No witty text or thought provoking spiels here, just some photos from a West Coast summer sortie back in January of 2010. 
When that West Coast weather turns it on its simply unbeatable!
The Gods (both Weather and Railfan) were smiling on me this day.

AH

No, not the Police listening "prepping for a bust from the po-po" type Motorola radio scanner, but more about film and slide scanners.

I was digging through my wee treasure trove of old negatives and slides, and I realised that I have a lot of great railway stuff hiding away and I really should pull finger and get them digitised before they go rotten...
Whats more perplexing is that I dont seem to have anywhere near the same number of prints as I do negative frames and thus wonder what I have ever done with all the other photos over the years? Hmmmmm. 

Needless to say I would love to get some of them online, especially the older stuff, so, scratching around on Trade Me I found three options for purchasing a film and slide scanner.

First up is this el cheapo wunder scanner..

Having used a similar cheapo upright that belonged to my father, I was not that thrilled with the results, and concede that the one frame at a time scan is bothersome and time consuming hence I am a bit reluctant to buy one myself.

Next pick out of the bunch is this $350.00 Canon LiDE 700F Scanner USB 2.0 HS flatbed......

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=565352884

Which boasts:- 
High quality scanning at 4800x9600 dpi 
- 7 EZ buttons allowing you to quickly create a multiple-page PDF file optimized for your originals, as well as copy, scan or e-mail images quickly and easily 
- FARE Level 3, the optimal solution for film scanning 
- Automatic dust & scratch, fading, graininess and backlight correction technology 
- Film scanning: 6 frames of 35mm filmstrip (negative/positive) 
- One-plug-in startup - No power cord needed

Ahhh Canon, a name one can trust. Better resolution, no doubt better quality, powered via USB (take it anywhere!) and does 6 frames of a negative at once. Seems to be good value for money...

Last on the watchlist is this rolls royce luxo barge Canon (mmm cant go wrong there!) $500.00 monster - the mighty Canon CS9000F.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=565352885

Featuring....

- High-resolution scanning up to 9600x9600dpi and 48 bit input/output resolution. 
- FARE Level 3, the optimal solution for film scanning. 
- Automatic dust & scratch, fading, graininess and backlight correction technology. 
- Continuous scanning of up to 12 frames of 35mm filmstrip or 4 mounted slides. 
- 7 one touch buttons allowing you to quickly create a multiple-page PDF file optimized for your originals, as well as copy, scan or e-mail images quickly and easily. 
- Backlight-style Movable Light Source Film Scan Unit for high speed film scanning. 
- White LED scanning for high brightness scanning. 
- Ultra fast book scanning in 7 seconds. 
- USB 2.0 Hi-Speed interface for fast data transfer 
- Instant warm up allows operation virtually the moment the scanner is turned on. 

Specifications: 
Type: Flatbed (Film, Photo and document) 
Resolution: Optical resolution/9600 X 9600 dpi (film scanning) 
Maximum Size: Document - A4/Photo - LTR (216 x 297 mm) 
Scan Speed: Preview Speed/Approx. 3 sec. 
Colour 
12.1 msec/line (4800dpi) 
12.1 msec/line (2400dpi) 
6.1msec/line (1200dpi) 
1.5msec/line (600dpi) 
1.1msec/line (300dpi) 
Greyscale, B & W 
12.1 msec/line (4800dpi) 
12.1 msec/line (2400dpi) 
6.1msec/line (1200dpi) 
1.5msec/line (600dpi) 
1.1msec/line (300dpi) 
Film 
0.8-36.3msec/line (Colour, Greyscale, B&W) 
Interface USB 2.0 Hi-Speed 
Dimensions 270 x 480 x 111mm

Hubba hubba, this thing does it all - 12 frames of negatives or 4 slides, makes coffee and poaches eggs too!! It has a massive resolution and would be able to do justice to old photos too. 

The ultimate plan is for said scanner to shared out around the tribe once I have finished with it so the extend family can do all their bits and pieces too, so build quality and robustness is a key factor here.

With WOMAD only 2 weeks away, I might be tempted into splashing out for the CS9000 sooner than one thinks.

I have heard that the Epsom scanners are held in high regard too, but sorry, not this kid! I have owned a couple of Epsom printers and a scanner in the past and they were the worst, most unreliable bit of kit I have ever owned, and have vowed never to return for more.

Being a one-eyed Canon owner, I can really only see one true path here - what say you??

AH

(CAUTION! This post has more wedge than an wood chopping competition at the A+P show)

Been a busy ol week for sure! 
Every day this week I ran 545 down to Wanganui, came back on 528 to Whareroa, then went straight back out again on 547 coming back with 544.
The weather has been superb all week and its been a pleasure to get out in the countryside for some daylight running, even more so that out of the 20 trains I personally  drove this week I did not have any problems on any of them, and they have all been good sizes which makes you feel like your achieving something.

Its also been a bit of an exercise in documenting the current rail scene, as I am quite sure this time next year things will be different once the DL's are in service in the region. 
I also found it interesting that I had a DXB on 528 every day this week - perhaps as the result of an adjustment to the circuits that locos end up in? 

Naturally, as always, there are photos to share....

I am slowly putting together a post in homage of The Peoples DC - 4444, which has been helped along by some fabulous photos from a few very generous photographers. When I get off my chuff and dig through my boxes of photos to find my photos of 4444 I will be able to finish the post....

Also determined to get some non Taranaki photos up too.... perhaps some of my early Auckland efforts...

Hope you have a good Sunday...

AH

Some random Christchurch and MNL snaps for your cold Wednseday - circa 2006.

AH