scanner (hardware?) question
 

hi,
(hope this question is ok for this ng)
i have 2 old ( 5 y/o) scanners (umax and ibm (parallel)) which have not
been used for several years.
they both scan well HOWEVER in both cases, the results have a yellow
tint (as though there was a yellow filter)
(they are on different pcs)
does anyone know how to *fix* this? (even a cleaning solution?)
(they are WAY out of warranty)
thank you

Tanya wrote:
hi,
(hope this question is ok for this ng)
i have 2 old ( 5 y/o) scanners (umax and ibm (parallel)) which have not
been used for several years.
they both scan well HOWEVER in both cases, the results have a yellow
tint (as though there was a yellow filter)
(they are on different pcs)
does anyone know how to *fix* this? (even a cleaning solution?)
(they are WAY out of warranty)
thank you

Hi Tanya...

Photography has been my lifelong hobby (and I'm real old :)

Scanned tons of old photos, negatives and slides for
archiving and sharing with family members with flatbeds,
dedicated scanners, and even a drum scanner. Having said
all that, take my advice with a grain of salt :)

I'd like to suggest that with two scanners producing a
yellow cast it's not the scanners at all, but rather
calibration of your monitor. (keep in mind that no matter
what the quality of your scanner, scans *will* need some
touch up afterwards anyway)

Several ways to check. Take one of your scans to a friend
or neighbor; have a look at it on their monitor. Or take
one of your scans, burn it to a dvd and look at it on your
television set.

If all that is difficult then send me an email. I'll be
happy to send you a couple of scans. Small compressed jpeg's,
perhaps one straight from the scanner and a second copy of the
same after touch-up. That way you'll know for sure :)

Take care.

Ken

Ken Weitzel wrote:

Tanya wrote:
hi,
(hope this question is ok for this ng)
i have 2 old ( 5 y/o) scanners (umax and ibm (parallel)) which have not
been used for several years.
they both scan well HOWEVER in both cases, the results have a yellow
tint (as though there was a yellow filter)
(they are on different pcs)
does anyone know how to *fix* this? (even a cleaning solution?)
(they are WAY out of warranty)
thank you

Hi Tanya...

Photography has been my lifelong hobby (and I'm real old :)

Scanned tons of old photos, negatives and slides for
archiving and sharing with family members with flatbeds,
dedicated scanners, and even a drum scanner. Having said
all that, take my advice with a grain of salt :)

I'd like to suggest that with two scanners producing a
yellow cast it's not the scanners at all, but rather
calibration of your monitor. (keep in mind that no matter
what the quality of your scanner, scans *will* need some
touch up afterwards anyway)

Several ways to check. Take one of your scans to a friend
or neighbor; have a look at it on their monitor. Or take
one of your scans, burn it to a dvd and look at it on your
television set.

i don't have the technology but will try a floppy disk on another pc:)

If all that is difficult then send me an email. I'll be
happy to send you a couple of scans. Small compressed jpeg's,
perhaps one straight from the scanner and a second copy of the
same after touch-up. That way you'll know for sure :)

Take care.

Ken

hi Ken,
thanks so much for replying!
i wasn't clear initially: these scanners are on separate pcs (different
brands) with separate monitors (different video cards and monitor brands)
there are 2 things in common though:
1. windows95B and
2. me (being the user:)

i have scanned the same photos on the 3rd pc and the result has no yellow
tint.
(each of the 2 yellow producing scanners have the correct settings (i.e. the
ibm is set up as it should be and the umax is set up as it should be)
printouts of each are as they appear on the monitors....yellowish

i'll try is to save the output images to disks and try them on the functioning
computer since it could be possible that both display settings are off on both
of the 95b pcs....
(although would incorrect display settings cause the prints (hard copies) to
be yellowish?
i thank you again and appreciate your advice and any more!
sincerely
Tanya

Tanya wrote:

Ken Weitzel wrote:


Tanya wrote:

hi,
(hope this question is ok for this ng)
i have 2 old ( 5 y/o) scanners (umax and ibm (parallel)) which have not
been used for several years.
they both scan well HOWEVER in both cases, the results have a yellow
tint (as though there was a yellow filter)
(they are on different pcs)
does anyone know how to *fix* this? (even a cleaning solution?)
(they are WAY out of warranty)
thank you

Hi Tanya...

