Microtek M1 vs i900 ?

[GoGo]

Am I missing something?

From reading the pdn news (M1) item and comparing the current i900 I just don't see much difference. Does anyone out there see a compelling reason to wait (M1) as opposed to buying now (i900) ?

Thanks for your reply,

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/prodtech/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003314393

 

[jd callow]

I can't tell you why the M1 might be better. It is higher res. There is a 50.00 rebate on the i900 right how. This may give a compelling reason to buy the i900.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16838150030&ATT=38-150-030&CMP=OTC-Froogle

 

[GoGo]

thanks

JD,
I see that the new box will be higher rez, that alone is reason enough to wait another month. Just getting tired of waiting I guess?
Thanks,
G

 

[P C Headland]

There are some other touted benefits, not least of which is the "improved" film holders. While I've never seen an i900 in the plastic, there were complaints about the 120 film holder design (single frame).

There have been rumours, although I can't find anything to hand to substantiate them, that it has a focusing lens.

 

[jd callow]

I haven't seen or used the i900 neg holders, but the 1800f holders are not so good. One thing I do like about the epson Expresion is that the holders are pretty good.

 

[Ted Harris]

No M1'a have yet been delivered to anyone, even for test purposes. Waht information we do know is that the machine will use holder innvations developed for the i800 and is supposed to have better focus than the i900. The new holders should be better than those now on the market by either Epson or Mcirotek.

I should have a unit for evaluation as soon as they are available.

 

[mgphoto]

From reading the pdn news (M1) item and comparing the current i900 I just don't see much difference. Does anyone out there see a compelling reason to wait (M1) as opposed to buying now (i900) ?

Unless the M1 is significantly better, I would advise against buying it or the i900 and go with the Epson V750-M Pro. As an i900 owner for over a year now, I have been cosistently disapointed at the quality I am getting from the scanner, especialy on transparencies (banding in the shadows, etc.). The film holders are crap and the only saving grace has been the 8x10 glass holder which allows me to wet-mount my film. Even with the wet-mounting and multi-sample scans, the quality of the scans are no better, if not worse than scans from my old Epson 2450. The samples I have seen from the V750-M Pro appear to me much better than the Microtek plus it comes with a dedicated wet-mount holder. I was strongly considering purchasing a V750-M pro but instead took the leap into a Nikon Coolscan 9000ED. I will probably still replace the i900 with the V750-M Pro in the near future for my large format scans.

Just my $0.02.

Thanks,
Mark

P.S. After doing some 6x6 comparison scans on the Nikon 9000ED and the i900, all I can say is WOW!

 

[Greg_E]

You can buy a wet mount adapter for the 9000 from Aztek.

 

[GoGo]

Thank you All

Very good information here, thank you all!

Ted,

I was wondering if you might let me know when your evaluation of the M1 is ready for public consumtion? I really want to read about the scanner in action and look forward to your evaluation. I have pretty much decieded to wait on my purchase and just make due in the mean time.

Happy New Year!

 

[Ted Harris]

Giorgio ... I'll post some details here with the full review in the magazine. Hopefully I'll know tomorrow when I will have one in hand

 

[GoGo]

grazie

Thanks Ted,
Looking forward to the review.

 

[GoGo]

news?

Any available reviews yet?

 

[Ted Harris]

I was at Microtek last week in CA. Still no product to look at or test. Early February.

 

[GoGo]

Thanks Ted

Thanks,
I appreciate your interest, patience will win the day.

 

[Ted Harris]

I spoke with Microtek yesterday and they expect a pilot run of scanners to reach the States in the next two weeks. Tht assumes they get them out nthe door in Taiwan before the Chinese New Year celebrations start and the country basically shuts down for two weeks. Realistically, I don't now expect to see one till near the end of the month or early March.

 

[Ted Harris]

Further delays

I got the following announcement from Microtek yesterday:

Our press release on October 24, 2006, stated that we expected to release the Microtek ArtixScan M1 scanner in February 2007. Unfortunately, there is still considerable work to be done to prepare this scanner for production. We now expect to begin production at the end of March and deliver the scanner to stores in the United States in early May. We appreciate your interest and apologize for this delay.

 

[GoGo]

oh well

Almost like waiting for a new pro DSLR body from Nikon?

 

[Greg_E]

It's now almost July... Any word or should we just right this off as a flop?

 

[Ted Harris]

As of two weeks ago the Microtek product manager says it will be here ....

 

[Bruce]

Microtek M1 Scanner News

Ted

Any news on the Microtek ArtixScan M1 unit? I have seen an add for it but dont know if its really available yet.

Thanks!

Bruce

 

[Ted Harris]

The M1 is finally here ... that is Microtek has a production on display and operating at Photo Plus Expo. There is a whole load of the machines in the warehouse in California and they are expected to start arriving on dealers shelves in two weeks.

I should have one for testing at about the same time. The results I saw today on the show floor were impressive but I want to know a lot more and try it myself before commenting.

 

[Greg_E]

Thanks for keeping up with this.

 

[Greg_E]

Any thoughts on this machine yet? I went looking and noone has them in stock yet, let alone any reviews.

 

[Ted Harris]

It's hard to say "patience grasshopper" at this point ..... but I am expecting one for review in the next 10 days.

 

[Greg_E]

Wow, this is one really huge delay. Did they say what it taking so long? I'm familiar with their software and I thought it was fairly complete so I find it difficult to believe that it's a software issue.