New Scanner: Pacific Image XAs

[agentlossing]

I got the scanner I have been hankering after - no one around me shares my level of kid-in-a-candy-store enthusiasm for the ugly, plastic thing. But my initial thoughts are that this is what I've been missing from my film process. I've been going through and rescanning my negatives, and the results are pretty pleasing. Initially the scanning software boggled me (both CyberView and Silverfast) but I think I have got my process down. I'll post some examples soon.

I had considered the Powerfilm scanner as well, which feeds strips of negatives from a hopper. That process looked a little easier, but upon further consideration of this scanner, it appears to be easier to correct framing issues and will also scan a whole uncut roll. My thought is that the best scans I will get will be as soon as the film is dry and clean, so I will be able to quickly scan a low-res "contact sheet" of images or just scan high-res right away. I've been scanning at 5000dpi and it takes a few minutes per scan. 10,000 dpi is the scanner's max but it's not truly capable of getting that level of detail, plus the scans take forever.

 

[Livesteamer]

I've been considering that same scanner. I had an earlier version, the CS3600 which worked well until it died. Rather than repair I think I'd like to upgrade so it will be interesting to hear how this works for you. Thanks for keeping us posted. Joe

 

[agentlossing]

I can't say I'm impressed with the hardware, it is quite light and plasticky, but of course what matters is the imaging module, film feeders and associated machinery, and those seem quite robust. I like the buttons which allow for quickly advancing frames or moving the frame back and forth by small amounts.

Initially Silverfast really confused me. I still haven't watched all their videos. But I found some tools that I know how to use, and got rid of some that I don't or which didn't seem to do what I wanted them to. My process now is very simple: load the frame, set the film type (if Silverfast has it, which they don't have a lot, so often I'm leaving it at generic B&W), hit the auto exposure button, and then use the pipette to set white and black points. I then move the midtones slider in the histogram if I feel those need to be darker or lighter, and hit scan. Very simple process. Unless I uncover more features that matter to me, then it might get a bit more complicated.

 

[Takkun]

Congrats on finding a solution that works for you! I'm doing something similar rescanning old work and things that never got scanned and printed, and there's something giddily exciting rediscovering something you thought was a throwaway turned out to be worthwhile.

Since moving to a dedicated space I'm DSLR scanning (useful since I'm shooting mostly MF these days), but before I was using DiMAGE 5400 and LS-4000 scanners with VueScan. Never really got on with the latter combo and it seemed like I'd get maybe one or two halfway decent images per roll that didn't look like muck. I'd heard great things about Silverfast and wish I'd made the switch. Both have steep learning curves, but SF seems to be a little more idiot-proof out of the box; that is, more intuitive settings and less digging deep into menus for satisfactory results.

 

[agentlossing]

At first, Silverfast seemed to be getting me results that were hard to adjust, way too light and hard to find the proper tools to get exposure where I wanted. I worked out that there were too many tools "active" at the same time, and whittled it down to where I mainly only use the pipette for black and white points. This has made the exposure editing part of scanning super simple. I scan as TIFF so I can still make some more adjustments in LR6, but those are always minor, just adjusting the shadows or highlights a bit or cloning out a spot or scratch sometimes. Then I batch export JPEG to a "LR Export" folder in the same folder as the scans.

The scanning takes time, but the only part now that takes much attention or effort is cleaning up my B&W negatives. I have washed one roll in warm water with a drop of dish soap and hung to dry, that worked out very well, and as time allows I'm going to do that with other rolls that have gotten dusty between developing, scanning with the old flatbed, and now. I had about 5-6 rolls from a trip in 2019 to Boston that I'm eager to rescan.

 

[Takkun]

That seems to be the issue with both software suites—too many tools doing things automatically or affecting the processing chain unpredictably. Vuescan just has a million of them across many menu pages, and makes it difficult to figure out what is doing what. Interestingly, I got on better with it in basic mode with large-format scanners at work than I ever did with a neg scanner.

On dust: I use Edwal LFN (an equivalent to Foto Flo) after rinsing—I know dish soap is a common surfactant but I always worry just a bit about any additives in it perhaps leaving the surface sticky. LFN is cheap and a bottle has lasted me 7-8 years so far.

For cleaning, skip re-washing and get some PEC-10 and PEC-pads, the latter of which are a bit more substantial and softer than Kimwipes. They work nice as lens tissue too.

I too seem to have a problem with grime on my negatives...I'll let them sit for a while before I get around to scanning, and there's always an alarming bit of brown residue on the wipes. But after cleaning, I rarely have to go through and spot digitally. I'm amazed at how many dusty scans I see online; I'd much rather spend a few seconds getting things clean than an hour in front of the screen hunting for dust (and I already have to do that with digital).

Love to see the Boston photos too if you feel like sharing—used to live there a decade and change ago and haven't been back much since.

 

[ediz7531]

I've had this scanner for 10 months now. The quality of the scans is superb. I also use Silverfast. Sadly, mine has developed a banding problem like others' despite dusting the diffuser regularly and keeping the scanner in a case to avoid dust. I'm lucky that it happened while still under warranty, although I don't really have much hope that a replacement unit will last long either.

 

[agentlossing]

I've had this scanner for 10 months now. The quality of the scans is superb. I also use Silverfast. Sadly, mine has developed a banding problem like others' despite dusting the diffuser regularly and keeping the scanner in a case to avoid dust. I'm lucky that it happened while still under warranty, although I don't really have much hope that a replacement unit will last long either.

That's definitely concerning. I had a roll where the first frames looked like banding and I cleaned the scanner vigorously but no luck, until I scanned further into the roll and realized that my squeegee had scratched a few frames. No banding issues yet. I almost went for the PowerFilm instead of this one because the scanning surface is able to be cleaned directly with swabs and alcohol. I'm just trying to keep mine protected, with a clean microfiber cloth draped over the top of it whenever it isn't in use.