I just bought the Pakon f135!

[jnclde]

I'm speechless by the colors that I'm able to pull out from my Vision3 500T negatives.

 

[bence8810]

Nice colors indeed!
Enjoy the Pakon, I would have given up scanning a long time ago if it wasn't for the Pakon.

 

[yanchep_mike]

One of the Best in my opinion.

 

[kiemchacsu]

Could you tell us where did you buy it?

 

[ReeRay]

Very impressive

 

[BLKRCAT]

Welcome to real scanner territory where they scan real colors.

There's something about dedicated film scanners that you don't get from flatbed.

 

[doolittle]

I think I missed the boat on the Pakons. They used to be low priced, but now any I see for sale are commanding premium prices.

 

[taemo]

love my pakon too for scanning B&W and color C-41 35mm, very quick and clean, I only use the M240 w/ macro lens if I want to print larger than 8x10.

they were going for $200 couple of years ago, how much are they going for now, $400+?

 

[jnclde]

Could you tell us where did you buy it?

I believe the only place available to purchase the scanner would be on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nexlab-F-13...627205?hash=item5d5bc57ac5:g:c1QAAOSwuMFUlErs


I actually purchased the Nexlab f135 (nonplus model) its a bit slower and doesn't scan in 16 base natively, but the price for the plus model isn't worth the extra money to me when you can use third party software to extract 16 base if you please. In my opinion it doesn't seem I would have to use 16 base unless I'm printing. And this also kills hours of scanning/processing time compared to my Epson V600.


These are 8 base by the way.

 

[f16sunshine]

I believe the only place available to purchase the scanner would be on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nexlab-F-13...627205?hash=item5d5bc57ac5:g:c1QAAOSwuMFUlErs


I actually purchased the Nexlab f135 (nonplus model) it doesn't scan in 16 base natively, you can use third party software to extract 16 base if you please.


These are 8 base by the way.

Congrats on the Pakon. Can you explain which third party software, where to get it, and the workflow?
Thanks!

 

[jnclde]

Congrats on the Pakon. Can you explain which third party software, where to get it, and the workflow?
Thanks!

It's called tlxclient. On Facebook there's a Pakon Group who composed a zip file with everything you need to configure the scanner and are very friendly to answer questions. On youtube there's a two part video tutorial showing you how to set it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QPocdqxBI4


and regarding workflow:
develop
scan whole roll (10min)
process accordingly with program of preference

here's a video demonstration of workflow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tzXKij8xF0

 

[f16sunshine]

Thanks

Love the pacman !

 

[f16sunshine]

Thanks

Love the pacman !
Was thinking of getting a back up non plus for the enevitable day to come.
I use a f135+ to pre-view b&w before scanning higher res or wet printing.
Not doing much color these days. But these look really great!

 

[Lauffray]

Don't you need windows xp for this thing ?

 

[aadi]

Don't you need windows xp for this thing ?

Yup.

You can also run it via Virtual Machine if you use Mac.

 

[Lauffray]

You can also run it via Virtual Machine if you use Mac.

Sounds like a hassle :-/
How do you get the scans off the VM ?

 

[f16sunshine]

I keep an xp laptop dedicated to the Pacman.
Files go to a thumby and then get loaded to my Mac hd.
It's not much different than downloading an sd card from a camera.
My fancypants 2008 Dell laptop cost me $50 from one of our fine forum members.
It stays offline to avoid possible ghosts finding their way into the machine.

 

[aadi]

Sounds like a hassle :-/
How do you get the scans off the VM ?

Just drop it in a shared folder 🙂

 

[bence8810]

Sounds like a hassle :-/
How do you get the scans off the VM ?

I run it on my iMac with Parallels and it's absolutely hassle-free (apart from the initial setup)

1. I boot up the virtual machine (20 seconds)
2. Start PSI - Pakon's native scanner app - and scan a roll or more (3 mins per roll)
3. CUT and PASTE the files pakon created from the local folder to the shared folder (5sec per roll in JPG and 1min per roll if TIFF)
4. Shut down virtual machine (5sec)
5. Enjoy images on the mac

You can't possible regret having a Pakon other than the current prices (~$600US) for the + version and the fact there is no help if it goes belly up. This is the reason I now have two - hope it'll see me through a good 10 years worth of scanning.

By the way I also only use it to preview images quickly and then wet-print whatever I like and scan the print on a flatbed for archival purposes.

Ben

 

[Tijmendal]

I just save straight to a shared folder that's both accessible to the virtual machine (VMWare in my case) and my OS X.