More OpticFilm 120 and SilverFast 8 Problems

[dougwillobee]

This is crazy. I've put 40 hours into getting this combination to work since the scanner arrived last week. Silverfast 8 may have the worse user experience I've ever encountered and I'm in the software development business. It is very unforgiving. After many, many experiments I finally had a workflow that was delivering good results. The framing of 6x7 filmstrips is way off, but at least I was able to get decent scans, all be it very slowly, by physically re-aligning each frame. A hopeful sign.

Then I made the mistake of downloading the most recent release of SilverFast -- 8.0.1r32. It completely hosed my environment (I'm running 10.8.5 on a MacBook Pro Retina.) I can't even do a preview or a "refresh thumbnails" in the overview section. The software hangs with the status displaying "Initializing Scanner." So, now I'm back to square one...:bang:

If there's is anyone from SilverFast or Plustek monitoring this list, please get back to me. I've submitted my first problem report on Sunday and heard nothing back. I just re-submitted a problem reports to both SilverFast and Plustek...I hope they get back to me. If I don't hear back, I'll have no choice but send the scanner back. That would be a shame, as there's no good option other than a discontinued Nikon. The scanner seems to work well enough, when it works.

In the meantime, I'd advise against installing SilverFast 8.0.1r32...

Best,

Doug

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Have you tried deleting the preferences files for the Silverfast software, then re-opening silverfast? That sometimes cures weird software issues on a Mac. You might also try completely uninstalling it, then repairing permissions (in disk utility), and then reinstalling then repairing permissions again.

 

[dougwillobee]

Good suggestion. I'll try them tomorrow...I've invested too much time in this for one evening. :bang:

 

[hanskerensky]

How about posting your problem in the Silverfast forum :
http://forum.silverfast.com/installation-problems-f29.html

Herr Ketelhohn usually gives an answer in a couple of days.

 

[dougwillobee]

I'm happy to report that, with the help of the kind folks at Plustek (Mark and Michael) I've pretty much resolved my problems the SilverFast 8 and the OpticFilm 120 scanner. As it turned out, the problems were related to SilverFast, not the OpticFilm 120 directly. I'm really impressed with the quality of scans the OpticFilm is capable of producing.

The issue I was experiencing with scans hanging at the "Initializing Scanner" phase turned out to be related to the software upgrade process. Herr Ketelhohn at LSI recommended that I delete the "Plustek****.framwork" folders from the directory /Library/Frameworks/ and reinstall the most recent version of SilverFast (8.0.1r32). That solved the hangs.

I recommend that you follow the workflow described in Plustek's (http://plustekusa.blogspot.com/2013/04/quickstart-guide-to-batch-scanning-with.html) religiously. Framing is still problematic, especially with 6x7 frames. The Overview Dialog that pops after an Overview scan (step 7) will show the 2nd and third fames framed incorrectly (see attached). Select these frames anyway. When you preview the frames, by clicking "Prescan" or double-clicking them in the Job Manager window, they'll be framed correctly. Clearly a bug, and confusing...

I'm very pleased with the results I'm getting with the OpticFilm 120. Focus seems to be spot on. It's really fast at 2650 pip with no IR cleaning (B&W 6x7). Batch scanning 12 35mm color negatives at 5300 ppi with IR takes a while, but once I set the job up it's done automatically. I can do other things while the scanner does its thing. I'm even coming to an understanding with Silverfast. I'm still looking forward to the day when I can use VueScan, but until then I have a workable setup.

Hope this helps,

Doug

 

[Particular]

I'm still looking forward to the day when I can use VueScan, but until then I have a workable setup.

Doug

This day may be soon. I just had a chat with Mark Druziak at Photoplus expo in NYC. He said he expects one of the next couple of updates of vuescan to add support for the Plustek.

 

[kanzlr]

This day may be soon. I just had a chat with Mark Druziak at Photoplus expo in NYC. He said he expects one of the next couple of updates of vuescan to add support for the Plustek.

WUUUUUUUHHHUUUUUW!!!! 😀

 

[wintoid]

Good news. Such a shame they didn't do this sooner. I've returned my Plustek 120 and bought a Nikon. Would have preferred to be supporting Plustek

 

[pdh]

Glad you got it resolved, but it doesn't surprise me that it has taken a long time and much effort on your part.

[I've been having a problem with a 7600i (pretty much the "workhorse" Plustek scanner, surely?) for nearly a year, and which is still unresolved despite Plustek swapping it out once already; not to mention that I can no longer use SF8 since I got the swapped scanner. It's been dragging on for months and months, and while Plustek and Lasersoft seem very "nice", they simply can't seem to get their fingers out of their back passages with any celerity]