Drum
scanner reviews and product comparisons between ICG, Howtek,
Fuji, and Heidelberg
The
serious prepress drum scanners are ICG, Fuji,
and Heidelberg. Entry level drum scanner is Howtek and Aztek.
The
demand for drum scanners is rising despite the improvement
in quality in flatbed scanners. At DRUPA trade show I asked
several manufacturers of drum scanners why they were offering
new models and the unanimous reply was that the worldwide
demand for drum scanners was booming.
Nonetheless,
several drum scanner companies fell by the wayside. Juno finally
called it quits and Optronics drum scanners seem to have disappeared
for the time being. Too bad, as we wanted to test an Optronics
after we got a report from someone who owned one. He said the
Optronics he had was inadequate and when it refused to function
properly he used a Umax flatbed scanner. After contacting FLAAR
he upgraded to a Scitex EverSmart Pro II.
This
was before we got a demo on an ICG drum scanner. This demo
(at DRUPA, by Ian Smith) demolished our preconceived notions.
1st
traditional myth, that you have to be a trained prepress
professional
to run a drum scanner. The new hardware and software of the
ICG drum scanner can be operated by an person of reasonable
intelligence. There are other drum scanners from other companies,
or older models, that require experience and training. But
the new ICG drum scanner can be operated by the same people
that already work in your company.
 2nd
myth, that oiling the transparencies is a pain. Actually it
takes less time to oil the transparencies than it does to clean
off dust and scratches if you do the same transparency on a
flatbed scanner. When you oil the transparency that gets rid
of the majority of the dust and scratches so the resulting scan
is clean straight from the scanner.
3rd
myth, that a drum scanner of prepress quality costs between
$80,000 and $140,000. Yes, several of the drum scanners are
still in that price range. But ICG's new line of drum scanners
are comparable in price to the best flatbed scanners.
Eventually
we will get our hands on a Heidelberg and Fuji drum scanner.
The tests of Aztek and Howtek resulted in unusable color balance.
Since these respective companies did the tests themselves, we
have absolutely no way to know whether the fault was in the
original transparencies or the software or what. As a result,
we feel that a proper evaluation is best done in our own facility.
Cruse
sent a $97,000 reprographic stand scanner to our testing facilities,
so we really know the pros and cons of this Rolls Royce of digital
camera-copy stand scanner systems. Sure can handle all kinds
of sizes and shapes of objects, up to several inches thick.
Here
is the resultant drum scan. Sure stopped traffic at DRUPA
trade show. This image printed via ColorGate software
RIP on an Hewlett-Packard DesignJet
3000 CP.. I believe that's Dwight Davis of ColorGate in
the picture. If you wish information on ColorGate software
PostScript RIP, ask for the FLAAR Report on "RIPs + Help"
Download the FREE Previews |
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All reports by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth |
UPDATED:
July 10/2001, last revised May 13, 2002, Last updated Aug.
1, 2002
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