On the Pakon 135: not really, it has relatively low resolution and low dynamic range — it gives the image quality of drug store 4x6 inch prints.
On the Flextight scanners: I have an Imacon Precision III that I hadn’t used for ten years and gave it to a friend in December when I was “sure” that I would never do film again, but he couldn't get it going — it has a SCSI interface — and returned it to me recently. In three 10-hour days, I managed to get the old OS X 10.6.8 installed on an old Mac PowerBook to run the (legacy) Imacon ColorFlex 4.04 software and got the SCSI-to-FireWire Orange Converter and Granite (power) SCSI Terminator going so that all this works — only to learn, on the third full day of my effort, that this scanner, which does true optical resolution of 6300dpi with a dMAx of 4.2 loses sharpness at the trailing end of the 35mm frame (as the negative is fed into the scanner in portrait orientation). Further research showed hat Imacon scanners require periodic maintenance fairly often. After some hours of searching the web, I found out that the cause of the sharpness loss is slippage of the belts that driv the holder mechanism. I have to replace these belts. Although, apparently, I can buy the belts in the US or the UK at about US$5 each, I'm likely to give up because these scanners usually require belt replacement every six months or so. The belt problem also makes the film frame shift in the holder as it goes into the scanner, so that a small portion of the scan is often cut off. I now remember from ten years ago that I often had this problem, but didn't know there was a solution. By the way, there is no batch feed solution for this scanner — and one full res (6300dpi) 35mm scan takes 15 minutes.
As I don't want to make a career out of the care and feeding of this Imacon scanner, I'm likely to just dump it. I couldn't sell it with a good conscience. Basically, even if I was prepared spent $14,000 on a new Hasselblad X1 — same 6300dpi resolution as my Imacon but twice the speed — I don’t think it would make sense because I don’t think the drive mechanism on the new scanners has changed. That means these Hasselblad scanners only make sense (beyond the price issue) in a photo lab environment, if they can be serviced and maintained regularly.
There is no simple or obvious solution to the scanning problem today — I've investigated at length.
So many excellent images from everyone! Although I have not posted here for a while, I really enjoy seeing all the Leica images. Here are few images that I just processed from my trip to London late last summer, with M9 and Summilux-M 50 ASPH.
As stated in the EDIT to post p.1355 #8, I've now figured out how to focus correctly with the Leitz BEOON copy stand. Here is a photo digitalized with the M9/DR Summicron — I'll now have to figure out in detail whether, for Tri-X, it makes any visible difference to digitalize with the MM vs M9; so far, I doubt it.
M6 | Summilux-35 FLE | Tri-X @ ISO 400 | Stand development for 1 hour in Rodinal 1:100, gentle inversion after 30 minutes. Chiang Mai
airfrogusmc wrote:
Edward watch the film thats on the Leica site. Pretty cool...
Thank you Allen. Just finished watching it. Very interesting to see the different styles, one shooting from waist level and the other asking permission and shaking hands with the subject after the shot.
I don't need one but want one ... they should have gone one step further and made it like M-A without meter .. and probably a Monochrom version coming out later? But I think its best to wait till Sept to see what else is new first..
Will probably get a used one down the road since there is no LCD to become outdated 
.. and probably a Monochrom version coming out later? But I think its best to wait till Sept to see what else is new first..