Why drum scanning instead of CCD or flatbed scanning?
A. Quite simply, drum scanning is the best method of scanning. Drum scanners use a PMT (photo multiplier tube) instead of a CCD (charge coupled device). This technology gives drum scanners the ability to see much deeper into the shadows of an image and reproduce fine detail in these dark areas with much less digital noise. Drum scanners have much higher resolution than any CCD scanner available on the market. Drum scanners have the ability to set the aperture (or dot size) to match the film grain size. This lets the operator make selections between finer detail with more grain or smoother detail with less grain. The particular drum scanner I use also allows the operator to control the scanner’s density response. This allows the scanner to be set to match the exact density curve of the film being scanned and results in a much more accurate representation of what is on the film.
