Using the Plustek 120 tips, tricks, how-to's

[beezil]

doesn't matter where i position the neg in the holders and how i adjust frames.

this is what i get.

that is, after a bunch of hard crashes....

furthermore, the scans are not focused.

the scanner crashes at pre scan and before a scan during "intitializing scanner"

and if it doesn't crash, it sits and spins, and i either have to "quit silver fast" or do a force quit

 

[beezil]

when the film holder is driven into the scanner, is there a sensor to reference an origin?

what is seems like to me, is the scanner is expecting the film holder to be in a certain position when it is not.

best way to describe it.

nothing more i can do.

I will contact plustek customer support in the morning

 

[kanzlr]

A couple tips.

Batch scanning isn't completely implemented yet. LaserSoft Imaging is working on it. In the mean time, you can use the ADF Scan mode. See the last few steps in this posting: http://plustekusa.blogspot.com/2013/01/plustek-opticfilm-120-quick-start-your.html It isn't a perfect solution but it is a temporary workaround.

thanks, at least something 🙂

 

[hanskerensky]

A couple tips.

Regarding the frame alignment issues. If you are on a PC make sure you download the latest drivers from the Plustek website. Mac or PC users: restart SilverFast, go into the Service Dialog and select Reset Software. That should take care of the alignement issues. There will be a new driver release for Mac in the next week or so. Watch our Facebook page, Twitter or the Download page on Plustek.com

A note about downloading and installing a new Plustek drive release. After downloading and unzipping start it by double clicking "install.exe".
The first time you do this the programm will UN-install the old driver and you have to restart the PC (i'm working on W7 32).
Next start install.exe again and now the new driver is installed. Again you have to restart the PC.

I also did the Reset Software in the Silverfast service menu which is on the splash-screen.


No doubt that Silverfast has issues concerning the way it finds frames to scan. When i didn't select a specific film size (guess the default Transpary Size setting is 35mm) and used the Workflow Pilot, Silverfast showed me a preview of the whole carrier area. That by itself is not an issue as you could reposition the red frame and zoom in. Worse was the fact that the images (3 images 6x6 in my case) were not centered in the preview window but to the right border and even missing part of the image on the right side. Silverfast should correct this issue.

I was succesful in finding and scanning my 6x6 images by not using the Workflow Pilot. First choose the right Transpary size, then the right Filmmaterial (in my case Negative). Next let the scanner search the images by using the "Overview" button. In my case this button was hidden and has to be reached by clicking on the arrow on the bottom of the Vertical Tools bar.
After the software has found the frames just select the one you want to scan and clcik Ok. Now the scanner will transport that frame to the scan area and give you a preview of that.

Earlier yesterday evening had a problem whereby Silverfast crashed everytime i hit the Scan button. Also after re-powering the scanner and restarting Silverfast. This problem could only be solved by a "Reset Software" in the service menu (Splashscreen).

Guess that both Plustek and Silverfast have still some work to do in order to produce a dependable setup.

 

[gmikol]

Reviving this thread...

Anybody seeing bad chromatic aberrations, especially on E-6 material? High contrast features, parallel to the long dimension of the negative holder seem to be the worst culprits.

I've seen it on synthetic tests, but I still need to go through and find some real examples in my collection to see how bad it is. If anyone else has some samples, I'd love to see them.

 

[beezil]

Gang,

I'm looking for advise on how to get the absolutely highest quality scans with the P120.

My main purpose for scanning my negatives is to make large exhibition-quality prints from my large format epson 7900.

a full neg 6x7 could theoretically be printed out to 24x28, or in some cases larger.


That said, what would be my best silverfast8 scanning selections?

starting with B&W, should I be scanning at

16 -> 8 bit

16 Bit

16 Bit HDR

or

32 Bt HDRi ???

my assumption is 32 Bit HDRi?

I am editing in Lightroom 4 and using it's print engine within.

so far, I prefer to make all dust/grain/scratch repairs in LR4. I am not using ANY of Silverfasts tools or gadgets.

your remarks appreciated in advance,

Beezil

 

[gmikol]

so far, I prefer to make all dust/grain/scratch repairs in LR4. I am not using ANY of Silverfasts tools or gadgets.

If that's the case, I'd recommend using 16-bit. The HDR option is a linear format that's intended for further editing in their HDR suite. It is functionally equivalent to VueScan's "raw scan". "HDRi" format is very similar to the HDR format, except it also includes the IR dust reduction channel. If you're not using iSRD, then you don't need that, either.

Are you using Negafix for color negatives, or are you trying to do the inversion in LR4?

--Greg

 

[beezil]

If that's the case, I'd recommend using 16-bit. The HDR option is a linear format that's intended for further editing in their HDR suite. It is functionally equivalent to VueScan's "raw scan". "HDRi" format is very similar to the HDR format, except it also includes the IR dust reduction channel. If you're not using iSRD, then you don't need that, either.

