RE: filmscanners: Leaf?

["Austin Franklin" <darkroom@ix.netcom.com>]

> > Leaf scanners occasionally turn up on Ebay for a reasonable
> price.  What's with
> > them?  Are they a good deal or a maintenence nightmare?
>
>
> Consider that it's a 12-year old design,
> and it originally cost well in excess of
> $10K.  That suggests (to me, anyway) that
> repair could be costly.  But I'm certainly
> not speaking from experience.

Do you think it would cost more to repair than, say, one of the new 4kSPI MF
scanners (like the Nikon of Polaroid) after warranty is up, that is?  How
long is the warranty on the new scanners anyway?  Can you get an "extended"
warranty?

A camera board for the Leaf, with a CCD, is $800...but you can buy a
Leafscan 35 for under $500, which has the same electronics and power supply
as the Leafscan 45.  But, you really should be handy with electronics to own
a Leafscan, since you don't want to pay for a house call, and shipping it to
someone for repair is really not easy.

Fortunately, for the Nikon and Polaroid (and any other mid end scanner that
comes out these days) there should be a much larger number of them out, and
therefore parts, though they will probably be expensive, will probably be
easier to get, one would hope!

But I have to admit, I am impressed that CreoScitex does still offer all the
replacement parts (I don't know how much though) for these units!  They
ceased production in 1993 BTW, and there were over 2000 of the Leafscan 45
produced.