Batch scanner in 2025 - PrimeFilm 3600pro

Hi guys

I used to shoot a fair bit of film but I always disliked scanning. It was always there, looming in the distance; an unpleasant final stage of the journey after the pleasure of preparing, shooting and developing (made so much better with a Rondinax tank!)

In a renewed effort to shoot film again, I decided to try and find a scanner that'll do a whole roll of film, no cutting, no negative holders, no babysitting the scanner frame by frame. As long as the scanner does it all automatically, actual image quality is less of a priority. 'Good enough' is good enough.

My research pointed me towards a Pacific Image Primefilm 3600pro - there were a few on eBay at various prices. Bearing in mind I planned on using Vuescan and using it for B+W only, I put in a cheeky offer on one which was sold as 'working' but without the cables and PSU, which I had anyway (12v centre positive)

Well I'm pleased to report that on my desktop iMac (2012 running 10.15.7) it works perfectly, albeit with an older version of Vuescan (the current version crashes).

I'm really pleased - I'll post some scans here, but having compared some initial tests to the lab scans I received from my last roll, I'm confident I can do better - even the quick scans I tried were better than the overly contrasty scans I got back from a mail order service I used.

I wanted to post about it because I took a gamble buying it, and wasn't sure if it would work. I couldn't find many people talking about it for my use case and soft/hardware. So if it helps anyone, there it is.

It makes such a difference being able to shove the film in and leave it, then come back to a nice bunch of .Tiff files 🙂

Cheers
ped

Still really enjoying this scanner. It does a 24 exp roll in 1.5hrs but it does it all by itself, so it's super easy.

Looks good. 🙂

I have a Nikon CoolScan 5 ED. It doesn't have the ability to do longer than 6 frame strips in 35mm (it can do whole roll in APS format with the right negative carrier), but otherwise can scan 6 frames reasonably quickly with the 35mm autoload strip carrier. However, I've taken to using a copy camera scanning approach in recent years... takes longer to set up, but is far faster and nets super high resolution raw files (depending on what camera you use, of course) once the setup is configured.

There are many ways to the goal in this game. 😉

G

ped said:

does a 24 exp roll in 1.5hrs

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At what resolution ?

Vuescan is good software. Looks like Pacific Image has some current models that can do full rolls too. The king for quick scanning of rolls has to be the Kodak/Pakon. That would do a full roll in about 3 minutes. But those go for *insane* money now compared to when they were being flipped at $300 each. I used to have one but sold it after I started using my camera to scan.

I used to own a Primefilm scanner (can't remember the model but it wasn't the one you have), but just could not get what I wanted out of it. So, I ended up getting a Nikon Coolscan LS5000. I eventually modified it to scan an entire roll instead of buying an SA-30 film roll adapter, based on a hack published by an RFF member (J. Robert Lennon).

Godfrey said:

However, I've taken to using a copy camera scanning approach in recent years... takes longer to set up, but is far faster and nets super high resolution raw files (depending on what camera you use, of course) once the setup is configured.

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I did the copy stand thing but then ended up designing what is essentially a hood/stand that holds my lens/camera at the proper distance away from the negative carrier for scanning. I have versions of this for 35mm and 120. Takes a minute to setup and because it blocks all external light I don't have to scan in the dark anymore.

shawn said:

I did the copy stand thing but then ended up designing what is essentially a hood/stand that holds my lens/camera at the proper distance away from the negative carrier for scanning. I have versions of this for 35mm and 120. Takes a minute to setup and because it blocks all external light I don't have to scan in the dark anymore.

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That's convenient! I've thought of doing similarly, but I have too many different formats that I like to work with (35mm film strip and mounted slide, 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, Polaroid SX-70 type, InstaxSQ, Instax Wide, Minox 8x11mm, etc etc etc)... so I stick with the copystand and dim the lights in my workroom when I'm scanning. It doesn't have to be dark, just have to be careful that there's nothing reflecting on the film in the carrier or the print on the scanning table.

The set up time isn't huge ... call it three minutes per format change, since I have a chart of what lenses/format/elevation/etc and can just set the spec and then finish up the leveling and focus setting carefully. 🙂

G

You can't see it in the picture but the cone is actually sitting over top of a negative carrier. Need to make one for 35mm slides at some point. For 1/2 frame 35mm there is an extension that is removed from the cone to get the lens closer and I use an additional close focus filter on the lens. Haven't tried Minox 8x11 on that yet though as I would need a carrier for that.

For all 120 formats (I shoot everything from 6x4.5 up to 6x24) I use the same setup and have a cone extension that lets me choose to use the sensor width for the height of the negative or the sensor height to match the negative height. I usually just use height/height and then for anything wider than what I can capture in one shot I take multiple shots and pano merge them in Lightroom. Files are *huge* and very detailed. This was scanned with multiple shots from my Kraken 6x24.



At full size you can read the parking signs across the water and see people lounging in chairs by the bridge.

p.giannakis said:

At what resolution ?

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Full resolution, whatever that is. Either way, the files are bigger than those from my R-D1, which are big enough already. Really happy with it!

Has anyone tried the new dust removal tool in Lightroom on negatives? It works great for sensor dust.

p.giannakis said:

At what resolution ?

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It may be faster over firewire but I haven't tried that - to be honest though I don't mind how long it takes, as long as I don't have to watch it!

ped said:

It may be faster over firewire but I haven't tried that - to be honest though I don't mind how long it takes, as long as I don't have to watch it!

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My canonscan does similar time for 2.800 but I doubt it gives as clean scans as the Primefilm.

Off topic a bit, but I’m curious about the interest in scanning full rolls.
I’ve always made digital contact sheets, which work fine for identifying the few keepers I get per roll.

JohnWolf said:

Off topic a bit, but I’m curious about the interest in scanning full rolls.
I’ve always made digital contact sheets, which work fine for identifying the few keepers I get per roll.

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Because mine are all keeers! (Winking smiley face)

I mostly like not having to use trays for the film. Scanning a roll makes it easier to see which are keepers. Sometimes there are happy accidents.

It’s just far less time consuming and suits my workflow I guess. If I dev a roll and only scan in a single frame using my Minolta Dimage that’s more work than just letting the Primefilm chomp down on a roll.