Computer Died And Getting Old

[lucian]

Well I've been away from the forum for a while - doctors' appointments, a busy work schedule, doing some tutoring and being just plain tired.

My wife wanted to do some rearranging around the house - always fun - good thing I don't drink. Then to make matters worse I was trying to get an image off one of the computers and it died - my WIN 95 system is D-E-A-D!

My friend Ed was able to get all the data off the hard drive but my flatbed scanner won't work with any of the new systems. Ed and my wife say that it served it's purpose and I got my money's worth. It was an Envisions 24 Pro - cost me $1K about ten years ago and it was bundled with Adobe PhotoShop 2.5. That $1K was a deal back then.

Well that's not too bad, Ed has a scanner for me with a transparency adapter. Once I get walking space back I'll have room to put it on the table. I'm going to put it on tthe newer Compaq.

But it's the "getting old" thing that's bothering me. My Polaroid Sprint Scan 35 won't work with any of the new systems. I wrote Polaroid asking if there was a way to make it work with XP and what I got back I think tooks hits and was garbled in transmission - "hee, hee, hee" or something like that. I guess the only film scanners they are familar with are the Nikon scanners they are selling.

Gets better, now my RB and press cameras and film backs (6x7) are in the cabinet under the Beseler which is under a hood. There's only one place in town that will process 120 and I don't think they do a very good job of it. The last time they processed 120 for me they bent it terribly and it had little crescents on every image. Hell I don't know if they even have film there anymore.

My daughter has my "old" lights and is using them to learn studio lighting. At least they aren't in the closet. And some of my "old" knowledge is being used to teach some "new" photographers.

I've been tired lately and this update/upgrade thing has even hit my pharmacist. I thought Geritol might give me that extra boost but the kid with the zits looked at me like I was crazy. Someone else whispered "Centrum" in his ear and he just nodded with an understanding "ooh".

So as to help my daughter I rushed out and got Photoshop Elements 5.0 to replace Elements 1 and put it on the Compaq - leaving CS on the HP - but maybe she'll be helping me. The 7 year old grandson even told me I don't have to type "www" to get to the "dot coms". My foot hurts, my back hurts, I need stronger glasses and my comb stays hair free ...

Well enough for tonight. Think I'll rest with a hot tea, a crossword puzzle (I get the easy ones now, big print) and an aspirin. I still have some aspirin - got it way back in 2004 or 2005 - maybe I better look for the update/upgrade. That's good for a trip to Wal-Mart.

Have a safe weekend all. "We love it here".

[Daniel Bates]

I know exactly how you feel...


...not. But I've gone through the tech upgrade hell a few times already. It's no fun...

[David Whatley]

Its HELL turning 40 isnt it :). XP has an option to run older programs in the olders OS mode, you might check that out for your scanner.

[nyphotopro]

Turning 40 isn't near as bad as turning 50 :-) I'm closing in on that appointment rapidly now. Maybe I have a check box somewhere that tells my body to run in YOUNGER compatibility mode.

[lucian]

Turning 40 was fine - I remember it well - about 17 years ago.

We checked into running these on XP but Ed says it's a no-go.

The one good thing about the flatbed with the transparency adapter is that I may be able to get some pretty good scans of my 6x7 negatives. I don't think they would be as good as a dedicated film scanner but this model (don't know what it is) is used in some publishing houses. So I would expect the quality to be a bit better than the average consumer grade transparency adapter. At least I'm hoping so.

As to scanning negatives and slides - well I didn't do that much anyway. It's the cost of $2K for the unit that bugs me. Technology is racing way ahead of my pocket book. Since I got a digitial camera, and my daughter now is using the E-Volt 500 there has not been a great need for film. Even the 35's haven't seen much duty in the past few years.
Such is life in the big city.

Take care.

[David Whatley]

Well 40 was 13 years ago for me darn it! You might be suprised at what you could get a comparable scanner for these days.

[nyphotopro]

My scanners need LASIK! :-)

But seriously now, dedicated film scanners, especially 35mm ones usually do a better job at scanning film better than flatbeds. However, there aren't a lot of dedicated film scanners that can do 6x7 or 8x10. The Epson 4990 is an excellent flatbed that will scan up to 8x10. And, Epson has a new set of pro flatbeds, the V700 and V750 (with a wet-mount system and dual-lenses) that will flesh out every detail of any film you need to scan.

Matt