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Rating: 
Summary: One of the best buys around for a 4000 dpi 35mm/APS scanner.
Review: Need a 4000dpi scanner but don't want to go over your budget? Get this scanner. If you have any experience with scanning film, you can get great scans from this one. It is really nice, producing very sharp scans. No, it does not have digital ICE, so you may want to make sure your slides or negatives are as clean as possible. (I have scanned slides from 1975; and have taken a lens cleaning cloth and dampened it with distilled water to clean these old slides. I did a scan before cleaning and after-what a difference! What I deemed was ruined or unusable turned out to be very usable-with only very minor touching up for spot removal in PhotoShop 5 LE-what a relief. I would use a soft lens cleaning cloth only for wiping-be careful, after blowing the usual dust off.) I am running a 900 Athlon, Win ME, and 256megs of RAM. I can upgrade to 768 megs but haven't had to, and have scanned many slides in one session. Once it does the final scan it has a strange whirring noise straight out of a 50's Science Fiction "B" movie-kind of amusing to me. It looks like an armadillo. It comes with an SCSI card to install in your computer; I removed the firewire card for my Microtek 8700 to make the bay available for this scanner-the 8700 runs fine on USB, and is not any slower. First turn on the scanner, let the indicator lights stay on, then turn on your computer. The Pros: 1. Sharp scans 2. I would select auto focus in the preferences menu-it works well. 3. You can adjust the gain (D-Max setting from .05 to 4); I usually hit automatic, and adjust from there when necessary. This is an excellent and useful feature. 4. Scan Wizard Pro software is nice-I have almost the same with the 8700-but do not have the Adjustable D-Max option. With a dark or underexposed slide, using curves or bright/contrast might help also, before scanning. Most "purists" like to do this after, but I've had to do this before-it helped-get that shadow detail. 5. It seems to do a multipass (ever so-slightly back & forth) on very high-4000dpi scans, with little or no noise. I have noticed once you open the scanned image in Photoshop-there is usually an improvement, especially when it comes to noise. 6. Scan time is not too slow-it took about 3 minutes and 45 seconds for a 48bit 4000dpi, scan-1:1 ratio-the file was a little over 100MB. When I get to Photoshop, after any adjustments (if necessary) in 16 bit mode-curves, levels-I switch to 8 bit mode and save these files with LZ Compression checked-save some disc space for these high resolution scans until they are saved to CD. 7. Small, "footprint" scanner-fits on my desktop-never far away. 8. The film holder has an adjustable sliding lever so you can position your film right at it's edge-not to clip any of the image, and holds the film pretty flat. There are tabs you can knock out for 35mm panoramic scans-watch the file size. The slide holder is good also-you can adjust to make sure they are lined up square. I like Microtek's film holders. 9. At this price, you would be hard pressed to find such a high resolution scanner, with great quality scans, that you can adjust or correct somewhat before the final scan. 10. Color Matching and calibrate your monitor with Kodak's Q60ES slide-this is a pretty valuable tool in itself-that has Color and Grayscale, with a color image-what a bonus. It also includes a Silverfast and Genuine Fractal's-2 things I do not use. I do not use calibrating with the Kodak slide-something you can launch in itself, but for those who do, this is nice. I use one of Kodak's downloadable color profiles. Cons: Really, NONE for me. But I must tell you, you should cover this scanner with a plastic bag to keep dust out of it. This is a problem with all desktop scanners. The little front door for the APS option (holder does not come with the scanner) opens, sliding down. This makes it easy to clean the little rectangle in the scanning base of the "tunnel"-something I do before scanning, to make sure any dust is not in there. Your scans will improve, much "cleaner" scans and it is easy to access this area-and fast. A good way to do this?? Unplug the scanner. You can use an artist's sable brush-(genuine-can use the brush end to remove surface dust on film, slides without scratching or inside scanner before wiping)- on the opposite end of the brush, tape or use a small rubberband to affix a cotton ear swab to that end, letting the swab extend. Wrap a lens cleaning tissue around the tip-the cotton underneath gives it cushion-and tape or use the same rubberband to hold the tissue around the swab. Moisten the tissue with a few drops of lens cleaning fluid (squeeze the excess out), and you will be able to reach the scanning "tunnel", the bed where the rectangle is, and inside anywhere else you want to wipe down.
Watch the wiring or electrical components. I wipe whatever I can reach-the inner walls, etc. IF your scanner does get dust, this will help remove it. I cover mine with a plastic bag-it works well. If you want to get in there, taking off the cover is tricky-take your time, as it does take some time. If you want to see some samples scanned with this scanner, go to: geocities.com/kowenphoto/ . The only image not scanned (so far) with this scanner is the opening page and the rose on the second-these were scanned with the 8700. These are not very high resolution shots, for the web. To wrap this up, I consider this one of my best buys for 2001. This scanner, for me, is digital heaven, without all the expensive add-ons of pricier scanners. If you are familiar with scanning, you already know that if you cover your scanner, and keep your film stored well and clean, you will enjoy using the Artixscan 4000T. Digital nirvana.
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