kenneth_seidman

Have you checked out the following sites to see what users are saying/doing:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/multipro/ (also has link to Erik's Site and the Scanhanncer which I recommend as a MultiPro user myself)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imaconusers

I just purchased the Multi Pro after renting it on three different occasions. It has been discontinued and is very hard to find a new one but parts and service should be available for another five years, by law I believe. I have no experience with the 343 but am very happy with the MultiPro (I was unbiased since I was renting it only !).

I have made several 17x22 inch color and B/W prints (Multi Pro scanner, Scanhancer, Photokit Sharpener, Multi Pro S/W (no Silverfast), Epson 4000 printer, Quadtone RIP, 6x7 format Velvia and 100 T-Max B/W film). Frankly, I don't think there is much room for improvement in terms of scanner quality, i.e. the limiting factor is not the Multi Pro scanner. I've been very please with the results (which are better than my wet darkroom color or B/W).

Good luck,

Ken

As a long time Pentax 67 user who used to shoot landscapes with a 35 mm Nikon FE I think you should consider the 6x7 format (Pentax) I think you are likely to see more improvement over 35 than going 645 vs 35. Many years ago I compared images from a Mamiya 645 to a Pentax 6x7... guess which I thought was better! If you ever decide to print digital I think (but have not verified) that you will get better images scanning 6x7 vs 645. This may be especially true if you buy a relatively inexpensive flatbed scanner compared to an expensive medium format film scanner (such as a Minolta Multi Pro or Nikon 9000).

Ken