Photography has been my lifelong hobby (and I'm real old :)

Scanned tons of old photos, negatives and slides for
archiving and sharing with family members with flatbeds,
dedicated scanners, and even a drum scanner. Having said
all that, take my advice with a grain of salt :)

I'd like to suggest that with two scanners producing a
yellow cast it's not the scanners at all, but rather
calibration of your monitor. (keep in mind that no matter
what the quality of your scanner, scans *will* need some
touch up afterwards anyway)

Several ways to check. Take one of your scans to a friend
or neighbor; have a look at it on their monitor. Or take
one of your scans, burn it to a dvd and look at it on your
television set.


i don't have the technology but will try a floppy disk on another pc:)


If all that is difficult then send me an email. I'll be
happy to send you a couple of scans. Small compressed jpeg's,
perhaps one straight from the scanner and a second copy of the
same after touch-up. That way you'll know for sure :)

Take care.

Ken


hi Ken,
thanks so much for replying!
i wasn't clear initially: these scanners are on separate pcs (different
brands) with separate monitors (different video cards and monitor brands)
there are 2 things in common though:
1. windows95B and
2. me (being the user:)

i have scanned the same photos on the 3rd pc and the result has no yellow
tint.
(each of the 2 yellow producing scanners have the correct settings (i.e. the
ibm is set up as it should be and the umax is set up as it should be)
printouts of each are as they appear on the monitors....yellowish

i'll try is to save the output images to disks and try them on the functioning
computer since it could be possible that both display settings are off on both
of the 95b pcs....
(although would incorrect display settings cause the prints (hard copies) to
be yellowish?
i thank you again and appreciate your advice and any more!
sincerely
Tanya

Hi Tanya...

Got me really curious, now.

If you have an ordinary photo that's not identifying or personal
could you scan it with one of the "yellow" scanners, and
send me an email with it attached?

I'd prefer you scan it at or very near to 300 pixels per
inch, with the scanner controls at default. Then save it
as a jpeg, with very very little compression.

I'll be happy to let you know what I can find out.

And one other thing - very unlikely - came to mind.
Seeing the scanners have been unused for a couple of years,
is it at all possible that they've been stored near a
very heavy smoker? I think that tobacco smoke buildup
looks more brown-ish that yellow, but....

Take care.

Ken

"Tanya" wrote in message
...
hi,
(hope this question is ok for this ng)
i have 2 old ( 5 y/o) scanners (umax and ibm (parallel)) which have not
been used for several years.
they both scan well HOWEVER in both cases, the results have a yellow
tint (as though there was a yellow filter)
(they are on different pcs)
does anyone know how to *fix* this? (even a cleaning solution?)
(they are WAY out of warranty)
thank you


Does the light from the fluorescent lamps in the scanners look bright pure
white?

Could be a software/driver setting issue too, or it's possible I suppose
that the scanner is somehow not scanning blue but it's odd that two scanners
would do it.

It is so far fetched that the OS could affect the color balance that
I'll dismiss it right now.

Even if nobody smokes the air is not clean in most of the "civilized"
world. As such you might need a cleaning of the window of the bar that
actually does the scanning. Since the beam passes through twice, any
darkening is doubled. Worse yet would be having to clean the multi
facet mirror, if it has one.

All surfaces except that of the light and the detector itself will
double their effect because the light passes through them twice, now
you got the top of the scanner glass as well as the bottom, and youv'e
got that window on the scanner bar which count for two passes of the
light each.Add the contamination of the light source and the pickkup,
even though not that bad is multiplied.

Your best way is probably to adjust the scanner's color temerature
settings. That way you need not take anything apart and really, some of
these things are a real PITA to put back together.

If those settings exist for your scanners, problem solved, if not for
machines running 95B I'd recommend PSP4 or Photoshop4. Photoshop 4 has
independant gamma type adjustments for each color in either the RGB or
CMY mode. Between these two programs to can do alot. Between the two
there is a very rich set of functions.

Best bet is settings on the scanner, if it will hold them all programs
are then again created equal.

