Cruse Synchron Table fine art scanner exhibits at FESPA Digital 2008 and Photokina 2008

By the time you read this we will be visiting the Cruse booth at FESPA Digital in Geneva . A few months later I will be inspecting Cruse equipment at Photokina 2008. Here you can speak with Ing. Hermann Cruse personally, or with Kurt Egger or other key managers who know this equipment.

I have experience using the Cruse Synchrcon table fine art scanner for giclee for many years. Prior to this we used a Cruse Synchron light scanner. There are also Cruse scanners for décor industry (scanning wood to pick up wood grain for veneer; scanning stone for making decorative wall material looklike real stone).

I also use the Cruse scanner for fine art photography: gathering brightly colored autumn leaves on the table and scanning them at high resolution.

FLAAR also has a BetterLight and a medium format Phase One P25+, so we are familiar with the pros and cons of each manner of digitizing. I also have two Kodak CreoScitex flatbed scanners. This makes FLAAR the only research institute in the world with practical daily experience with every digital capture technology. This is why libraries, museums, universities, archives, photo labls, giclee ateliers, artists, people in the décor industry, and other companies and individuals come to FLAAR to ask our assistance and suggestions on which systems should they consider for their own company in their own country. We work as consultants all over the world.

Lots of advances between Photokina 2000 and earlier Photokina '98

Back at Photokina '98 in Cologne we saw a variety of unusual scanners mounted on repro stands. Some used the Better Light scanning camera, others used proprietary scanners. As many photographers need to "photograph/scan" 3-dimensional objects larger than can fit onto the top of a flatbed, these repro scanners offer a considerable amount of potential. I have never seen a review section in any of the trade press, so I am adding this section here. As we learn about other repro scanners we will add to this section.

Best overhead scan-back system I saw in 1998 was the ZBE; this is an industrial-strength unit using a PhaseOne scan back and Videssence lighting. However we find that BetterLight is superior to medium format, so that sort of soured us on the ZBE system as well. Then, two years later we found a much better overhead scan-back system.

The new generation of Cruse digital reprographic scanning equipment is now top of the line. Indeed the German military or police selected the Cruse scanner. During July 2001 the Archivio Secreto Vaticano, Rome , selected the Cruse scanner over all other reprographic systems in the world.

During the year 2000 and 2001 we have learned more about the newer models of Cruse scanner. It has a crucial advantage that is not available on the ZBE or any comparable repro stand, namely the synchron light (you can see it in action on www.flatbed-scanner-review.org). For more information on the Cruse system, contact Michael A. Lind, Reprographic Designs, e-mail malind@msn.com.

Since this FLAAR web site is devoted to scanners and cameras, we will shortly be reviewing repro stands in much more detail, especially the newest Cruse scanner.

This page moved from our camera-scanners web site on March 24, 2008.
Links added Mar. 2002, updated November 04, 2004 , redesigned January 2004.