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Hasselblad Flextight Drum Scanner

WalkerDigital Wet Mount Scan

The scans above show how the WalkerDigital Wet Mount scan (right) compares to a scan created on a Hasselblad Flextight Drum Scanner (no longer produced). There are differences (different scanners, different software and different scan settings all contribute to the differences) but the end result is very close. In its day, the Flextight cost around R 350 000, our scanner cost around R 60 000. You can see how far technology has advanced — and why drum scanners are no longer produced.


WalkerDigital takes great pride in producing scans of the highest quality.

Stephen has 32 years of experience in scanning and colour retouching. 

After working for eight years at Unifoto in Cape Town (in its day the country's top repro house), alongside leading colour experts including the legendary Gunther Zimmermann, Stephen moved back to Port Elizabeth.

While in Cape Town he worked on the iconic Hell range of drum scanners, building on his colour knowledge and technical ability. 

Additionally, he worked on the innovative Scitex Response Retouching System — long before Photoshop became his premiere retouching tool in 1996.

WalkerDigital now benefits from his wealth of experience and colour knowledge — both in scanning and retouching.

Stephen has, over the past ten years, passed on his knowledge to Paula, with the result that WalkerDigital now boasts two colour experts.

WalkerDigital has invested in two high-end scanners — one for artwork and one for negatives and transparencies. Backed by industry-leading scanning software, these scanners are capable of producing drum scanner quality.


Original Art

Size

We scan original artworks up to approximately 2000 mm x 1500 mm in size. 

Originals may be paintings (oil or watercolour), photographs, line-art, drawings, collages and many more. 

The only criteria being that the original is out of its frame and that the depth variation is not greater than ±5 mm.

Oil paintings should be dry, and drawings should be fixed.

Colour Matching

We offer varying degrees of colour matching.

These are:

Scan only

We supply you with a raw scan — you do the retouching.

Scan and minor retouch

We retouch the colour to match the original as closely as possible, but without fine-tuning areas of distinct colour.

Scan and exact match

We scan your original and match the colour to with 5% of the original artwork. We print a strip colour proof for your approval.

File Formats

We supply your final file in a format that you prefer. 

These formats include high-res JPEG, TIFF, PSD or RAW (unretouched).


Transparencies

Size

We can scan all transparency sizes. 

These may be supplied in mounts (eg 35 mm) or strips (eg 35 mm unmounted) or as single transparencies (eg 4 x 5 or 8 x 10). 

Our scanner is capable of reproducing a DMax of 4.0, which in simple terms means it captures the full range of tones of the original.

Options

Scanning is performed with either a dry mount (more economical) or a wet mount (higher quality) option.

Dry Mount

We fit the transparency to a holder.

Although we do clean the originals before scanning, any dirt, scratches or other defects in the original are not removed.

Colour and tonal values reproduce accurately.

Scans are 8-bit.

Dry mounting is an economical option. 

Wet Mount

The transparency is cleaned and placed in a scanning gel/oil on a special glass mount.

99% of dirt and defects are removed, including any scratches.

Colour and tonal values reproduce accurately.

Scans are 16-bit.

This option is more expensive than the dry mount option. 

The final result is equal to (or better than) the result achieved on old technology drum scanners.

Retouching

All our scans can be supplied in either a flat tonal format (similar to what you get from a RAW digital camera image) or retouched to correctly reproduce all the available tones. 

White balance can be set on request.

Old and faded originals can be enhanced to recover faded colour and tones.

Additional retouching is performed on request at our hourly retouching rate.

File Formats

We supply your final file in a format that you prefer. 

These formats include high-res JPEG, TIFF, PSD or (unretouched) RAW.


Negatives

Size

We have the capacity to scan all negative sizes — both black and white and colour. 
These may be supplied in mounts (eg 35 mm) or strips (eg 35 mm unmounted) or as single transparencies (eg 4 x 5 or 8 x 10). 
Our scanner is capable of reproducing a DMax of 4.0, which in simple terms means it captures the full range of tones of the original.

Options

Scanning is performed with either a dry mount (more economical) or a wet mount (higher quality) option.

Dry Mount

We fit the transparency to a holder.

Although we do clean the originals before scanning, any dirt, scratches or other defects in the original are not removed.

Colour and tonal values reproduce accurately.

Scans are 8-bit.

Dry mounting is an economical option. 

Wet Mount

The transparency is cleaned and placed in a scanning gel/oil on a special glass mount.

99% of dirt and defects are removed, including any scratches.

Colour and tonal values reproduce accurately.

Scans are 16-bit.

This option is more expensive than the dry mount option. 

The final result is equal to (or better than) the result achieved on old technology drum scanners.

Retouching

All our scans can be supplied in either a flat tonal format (similar to what you get from a RAW digital camera image) or retouched to correctly reproduce all the available tones. 

White balance can be set on request.

Old and faded originals can be enhanced to recover faded colour and tones.

Additional retouching is performed on request at our hourly retouching rate.

File Formats

We supply your final file in a format that you prefer. 

These formats include high-res JPEG, TIFF, PSD or (unretouched) RAW.