JURB

"I'd prefer you scan it at or very near to 300 pixels per
inch, with the scanner controls at default"

My scanner has an intenal gamma setting. While this may not be needed
in this case, for very old photos it makes a difference. I'm hoping to
recieve in the near future a pic of my Great-Grandfather, the copies of
which leave much to be desired, but I want my uncle to rescan it using
different settings. The refined settings on the scanner will reduce
pixelation to say the least, eliminate some noise and make further
processing easier.

JURB

Ken Weitzel wrote:

Tanya wrote:

Ken Weitzel wrote:


Tanya wrote:

hi,
(hope this question is ok for this ng)
i have 2 old ( 5 y/o) scanners (umax and ibm (parallel)) which have not
been used for several years.
they both scan well HOWEVER in both cases, the results have a yellow
tint (as though there was a yellow filter)
(they are on different pcs)
does anyone know how to *fix* this? (even a cleaning solution?)
(they are WAY out of warranty)
thank you

Hi Tanya...

Photography has been my lifelong hobby (and I'm real old :)

Scanned tons of old photos, negatives and slides for
archiving and sharing with family members with flatbeds,
dedicated scanners, and even a drum scanner. Having said
all that, take my advice with a grain of salt :)

I'd like to suggest that with two scanners producing a
yellow cast it's not the scanners at all, but rather
calibration of your monitor. (keep in mind that no matter
what the quality of your scanner, scans *will* need some
touch up afterwards anyway)

Several ways to check. Take one of your scans to a friend
or neighbor; have a look at it on their monitor. Or take
one of your scans, burn it to a dvd and look at it on your
television set.


i don't have the technology but will try a floppy disk on another pc:)


If all that is difficult then send me an email. I'll be
happy to send you a couple of scans. Small compressed jpeg's,
perhaps one straight from the scanner and a second copy of the
same after touch-up. That way you'll know for sure :)

Take care.

Ken


hi Ken,
thanks so much for replying!
i wasn't clear initially: these scanners are on separate pcs (different
brands) with separate monitors (different video cards and monitor brands)
there are 2 things in common though:
1. windows95B and
2. me (being the user:)

i have scanned the same photos on the 3rd pc and the result has no yellow
tint.
(each of the 2 yellow producing scanners have the correct settings (i.e. the
ibm is set up as it should be and the umax is set up as it should be)
printouts of each are as they appear on the monitors....yellowish

i'll try is to save the output images to disks and try them on the functioning
computer since it could be possible that both display settings are off on both
of the 95b pcs....
(although would incorrect display settings cause the prints (hard copies) to
be yellowish?
i thank you again and appreciate your advice and any more!
sincerely
Tanya

Hi Tanya...

Got me really curious, now.

If you have an ordinary photo that's not identifying or personal
could you scan it with one of the "yellow" scanners, and
send me an email with it attached?

I'd prefer you scan it at or very near to 300 pixels per
inch, with the scanner controls at default. Then save it
as a jpeg, with very very little compression.

I'll be happy to let you know what I can find out.

And one other thing - very unlikely - came to mind.
Seeing the scanners have been unused for a couple of years,
is it at all possible that they've been stored near a
very heavy smoker? I think that tobacco smoke buildup
looks more brown-ish that yellow, but....

Take care.

Ken

hi Ken,
thanks for replying again!
i will send a photo in the very near future

as far as smoking -- yup -- ashamed to admit it however the scanners are not open
(they each have covers) and there is no tobacco contamination on other surfaces
(that are exposed to the air)
thanks!

James Sweet wrote:

"Tanya" wrote in message
...
hi,
(hope this question is ok for this ng)
i have 2 old ( 5 y/o) scanners (umax and ibm (parallel)) which have not
been used for several years.
they both scan well HOWEVER in both cases, the results have a yellow
tint (as though there was a yellow filter)
(they are on different pcs)
does anyone know how to *fix* this? (even a cleaning solution?)
(they are WAY out of warranty)
thank you


Does the light from the fluorescent lamps in the scanners look bright pure
white?

Could be a software/driver setting issue too, or it's possible I suppose
that the scanner is somehow not scanning blue but it's odd that two scanners
would do it.

hi James,
thanks for the reply!
the light looks okay.........

as far as settings / driver issues -- i imagine it could be some sort
of windows
95b bug?
i could test this on a win98se pc... however, i'd like to try to clean
the
scanners first
thanks!