Using the Flextight Scanner

Overview

The Flextight Scanner by Imacon is the primary image scanner used for negatives, typically produced by NCMIR's JEOL 1200.  Capable of scanning from 72 dpi to 2040 dpi, it produces the highest quality scans in the laboratory with fewest artifacts, but at the cost of scanning time.

Using the Scanner (A Step-by-Step Explanation)

1. Load negative into the Flextight Scanner, making certain that the negative label is visible and legible (not backwards)
2. Turn on the Scanner, if it isn't already
3. Start the FlexColor Program on the Dock
   
4. Change the settings of FlexColor to your desired settings.  See below for typical settings for NCMIR scans.
   
5. Press the "Preview" button located on the top left corner of the FlexColor window.
6. Confirm the histogram includes the entire dynamic range of the negative by moving the black and white arrows at the bottom of the graph to encapsulate the entire range.
   
   Histograms can be called up by pushing the button marked as the following:
7. Crop out any unnecessary areas by dragging the mouse over the desired area you'd like to keep:
   
8. (Optional) Connect to the network drive e.g. tera5 by clicking on the desktop to active the Finder, then pushing Command+K to bring up the connection window, and connnect to firstsun.  Use your AD name and password.  If problems persist, contact your network administrator.
9. Press the "Scan" button and save file to desired location.  Note:  Adding the negative label number is highly recommended to avoid any future confusion.
10. Press "Preview" if the contrast of the next physical negative changes drastically.  Otherwise, skip the "Preview" step and continue scanning each negative.

Problems with the Scanner

If there are any major problems with the scanner e.g. the Flextight refuses to scan, does not recognize the scanner device, the "preview" button is grayed out, etc, you must restart both the computer and the Flextight scanner in this order: 

1. Turn off the Flextight Scanner
2. Turn off the Flexcolor Program
3. Restart the computer (Bortnik)
4. Once the Apple logo appears on the screen, turn on the Flextight Scanner.  Turning on the scanner too soon or too late may require you to redo these steps.
5. Login to the computer
6. Turn on the Flexcolor program

If everything restarted properly, then there should be no problems scanning.

Flextight Specifications

Scanning Times

Standard NCMIR Flextight Settings

Related Links

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