Want to Buy WTB: Heidelberg/Hell Tango OR ICG drum scanner - AUSTRALIA

Hey everyone - my studio is starting to take shape and have started to be in demand for drum scanning. As I'm experienced in using Heidelberg Tango and the ICG units, I'm putting relative feelers out for either model for sale. I'm located in Melbourne, though am happy to chat with those in other states. The machine must be in serviced and fully functional condition with drums, etc and preferably Mac/PC included.

Have a great day!

What scanner did you get at the end?
What you liked and disliked in the operation of both machines?

We are using ICG 330 and looks like coming to the point of switching from normal ext.drum to internal used as ext. (chemicals destroyed acrylic with a milky net or internal micro-cracks).
We think either mounting chemistry was too aggressive or we were letting the film to be on the drum too for too long. Also, PMTs from measurements, are not in the best shape.
ICG contacts from the site were not answering so we have decided that ICG is not alive as a company anymore.

Looking for donor ICG we came to a good condition Heidelberg PrimeScan locally (that is not working after all .

So I am trying to compare all pros and cons of every machine. Looks like all the guys now have switched to Tangos from other drums.

I'm also curious to know if you ever found the drum scanner you wanted for your studio in Melbourne. Right now I have a Tango and a Tango XL already crated and ready to ship anywhere in the world. (We also have all models of Primescans too, they just aren't crated yet).The Tango ships from Atlanta, GA and the Tango XL ships from Kiel, Germany. Contact me off-forum if you are still interested in purchasing a fully refurbished machine that comes with a 6 month warranty. We plan to support these machines for many years to come.

If you find one locally that needs to be rescued, please do so! We can come on-site to assist with moving it safely and then refurbish it in your studio. I'm looking forward to doing just that in Kiev, Ukraine for Serg about a week from now. He rescued a Primescan locally and we got it running via email. Now I will go over and give it the full tune-up service. :- )
-Karl Hudson
Hudson Grafik Services

Hey guys - sorry for taking so long to touch base! Hope you've both had a wonderful new year!

I've still not obtained a machine as of yet, it's been quite the long journey at this point. Just been establishing all of my processors, etc - the drum scanner had been put on the back burner.

In relation to ICG, I'd actually made contact with them directly late at night - after 10 or 15 e-mails in attempt to reach them, to finally be told they don't offer used/reconditioned units anymore
for purchase.

Karl, thanks indeed for the heads up! I've actually seen currently for sale here in Australia a mint Tango, though with defective scanner head (requiring repositioning) as well as the mechanical
hood needing repair. Is there any stage where Hudson Grafik performs servicing here in Australia?

There was a Chromagraph in Melbourne that sold last year some time for <300 AUD. Karl is probably aware of that unit, I think Splitting Image may have purchased it.
The unit you are referring too has been around a while with many problems. It appears seller has split up the package for silly money, I am not sure who would buy it. A friend of mine was looking at it a while ago and I think he even contacted Karl about it.

Drum scanners aside, I curious to know about your studio endeavours. I have many drum scanners myself but not Heidelbergs, perhaps I can assist somehow.

Bests

If we can get a few more people on board for Heidelberg Service Down Under, then I could justify a trip. I'd love to come back! Warren Macris in Sydney is really the only one on my List right now. He's got two Tango Scanners. One of which is working fine. Mr. Sparks in Brisbane has a Tango with a hood drive problem. The part is relatively cheap, but it's not easy to get to and the whole hood drive has to be taken out, repaired and put back in. I've already serviced his machine and except for that silly problem with the hood, it's in perfect order. The last time (and the first time for me) that I visited Australia was in March, 2015. So we are coming up on five years. I'm happy to come down, but I'm always trying to get a few more people on board for Service, so the travel costs can be spread around among several End Users. Service is priced at $1250 USD + travel expenses. Maybe we could plan something for the summer months in Germany. My 8th grader is out of school for six weeks and I could bring him with me (single parent). Of course, anyone, anywhere, who needs Heidelberg Service and wants to cover the travel expenses and my flat rate for service, will get what they need. I'm always trying to do my best to keep the costs down for everybody.
Best wishes from Kiel,
Karl

Looks, like I am on board with Heidelberg.

Local guys from China owned wallpaper factory were selling not working Tango.
Not cheap as snow - 2K for the cat in the box. But cat appeared to have 22 hours of work time on it.

Karl have being here in Kyiv 3 weeks ago.
Thank you Karl. It was fun time

And I would not hurry to get rid of my ICG.
After years of working with it got so used to the size and shape of the grain it produce.
Heidelberg at the moment is better in everything (colors, software, speed, usability, scanning C41 negs right in pos better than Nikons), but has bigger grain and less fine details.


Maybe I need some advices from real users to help with the procedures.
I have seen big image comparisons with Tango and ICG compared. From that test ICG and TANGO had compared grain.
From my test at the moment it looks very-very different.

The former Tango / Primescan Yahoo Group which was recently moved to Groups.io is an excellent source for tips on getting specific results from the Tango / Primescan. I joined that group ten years ago, when it had just 35 members. Now it has over 235 members! Please keep in mind there is a global control for influencing the aperture size. It's the slider tool at the top of the Overview window. Moving it more to the left is a smaller aperture (more grain) and more to the right is a larger aperture (less grain). As for the sharpness of the scans...the test I did when I was there seemed plenty sharp on dust / lint artifacts. I will contact you directly regarding how to tweak it, if you think the scanner is consistently less sharp than expected. One thing to remember regarding some scans being out of focus...is that a dirty mount with larger pieces of dust / lint under the mylar, might cause the scanner to focus on one of these, leaving the measured focus value to be at a point slightly above the surface of the original. Equally important is to never include any clear Plexiglas areas in your scanning frame. Then the scanner might focus on the high-contrast area it found between clear drum and the dark edge of the original. Again two different surface heights resulting in a 50/50 chance that the surface of the original is what it actually focused on.

Looks fantastic Serg!! I’ve heard great things about the Tango no doubt. As I’m still in the interim of finding a machine for my studio there’s a place here in Melbourne I’ll be using to get my 10x8 campaign scans done. They’ve got a Lino Hell 3400 Chromagraph which I’ve seen produces incredible results. In terms of file requirement, what would be the most suitable dpi request? Would 300 dpi and split between two stitched files be a good starting point? I’ve heard of a couple of others using this method and have produced exceptional scans. What would the typical opinion be?