Duoscan problems - a good other scanner for MF, please?

[hubert_seremak]

hi,

 

 

sorry if it sounds idiotic, but please listen:) Some story first. Ok, I shoot MF mainly, with one good ol'

Rolleiflex, came back to do it again after 2,5 years break. I developed like 10-12 films, I brought back my old

Agfa Duoscan T1200 scanner from my parents home to where I live now, and ... I am furious. I have no idea how to

use it.

I know it sounds stupid, but to be honest, I do not remember. I put negatives on the top glass, trying to scan -

nothing - he does not see the film. I try to put the on this tray down below - there is something visible, but so

poor quality, gray colours, no sharpness - I am getting mad :((( I did scan execellent photos with this scanner,

2 years ago, they were good contrast, good quality - now I have no clue what I am doing wrong. I reformated my C:

drive during these 2 years, might be missing something? Do not think so, as this scanner works, he does see the

film (on this glass tray below) but I would swear I scanned my films before putting the film straight on the

glass above...

 

My question are as follows:

 

1)any idea how to make this thing working? I scan B&W negatives, I set Transparent, B&W, Grayscale, using Agfa

Fotolook software. So should be fine, maybe I sould put the film other way? No idea...

 

2) if I can't scan with these or still getting poor results - can you recommend any other scanner I could buy,

possibly off Ebay, for like 100-200 $, of course older model, giving good Medium format results? No, I do not

need Coolscan 9000 or anything for 3000 $, I just need flatbed scanner that can handle MF or both 35mm and 120

film - that would be excellent. I have read about Epsons, Canons, I have lots of fuss in my head now. (aha,

please mind, I am Poland based, UE, not USA, so I have to buy used from Ebay probably, as new stuff here in UE is

2-3 times more expensive than in USA, unfortunatelly, hail the high taxes..). I am about good quality,

speed is not very important (I do not do much film, maybe 5-9 rolls a month so speed is not needed to scan

million of photos).

 

I know there is so many threads about scanners, but everywhere people recommend top new scanners for tousands of

dollars - I do not need any of these, I bought my Agfa for 100 $ - 3 years ago, and it served me very well, now

it's something not ok with it. (or with me and my memory..) :)

 

thanks for your replies.

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

This may be your best option:

 

http://scancafe.com/

[hubert_seremak]

thx Robert, I ll look into this , but anyone else used this service (or yourself, personally)?

 

I am reading now about Canon 8800, brand new with 1 year warranty in Poland for 250 $, I do not know , well... Gonna read more.

 

What about Epson 3200, anyone? Or opinion on Canon 8800? They seem to scan 6x6 negs as well as I read?

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

I haven't used scancafe personally. But it seems like a very inexpensive way to get scans from a Nikon 9000.

 

As for flatbeds - I found that my Epson 4990 pretty much negated the advantage of the larger negative. Resolution was only about 1800 dpi and it wasn't able to dig detail out of the dense parts of the film.

[david richhart]

I still use my AgfaT-1200, and it works great, though it's been a few months since I turned it on. Let me work with it a few hours to refresh my memory and then I will help you get started. <p>

I think the T-1200 is one of the best kept secrets in scanners! Here's one of my scans from a 100 year old, 5X7, inch glass negative.<div></div>

[david richhart]

Agfa still has drivers and a user guide for the T1200 available for download on the internet. The user guide is a pdf file and can be downloaded at the bottom of this page... <p>

http://static.agfa.com/digicam_scanner_drivers/scanner/duoscan/index.html