Hands-On Tech 223 Transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.
0:00:00 - Mikah Sargent
Coming up on Hands-On Tech, let's take a look at how we can keep around really good hardware even if modern software doesn't seem to support it. Stay tuned.
Hello and welcome to Hands-On Tech. This is the show where I, Mikah Sargent, take your tech questions and do my best to answer them. This, of course, is the way that you get your toughest tech questions answered, and you out there who are listening, can email us hot@twit.tv if you have questions of your own. Now the question that comes in for this week's episode comes in from someone named JP, and JP writes in with the following:
I work for a dear friend who passed a couple of years back, and JP says I'm still helping the family A well-known action sport photographer who shot images from 1960 till about 2020-ish, so obviously we were working prior to digital photography, so a majority of his images are in physical slides.
I've been helping him scan and print some of his archives. I've run into a computer software slash scanner issue. We've been working with the Hasselblad FT-646 and the software. The newer Apple software will not open a FFF file, which is what it produces. The computer I'm running it on is on his legacy software of Mojave 10.14.6 to be able to keep opening the files. I'm worried about the longevity of the computer and I would love to be able to keep opening the files. I'm worried about the longevity of the computer and I would love to be able to upgrade it or buy a new one. Do you know of a workaround for a software upgrade, since Hasselblad has stopped doing it, or am I stuck keeping the computer in the past, or is there another way to scan negatives from 4.5 down to 35 millimeters that compares to the Hasselblad? Still would like to be able to keep it.
So let's start by talking about what's going on here. The fundamental issue that you're experiencing here is the shift in macOS away from 32-bit applications to 64-bit applications. 64-bit applications, and whereas some out there tried to figure out ways to support both, macOS is an exclusively 64-bit operating system at this time and unfortunately, that older software that opened those .fff files no longer works because it is still 32-bit and Hasselblad has moved on to new software that is 64-bit. macOS Mojave 10.14 was the last version of macOS to support older 32-bit applications. Catalina 10.15, and all subsequent versions only run 64-bit applications. FlexColor was the software at the time that did run and control that FlexTite scanner that you had, and so that's why it doesn't work on a modern Mac. And you know, moving on to this new Focus P-H-O-C-U-S software hasn't updated it. So let's talk about what we can do here.
This isn't an uncommon issue for photographers, and it's something that in my research I saw is the option to keep the scanner around and keep the hardware around to just be a scanning station, because that Hasselblad scanner is a phenomenal scanner that is legendary for its ability to process these images right, and so it's a great piece of hardware that, while it's still working, you shouldn't get rid of. So you can do something called dedicating, which is where you take your PC, or in this case, the Mac, and you say this is just going to be the machine and the station that I use for being the scanner of these images or the processor of the scanning right. So don't upgrade the OS on this Mac and then, just to keep it safe and secure and to kind of be mindful of the possibility of security breaches and that kind of thing, don't connect it to the Internet, keep it disconnected. Just have it connected to that scanner and use the FlexColor software on that computer. But you talked about longevity. You talked about concerns about this machine. But you talked about longevity, you talked about concerns about this machine.
So what you're going to want to do is create a complete bootable clone able to use that in its place by having this SSD, this external storage that has it on there, or, if it's just the drive that dies within the Mac, replacing that drive with a new one and then being able to run it from that. There are two applications that many a Mac user use for something like this Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper will be able to help you out in this situation, so creating essentially clones of the system, and give you not just the rest of the system but also that software that you have. So do that as soon as you possibly, even if you don't decide to dedicate this Mac just yet get Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper now and get an SSD and make a clone of this system. That's incredibly important because again you may run into a situation where you can't get that software even anymore, if you were to switch to a new system or this system were to die. And you try going to Hasselblad's website and turns out, you know, in the next couple of years they've decided to remove the download for it and you can't get access to it anymore. So you want to keep the software, you want to keep this hardware. That's the way to do it. But I've got great news, very exciting, I told you.