Are you using Negafix for color negatives, or are you trying to do the inversion in LR4?

--Greg

Got it, thanks!

I tried the SRDi last night, and it worked very well!

Are you able to comment on any benefits to scanning in 32bit for grey scale?


in answer to your question about color negs, of the over thousand rolls of film I've shot, almost all of them are either color chrome or B&W.

I *might* have say, three or four rolls worth of color neg, and I'm guessing those are probably not worthy of being scanned, so Neg fix probably won't get used.

 

[gmikol]

Are there any members here in the USA near Portland, OR? I'd love to compare notes and results with another owner in person...

--Greg

 

[hanskerensky]

Job Manager function walkthrough.

One thing about this scanner is that the provided documentation for the Silverfast scanning software is minimal. A quickstart guide is all there is. So when you want to know more about the functions in Silverfast you have to either watch their quick time tutorials or buy an e-book (not even from Lasersoft Imaging themselves !) in the Silverfast store.
Both these options provide you only with information that is produced in a general way, not dedicated to the Opticfilm 120, and hence not always acurate.

Such a problem i had when trying to get the Job Manager function working. After playing with the software for some hours i finaly got it working.

To make it easier for other new Opticfilm 120 users i published a kind of walkthrough for the Job Manager function in an image set on Flickr.

You can find this set here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29504544@N08/sets/72157633065981875/

Just click on the upper left image and follow the set.

Have fun and keep on scanning 🙂

 

[stormy_weather]

One small question, because I have just realised that the 120 may not fit where I wanted to put it:

How far (approximately) does the film holder extend out of the rear of the scanner when it is fully moved in?

Thanks!

Sven

 

[beezil]

I've given mine all of 6"

there is a rear door of the scanner that must be down when hooked up.

in fact, it can't be hooked up (power and usb cords) UNLESS the door is in the down position.

that will ensure that the holder doesn't "crash" during a scan

I am generous with the 6".

it can probably sit in less space than that, but that's what I've allotted.

 

[stormhalvorsen]

I just got this today and haven't been able to scan anything successfully yet. Will try the reset thing tomorrow since it is late here and this thing makes too much noise for me to use it here now with these paper thin walls.

I too experienced completely misaligned previews, constant crashes etc etc. I just want to confirm with you that there is no driver needed on OSX 10.8, right? Because there isn't any Mac drivers for any version on the web page and I don't have a DVD drive.

Also someone said there will be a fix within two weeks or so but that post was from February. What's the curre t status? Will this be usable or do I need to take it back?

 

[kanzlr]

you do not need a driver on OS X, no.
Make sure you use the latest Silverfast r22 from Silverfasts website, it works much better.
If you have the frame misalign issue, unplug the scanner, start Silverfast and tell it to delete all settings from the service menu, this worked for me.

 

[stormhalvorsen]

Yes, r22 is what I've been using all along. I got the tradein version for people who don't have a DVD drive so maybe there is a slight difference and all of the bug fixes didn't make it into that version. Just speculating.

Anyway I reset all Silverfast settings, even though it was a fresh install. It still crashed when hitting the scan button afterwards, but after that I have now scanned five times successfully. So there is hope.

The scans look fairly good. Should be good enough for publication but not exhibition enlargements. Which is what I expected when I bought it.

Will try a color negative next. Thanks for helping out! 🙂

 

[kanzlr]

I found the scan quality to be pretty good, on par with the Coolscan 4000 it replaced for 35mm film, but I am sure good drum scans with wet mounting will be better for very detailed frames. Moreoften than not it is the film that limits resolution for me (or shooting technique).

I cannot wait for VueScan to get back to my regular workflow...

 

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Plustek in the meantime has issued new drivers which slightly improve the image positioning issue.
For Mac these are included in the latest SilverFast updates.
For Windows you can download them from the Plustek website.

However the Scanner itself is still not capable of fine adjusting the film holder position.
This causes the image misalignment some of you experience and makes it necessary to position the film very carefully when placing it in the holder.
Unfortunately this is a hardware issue only Plustek could fix.

 

[hanskerensky]

Just saw that there is a new Driver update :
http://downloads.plustek.com/downloads/english/driver/OpticFilm120-V5010_12L.zip

Alas no description of changes/improvements.

Did somebody already installed that ? Any comments ?

 

[fventura]

I just updated the driver, it took me 5 attempts, and 8 reboots....

well, at least with 645 the frame alignment problems continue... I just did a quick test. In order to scan frame number 4, I have to flip the negative in the negative holder, so now, frame 4 is frame one. Otherwise I may lose up to 1/5th of the fifth frame..... (Pentax 645, 16 frames per roll)


I will probably start cutting the negatives into 3, rather than 4....


A real bummer............

 

[hanskerensky]

Hmm... Not encouraging to hear Fabio !
I really don't understand why Plustek gives not a bit more of information about what they updated in the latest patch. A simple text file would have been enough !

btw Did you have to re-install Silverfast ?