Digital Prints

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Mastering Digital Printing
Drum Scanners
It used to be that using a drum scanner was the only way to have a high-resolution scan
made, and many photographers-artists still purchase drum scans from scanning-service
providers. Using photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) instead of CCD chips, old-style drum
scanners are big, finicky machines that can take up half a room, although newer, desktop
models are now available. The artwork—typically a transparency or a small print—must
be flexible, and it is wrapped around a clear cylinder or drum that spins while a focused
light source on a track shines through or on it and onto the image sensors. Drum scanners
can produce wonderfully large, high-quality images with great dynamic range and
resolutions that can approach 12000 dpi. These outsourced scans aren’t cheap, though.
Figure paying $50–$100+ per drum scan depending on the file size.
California fine-art photographer Anil Rao has his 6 × 7-cm medium format transparencies
drum scanned at Calypso Imaging of Santa Clara for two main reasons: (1) very high-
Photoworks Creative Group imaging center in Charlottesville, Virginia, uses a drum scanner for certain scans requiring large blow-ups (they also
have a Nikon Coolscan 8000ED). Left: Ron Hurst mounts a 4x5 transparency on the plexiglass drum at a separate mounting station; right: he
inserts the drum into the scanner.
Courtesy of Photoworks Creative Group
resolution scans so he can make large prints without sacrificing sharpness and density, and (2)
high maximum density (Dmax) that he feels cannot be matched by other types of scanners.
“Print quality is very important to me in my photography,” says Rao. “Therefore, I want to
start out with the best possible scan. The drum scans from Calypso are ‘raw’ scans and just
record what is there on the film. They are not adjusted for color, contrast, or sharpness. As a
result, the scans initially seem flat and dull (they almost never match the original tranny);
however, they are full of information. I often find more detail and colors in the scan than I