solid green. I have been told by the Nikon repair man that any pulse of rapid green flashing during POST indicates a fault. Flashing at the end indicates logic board issues.
My computers could tell a Nikon Coolscan 8000 was attached but nothing could be done to bring it to life.
The Coolscan 8000 has a main computer board holding its logic and that was most likely the cause of the failure. To replace that would cost some £350, plus, £100 labour plus shipping / transport there and back. Oh, and don’t forget VAT now back up to 17.5%. So the repair bill could easily be over £500. That’s not far short of what these units sell for on eBay anyway. Compare that with the cost of a comparable top-flight Epson and draw your own conclusion, I did.
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