I told you that a lot of photographers run into issues like this and the good news is there's a great third-party scanner software that has a free trial so you can check it out and see if it works in your situation, which, from my reading, it does work in your situation, and that software is called ViewScan V-U-E-S-C-A-N ViewScan by Hamrick Software. And what ViewScan does is it does exactly what you're dealing with. What you're dealing with, Basically, lots of people have older scanners that are incredible scanners and you'll want to keep that software or that firmware around, those drivers around, and use it on a modern machine. Viewscan is a 64-bit piece of software that is regularly updated, including for the latest versions of macOS, for the latest versions of Windows, and its whole job is to interface with those scanners and give you access to photos that you get from those, or images I should say that you get from those scanners. Now, if you want to do this again, as I mentioned, it does have a free trial so get ViewScan, install it on a modern machine, connect your scanner to it I think for this scanner in particular it's Firewire, so you'll use Firewire to Thunderbolt and kind of an adapter chain to make that situation work out and then try it from the new computer If that works well, now you've got your modern solution for being able to access the scanner and you don't have to worry about using this older machine. If it doesn't do what you're expecting. Then we go back to that option, one of creating a scanning station.
Now, that said, I did want to mention one thing. There's one bit of information that I looked into as I was kind of doing the research for this, and I couldn't find anywhere where Focus, the modern application H-O-C-U-S, wasn't able to open the FFF files. So I would just double check that, because there's a potential to do kind of a hybrid system where the older device is interfacing with the scanner and getting those photos in FFF file and then perhaps you have a bunch of .fff files stored elsewhere that you want to convert and then on your more modern Mac, with the new Focus software, being able to open them and convert them as you need to to a different file format. That might still be possible. So just double check that you did indeed try to open the photo file and that it wasn't you trying to interface with that software, or rather with that hardware, with the scanner itself. Again, that's not going to work. That is correct on its own. You would need something like the view scan that we talked about. But being able to open the .fff files should be possible. With focus it's also possible. I don't have a .fff file to experiment with that. Some of the modern photo management programs are also able to open it, like Lightroom. However, I didn't offer that as a main solution because I don't know for certain that that is the case and I don't want to lead you down that path of hope only to find out that it is not indeed the case. So I think your best options again here, jp, are to commit to creating a scanner station or making use of ViewScan by Hamrick Software. As always, I remind you, I implore you reach out to let me know if one of these solutions solved your problem or if none of them did, and we can continue to try to pick away at the problem. That's the fun thing about hands-on tech is that we've got a great audience of listeners who are always offering solutions as well. So if one of the solutions we have did not work for you, well, we just may be able to find something that does.
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So, for example, we have Mikah's Crafting Corner, where I and many people gather together and work on some different crafts that we do. We've got coffee time, we've got Chris Marquardt doing his camera thing, so much more. All of that comes as part of your Club Twit package and that is I think we're coming up on like two full weeks of programming that you gain access to the moment you join Club Twit, which is awesome, and then, last but not least, you get access to the Club Twit Discord. That's a fun place to go to chat with your fellow Club Twit members and also those of us here at Twit. If that sounds awesome to you as much as it does to me, you know, get to hang out with us. Well, be sure to join the club twit.tv/clubtwit. We'd love to see you, love to have you, and can't wait to celebrate with you. Thanks so much. Now back to the show.
Thank you so much for writing in to ask your question. Those of you out there listening who would like to have your question thoroughly answered H-O-T@twit.tv is how you get in touch with me and I look forward to it. I want to say I see some of you end up emailing info I-N-F-O@twit.tv. I don't get. Oh, I just smacked my microphone, I don't get those emails, so I only see some of them whenever they're sent to me. Don't send them there. hot@twit.tv, that's where you send them, so send those questions there. Thank you All right. That brings us to the end of this episode of Hands-On Tech. Thank you so much for tuning in this week. I'll be back again next week with another episode. Another question answered. Bye-bye!
0:14:34 - Leo Laporte
No matter how much spare time you have, twit.tv has the perfect tech news format for your schedule. Stay up to date with everything happening in tech and get tech news your way with twit.tv. Start your week with this Week in Tech for an in-depth, comprehensive dive into the top stories every week and for a midweek boost, Tech News Weekly brings you concise, quick updates with the journalists breaking the news. Whether you need just the nuts and bolts or want the full analysis, stay informed with twit.tv's perfect pairing of tech news programs.
