A Brief History of Crosfield & Fujifilm Drum Scanners
A little information on the world's finest drum scanners.The Magnascan 530 & 540 range were launched way back in 1981. They were virtually completely digital. They were modular with separate Analyse and Expose scanner units. The Analyse scanner used a xenon lamp which had a colour temperature of approximately 6200K (similar to "daylight"). The separate expose scanner used a laser in conjunction with a modulator and "contact screens" to expose the final positive or negative film. They were largely replaced by the 640 range launched a year later. These used a laser to directly expose the output film using "EDG" (Electronic Dot Generation) technology, later known as "MagnaDot". These eventually became the 635, 645 and later the 636, 646, etc. ("6X6").
In the early 90's various attempts were made to link Crosfield scanners to DTP systems. The best of these was the Magnalink 600, which linked the Analyse scanner only to a Mac computer. Earlier versions of Magnalink had used a Sun Sparc computer, and were often combined with "MagnaRip" to output film from Postscript pages.
These scanners were developed into the "Celsis" (Crosfield Electronics Ltd. Scanning Input System) range in 1994. The 5250 and 6250 models could not only input images into a Mac, but could be largely driven by the Mac. These scanners use sophisticated proprietary software (not a Photoshop plugin). At the same time an upgrade (Magnascans were always very "upgradeable") was launched for older models. This did not include the automated aperture turret and automatic or "memory" focus and enhanced resolutions. It was however extremely worthwhile. It allowed batch scanning, while simultaneously editing "prescan" images. All colour edits could be done on the Mac, and unlimited Setup files (CVs) could be saved. 
A few years later the CASC upgrade to the Celsis 5250 & 6250 was launched. This gave automatic (rather than "memory") focus. It removed many of the scanner's dedicated circuit boards, replacing them with software on the Mac. Early models had a dedicated "CRAB" colour processing board installed in the Mac, which was removed when Macs became faster (which in those days meant about 130mhz!).
Crosfield also had an OEM arrangement with Howtek to sell their small desktop drum scanners, which were badged as "Celsis 240". Although quite good in RGB mode, they used no Crosfield software or technology. The CMYK software was of no comparison to the genuine Celsis software. Why Crosfield did not develop it's own small drum scanner is a complete mystery! The general consensus is that the company had lost it's way by then, mainly due to incessant management changes.
A Brief History of Crosfield Electronics Ltd.John Crosfield formed Crosfield Electronics in 1947 to design and manufacture press control equipment. The first colour scanner, the Scanatron, which used CRT technology, was introduced in 1958. This took up nearly a whole room! The first of many Magnascan drum scanners, the 450, was launched in 1969.
Crosfield introduced the world's first digital scanner in the mid-70's. This was soon followed by Electronic Page Composition Systems capable of combining several images together. These later handled image retouching. Very basic stuff by today's standards but revolutionary in the late seventies and early eighties. Crosfield Electronics Ltd. became part of the large and very long-established De La Rue plc group in 1974. For many years the company was located in Holloway Road, North London. Manufacturing was relocated to Peterborough in the mid-70s. The Head Office and Research & Development department moved to Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in 1984, while the Training Dept. moved to nearby Watford.
In 1997 what remained of Crosfield became FFEI (FujiFilm Electronic Imaging), having for the previous few years been jointly owned by Dupont and Fujifilm. Manufacture of drum scanners ceased around 2003. In the last few years only a handful were built. In the heydays of the 1980s as many as 100 per month could be built in the Peterborough factory. About 85-90% were exported. Indeed the company won so many "Queen's Awards for Export", etc. that the reception area couldn't display them all! The Head Office in Hemel was scaled back to the former R&D building, with the former four floor office block being let to other businesses, and becoming "Catherines House". Manufacturing of platesetters, etc. remained in Peterborough, which was very fortunate, as later events were to prove.
On December 11, 2005 disaster struck in Hemel Hempstead. The adjacent massive Buncefield Oil Depot exploded. This was the largest explosion in Europe in peace-time! The very large Industrial Estate was almost obliterated. More than 40 premises were destroyed or seriously damaged. Fortunately it occured at 6 o'clock on a Sunday morning, so there were no fatalities and few injuries. The former Crosfield building was badly damaged, with the FFEI Head Office being completely destroyed. Apparently this was one of the nearest buildings to the oil tanks. Staff were relocated to Peterborough and to other temporary premises. Later in 2006 FFEI Ltd. had a management buyout from Fujifilm. Some of the best information and photos of the Buncefield disaster.
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