New Plustek 7600i-Ai Film Scanner Review

[Adanac]

+1 ("make one for 120 please")

And another +1 from me; not interested otherwise, definitely interested in a 35mm / 120mm capable scanner.

 

[mijosc]

+1 Especially if it does 35mm and 120. I currently have the 7600i, which I like, but it would be nice to do medium format as well.

 

[anerjee]

I have a 7600i and would definitely upgrade to a scanner that can do 35mm and 120 format film.

Some added speed in scanning higher res images would be nice. Currently it takes about 3-4 minutes to do a 2 pass + iSRD scan for a color negative at about 3600 dpi. Faster would be nice -- ideally under a minute!

An optional automatic feeding extension would be nice too, but not a deal breaker. Sometimes I find myself balking at shooting more film, since I have the weekend scanning drudgery in mind.

How much? With support and software, I could justify spending $1200-$1500 on it. Easier to justify than a new lens or camera body.

 

[ChrisLivsey]

I would appreciate a 120 format scanner so all these S/H 35mm's flood the used market 😀

 

[Aristophanes]

Lets play the game this way: You list what features you want and then say what you would pay for that scanner.

US$600

Manual feed is OK for durability.
Really needs to get away from driver embedded in SilverFast.
Ideally should have sprocket capability. Film is about oddball creativity now, not verisimilitude. Limit the scanner, limit the sales.

Thanks.

 

[mdruziak]

Thanks for the response. I agree on all your points!

Mark

 

[mdruziak]

The unit should be serviceable to some extent by the user or a US based repair shop. I would expect that the change of the LED board, should a lamp fail, might be user done in many cases.

FYI... Repair for US sold scanners is done in Cerritos CA. I think there are too many liabilities for us allow end user repair. I also know there are some alignment fixtures that are required.

The power suggestions are good ones. Many of our document scanner can run off of USB power so we do have a lot of experience in this area.

Mark

 

[mdruziak]

Hi Mark; I'm working from memory here: Firewire is 12V, USB2 is 5V; USB3 is both (meaning carried within the connector) 5v & 12V. Providing USB3 transfer speeds would put you in a "better than the rest" class by it self. Creating a port for a commonly used USB3 outboard HDD would tell your pro customers that you know their work-flow and the digital battleground.

I guess I should mention that USB3 is backward compatible to USB2. USB3 speeds are now 2-3 X or better (from my reading) than Firewire.

Your presence on here is of note! pkr

Citations:
http://www.usb3speed.net/

http://www.everythingusb.com/superspeed-usb.html

The big problem with USB2 is not the voltage, it is the current that is available. Some of our higher speed USB powered document scanners need two USB2 ports to provide the needed ~750ma to run the stepper motor and illumination system. One provides only power while the other provides power and data.

I'm not sure what the current spec is for USB3.

 

[IK13]

+1 for the 120
Until then, there's no reason for me to consider it.

 

[ChrisLivsey]

The current available is also an issue with laptops, notably Apple MacBooks, which have problems in providing sufficient for a tethered medium format digital back for example. A portable "package" may be a problem.

 

[Gregoryniss]

could anyone tell me what the brand name of the power cable/charger for the plustek 7600i is? I seem to have mixed up all of my cables and can't figure out which one it is supposed to be... worried that the back of the scanner might have gotten bumped and can't receive the proper cable anymore. Thanks!

 

[rxmd]

Let me restate my suggestion. It is that the scanner not depend on any power from a laptop, but rely on it's own outboard power supply (a 1 -2 amp wall wart) - and further, the scanner would have a port - supplying power and a data connection for an outboard HDD.

In other words, you're proposing that the scanner should run on a 12V power supply for compatibility, and have a built-in powered USB hub.

 

[IK13]

Does the plustek have auto/manual focus lens/head or it's fixed focus, like the flatbeds?
btw - the filmscanner.info review doesn't speak very favorably about it...

 

[mdruziak]

Does the plustek have auto/manual focus lens/head or it's fixed focus, like the flatbeds?
btw - the filmscanner.info review doesn't speak very favorably about it...

Mark from Plustek here. The OpticFilm scanners all have fixed focus. However, they use a CCD sensor which has some depth of field as compared to a scanner that uses a CIS sensor.

 

[lilneige]

I got a message back from my contact at LaserSoft that said they will support Lion when it is available.

ya, it is available now, but need additional fee to get it.

Suckers like me who upgraded to Lion and stuck with unusable SilverFast 6 Ai and Plustek 7600i, need to pay additional 150 euro for SilverFast 8 Ai.

switching to VueScan isn't an option currently according to VueScan site:

This scanner isn't supported on Mac OS X Lion, since Plustek uses a PowerPC plugin for this scanner and Rosetta isn't available with Lion.

 

[Harry Lime]

Any updates on the 120 scanner?

Anyone?

thx

 

[Bobfrance]

Any updates on the 120 scanner?

Anyone?

thx

+1


..........

 

[slaguod]

ya, it is available now, but need additional fee to get it.

Suckers like me who upgraded to Lion and stuck with unusable SilverFast 6 Ai and Plustek 7600i, need to pay additional 150 euro for SilverFast 8 Ai.

switching to VueScan isn't an option currently according to VueScan site: This scanner isn't supported on Mac OS X Lion, since Plustek uses a PowerPC plugin for this scanner and Rosetta isn't available with Lion.

I posted this on the other Plustek thread but maybe I should post it here too:

FYI for anyone who is interested:

The Silverfast version 8 demo installs the files you will need to get the Plustek film scanners running with the X64 version of Vuescan under OS 10.7 Lion.

The only Silverfast files you actually need will be installed in the Computer/Library/Frameworks folder. That's the main /Library folder not the user folder. In Lion you now get there via the the 'Go' menu item in the Finder.

In that directory the demo installs a folder for each of the Plustek scanners. So, for example, if you have a 7400 then you only need the folder called Plustek7400.framework. If you have the 7600i then you need the folder called Plustek7600.framework. Nothing else.

You can uninstall Silverfast provided you keep these files. Or you could, for example, copy out these files and revert back to a previous Superduper cloned version of your system.

 

[mdruziak]

I posted this on the other Plustek thread but maybe I should post it here too:

FYI for anyone who is interested:

The Silverfast version 8 demo installs the files you will need to get the Plustek film scanners running with the X64 version of Vuescan under OS 10.7 Lion.

The only Silverfast files you actually need will be installed in the Computer/Library/Frameworks folder. That's the main /Library folder not the user folder. In Lion you now get there via the the 'Go' menu item in the Finder.

In that directory the demo installs a folder for each of the Plustek scanners. So, for example, if you have a 7400 then you only need the folder called Plustek7400.framework. If you have the 7600i then you need the folder called Plustek7600.framework. Nothing else.

You can uninstall Silverfast provided you keep these files. Or you could, for example, copy out these files and revert back to a previous Superduper cloned version of your system.

Thanks for posting this. We at Plustek will be working closely with Ed from VueScan after the 1st of the year so hopefully this workaround won't be necessary much longer.

 

[menos]

Thanks for posting this. We at Plustek will be working closely with Ed from VueScan after the 1st of the year so hopefully this workaround won't be necessary much longer.

Very interesting news Mark!