Hasselblad discontinues Flextight scanners

MikeSeb said:

Late jumping in here. Kick this to a new thread, Moderator, if I've trespassed.

I have an Imacon/Hassy 646. My biggest problem at present is that Flexcolor, Hassy's software for the scanner, isn't supported under the latest (64-bit) MacOS 10.15. So I'm dual-booting my Mac with 10.14 to keep it alive a while longer. I've been in touch with Hasselblad; no plans to release a 64-bit compatible version of Flexcolor. LaserSoft likewise has no plans to support the scanner in SilverFast. Ditto VueScan. I'm not a Windows guy so I can't speak to the situation there.

Any ideas or suggestions?

As to the Coolscan 9000 vs Imacon comparison someone brought up (I think): I likewise bought my 646 mainly for 4x5, where it was better than any flatbed solution affordable to me at the time. I can't say it's vastly better for MF or 35mm, but it's at least somewhat quicker than waiting for the 9000 to grind out hi-res scans. I'd like to keep using my 646 until it breaks or is no longer supported by anything. It's sunk cost at this point.

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I've found the Imacon/ Hasselblad to be overall sharper and better resolving in grain representation terms than anything I've ever dealt with off a Coolscan. That the speed is better is a bonus.

Tom Kershaw said:

Does the daisychaining of adaptors work? I use Nikon Coolscan machines with VueScan on an old Mac Book Pro and have just assumed I would need to keep the older computer hardware going with integrated FireWire to connect the scanners.

Tom

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Coming late to the party, I can confirm that daisy-chaining does work. The scanner's FW400 output is converted with either a FW400 to FW800 cable, or an ordinary FW400 cable with a FW400>FW800 adapter at the end. Depending on the Mac I'm connecting to, I might plug straight into a FW800 port, or use a FW800>Thunderbolt dongle, or even a Thunderbolt>USB-C dongle on top of all that. Amazingly, it works with no issues. But what to do when I run out of Macs that use macOS Mojave or older? I could buy a Windows machine just for the scanner, but finding one with a FW port probably is getting hard. I liked the 848, and the X1 I have now, for being quiet and relatively quick. FlexColor (the software that drives them) also makes colour negative scans very easy in terms of colour accuracy. But I'm getting around to accepting I will never use all the film I have in my film freezer, so I'm concentrating on B&W. Consequently I think I'll sell the X1 and use my Nikon 9000 for B&W; it is very nearly as good, and works through all the dongles, and will work with Catalina.

You can buy a FW card for PCI slots for $20 - $60. In fact, I just bought one - the $60 with the real TI chips for best compatibility for my new Win10 machine. Will see how it works.

Anyway, if I were you, I would just pick up an older PC that runs Win7, for $400-$500, pop a FW card in it, and just put it in the garage until you need it.