Any news on the new Plustek 120 scanner?

shadowfox said:
No need to be sorry.

To those who want so much automation that all the want to do is push a button, I offer this opposing view:

Selecting which frame to scan is part of editing, it forces you to examine your negatives physically. Guess what, it's good for your growth as a photographer.
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Roll feeding unchains me from my desk, freeing up valuable time. It means I don't have to scan proofs, review, then scan all over again. I'd rather scan everything at the optimal resolution to begin with, then review and edit on screen as I please--how that would retard the development of my photographic acumen, I cannot fathom.

Keep in mind, some of us are busy with things other than photography and need all the time we can get to justify further pursuing it as a hobby.

Anyway, I suspect the relative rarity of roll feeding is due to the antiquated notion that film scanners are primarily for digitally archiving important, old negatives. For those of us continuing to shoot film on an ongoing basis, a faster, more streamlined workflow would be nothing but a boon. In 2012, we are the ones more likely to be buying film scanners, so it's a wonder to me the feature is not more widely available.
 
Scanning negs at that the volume would put a lot of wear on the stepper motors and transport system. A more rugged design would drive up the cost.

The ability to scan an entire roll of 135 has always involved the need for some sort of add-on feeder (see Nikon Coolscan). I am not aware of a consumer grade neg scanner that could scan an entire roll straight out of the box. As far as I know there has never been a 120 roll feeder for any of the major consumer scanners. It's just not a feature that the vast majority of shooters have needed... I have heard of some people picking up used bulk scanners from Fuji or Kodak, intended for minilab use.

Here's an idea for quickly examining negs. Place them against a light source and examine them with a small webcam or video camera, that has the feed set to invert...
 
I've asked to not cut the 35mm rolls when getting them developed. I've also dealt with more scratches on the rolls or even folded rolls that I've had to take days to flatten than I care to deal with again. I'm sure I'm not alone. The whole bulk roll thing sounds nice, but I'm not sure I'd ever get that much use out of it. Now being able to insert a strip of 4 or 6 frames into the scanner and it automatically advances to the next frame then spits it out when done, that's a huge time saver.
 
Nice, resolution of 10660dpi mentioned. My guess is that the aging inventories of the Coolscan 9000, frequently getting priced at absurd prices on EBay will plummet, good deal. Also looks like they will support 6x12, fantastic, as I was facing a dilemma on whether to hold onto my Horseman SW612, really looking forward to this scanner.



http://www.photographyblog.com/news/plustek_opticfilm_120/
 
Great news. I'm in for one of these. I'm happy with my Plustek 7600 and was waiting for someone to come out with a decent option for 120 format scans.
 
The launch is likely in Germany soon

The launch is likely in Germany soon

I have read this on a "Photography blog" site: I am really looking forward to this.

The scanner is going to be on display at CeBIT 2012, held in Hannover, Germany, from 6-10 March. Pricing, exact availability and full specifications - including resolution and dMax - have yet to be communicated.

Regards

Eugene
 
We're on March, 7th; CeBIT opened yesterday and Plustek announced their new 35mm scanners (model 8200), but no 120 model announcement. :-(
What's happening?
 
XFer said:
We're on March, 7th; CeBIT opened yesterday and Plustek announced their new 35mm scanners (model 8200), but no 120 model announcement. :-(
What's happening?
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I'm not at CeBIT. I believe that the scanner is on the floor. We will make an official product announcement when review units are available. That is our policy in the US. Other regions may publish their own press releases on a different schedule.
 
Yes, the new scanner is mentioned on the Cebit page of the German Plustek web site here. It says Silverfast Ai and and an IT8 target will be included. Special 8 layer lens to get best depth of field. Resolution up to 10.660 ppi. Automatic negative carrier/holder transport. I think it is very good news that it seems that there is decent software support right from the start. Like many here, I am very eager to see first reviews of this unit. :)
 
joeswe said:
Yes, the new scanner is mentioned on the Cebit page of the German Plustek web site here. It says Silverfast Ai and and an IT8 target will be included. Special 8 layer lens to get best depth of field. Resolution up to 10.660 ppi. Automatic negative carrier/holder transport. I think it is very good news that it seems that there is decent software support right from the start. Like many here, I am very eager to see first reviews of this unit. :)
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That's an 8 ELEMENT lens. I'm not sure where the layer thing is coming from. The other little tidbit I'll give up is that the film holders are patent pending!

Mark
 
I am SO getting this when it comes out in Germany. I hate my current Canon can't wait to see some real world use, heck might even make me go back to some kind of medium format if the results are really nice.

+1 future customer
 
Not possible. You can't have enough DOF for 10660 ppi (or even half that) without losing resolving power from diffraction.
Unless you have a *perfectly* flat film, which I don't believe to be possible despite the patented film holders.
 
The lack of batch-scanning capability is not that big a deal. The only real reason for batch-scanning is to make something you can look at to decide whether you want to focus your attention on it. In other words, proofing or work prints. It is not that hard to just put a roll of 135 on a light table and take a picture of it with a digital camera, just like making an 8x10 proof sheet. This is even better for MF because of the bigger negative. If that's not enough for you, you can possibly order lo-res scans from your film processor for about $3, or put it in a flatbed scanner and scan at 1000dpi.

With Epson V700s available for $300 these days, which can batch scan 24 frames of 135 and maybe more than that if you scan a whole roll as a single 8x10 file. It would probably make sense to have two scanners -- a quick and dirty one (not that the Epson is any slouch), and a really good one. Or, you can do as I do and just send the best frames out to be scanned on a Noritsu.
 
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