It
takes an oversize 11x17 inch scanner (13 x 18 inches, A3 oversize)
to handle the size of prints and
pictures found in museums or research institutions such as botanical
gardens or zoos.
If
these are the last photographs of an endangered species of terrestrial
orchid, don't they warrant being scanned to the highest quality?
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| Photographs
of an endangered species of terrestrial orchid |
Old
negatives and especially old slides lose their color every year.
You can scan those old slides, prints, and negatives and rescue
the original colors with the color software that is available for
the better class of scanners. Even the textile pictured here will
lose its colors eventually. But once you digitize the image, the
colors are permanently preserved in digital format.
The
Fuji Lanovia scanner
that did such a good job on these images is easy to use, has a sophisticated
software that works wonders with your pictures. After all, not all
pictures are well preserved. What about all those negatives which
were underexposed, overexposed, or had terrible color shifts (too
blue or too green)?
All
these mistakes can be removed with the click of the computer mouse.
Decades of neglect and deterioration of the pictures can be made
good in seconds.
A
good flatbed scanner
is like a magic box. Everything that goes in comes out looking so
much better. But a cheap scanner turns images into a picture that
you cannot enlarge. All the pictures here have enough dpi to enlarge
on a wide format printer.
Several
people who have tried to buy a Fuji Lanovia scanner during 1999
have e-mailed us back that they were unable to find any easy means
to contact Fuji. So we tried and found the same problem. No e-mail,
no user-friendly atmosphere on the Fuji web site. As a result we
went to an international trade show (GraphExpo) to find a scanner
from another company which was as good if not better than the Fuji.
The several top models of Fuji scanner are good enough to be worth
the effort to track down a source that sells them, but there are
other brands of scanners that are much easier to find across the
USA, indeed worldwide, namely the EverSmart scanners from Creo
We
hope you find www.creoscitex.com more user friendly (if not let
us know and we will send you the telephone number and e-mail of
key Scitex people so you can get information directly).
Within
the last year the FujiFilm web site has become more aware of what
Internet-cognizant people expect. The new Fuji web site is outstanding.
Fuji also seems to have finally figured out that most buyers are
totally confused as to what division produces which products. Two
different divisions produce scanners, for example. http://home.fujifilm.com/graphic/link/link.html
is a guide to their different corporate sites.
FujiFilm
Electronic Imaging LTD, www.ffei.co.uk finally has all their flatbed
scanners described on a single site.
Last
year Fuji has come out with the FineScan
2750. This scanner can be obtained more easily than the Lanovia
(and at much lower price).
Keep
in mind, however, that the Lanovia and the 2750 are two completely
different classes of scanner. The FineScan is competition for the
Creo Jazz or Jazz+. The Lanovia is an industrial-strength unit,
the most solidly constructed flatbed scanner ever made. No company
today would produce something as strong as the Lanovia. So if you
want a scanner made of solid metal housing, opt for the Lanovia
C-550.
Fujifilm
originally had three classes of scanners: an outstanding drum scanner,
a top of the line C-550 flatbed (my absolute favorite since it
could do 3-D objects too), and two FineScan models.
At PhotoPlus 2003, and again at an early 2004 trade show in the
US, the word on the street was that Fujifilm was backing out of
flatbed scanners. When we heard this from three sources, we naturally
assumed this was the situation, especially considering the statements
were very specific.
Thus during May, at DRUPA 2004, a huge prepress trade show in Germany,
we were pleasantly surprised to meet a team of Fujifilm scanner
people that were showcasing their FineScan 2750XL and Lanovia Quattro
professional flatbed scanners.
Since FLAAR is a photography institute for over 30 years, and since
we are now also dedicated to fine art reproduction, we are directly
and personally interested in any scanner that can handle 35mm, medium
format, and large format. We also cover scanning for prepress, proofing,
creatives in graphic design, and in-house design departments relative
to our emphasis on input for wide format inkjet printers such as
Epson. Thus we are considering updating our coverage of the Fujifilm
FineScan models as soon as we can have one for in-house testing
at our university. So return to this page later in the summer in
case we have a Fujifilm scanner by that time.
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Scan
of a textile
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FLAAR offers for you more information about this subject |
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