In article ,
says...


Airbus wrote:
What's the consensus, as we close 2008?
Anyone still using drum scanners with PMT tubes?
Any particular reason, from a photographer's point of view, why this
technology is still pertinent, or do most users fee that fletbed
scanners have come to where they can replace this older technology?

Interested to hear views from anyone still using this. . .

Thanks

For some reason, you leave out the dedicated film scanners with CCDs, which
fill the gap between these two. Flatbeds are the low-end of these three
options.

Neil




Well here you can correct me as I thought these were essentially the same as
flatbed scanners (also CCD) with the addition of plastic trays and holders to
make it easier to position the film on the flatbed, but in performance
besically the same thing.

The question becomes to what extent software management can overcome the
intrinsic drawbacks of CCD arrays (noise, resolution which "is what it is")
to the point of rivaling the very old, analog tube with intrinsically
superior sensitivity characteristics, but which is a pain in the but to
manage. . . Are we there yet?

Ancillary question, not without importance - is anyone still making PMT-based
drum scanners? Anyone know what PMT devices they are using?