Pacific Image Prime Film XA compatible w. Germany's mains voltage?

[MyNameIsGregor]

Hey there,

I wanted to order a Pacific Image Prime Film XA from B&H Photo. There's a German version of it too but it's quite expensive, even after shipping and taxes.
As you probably guessed it, I live in Germany and now I wonder if when I order the scanner it's compatible with the German mains voltage of 240V. In the manual it say's it's compatible with 110-240V.
Do you think a regular Type C adapter for the socket is enough to get it running? Or would you not recommend ordering one?

Maybe someone here who lives in Germany and happens to own one can share his/her experience🙂

Thank you for your help!

 

[icebear]

Hi there,

I have no experience with your specific device but if the manufacturer's electrical info says 110 - 240V then it should work. If you want to be 100% certain ask the manufacturer directly specifically if the freq. range also tolerates 50 -60Hz.

 

[David Murphy]

Gregor,

I am in California, and I just bought the Pacific Image XAs from Amazon and got it working this weekend. It is powered with an external pack power adapter that takes the AC wall power to some standard lower DC voltage that the scanner accepts. Yes the power adapter will directly accept 240 V and 50 Hz as input (voltage is the issue with DC adapters, not the line frequency). My model came with only the two prong ungrounded US wall plug, but of course line plug adapters from US standard to other country standards are easily available and you should be able to find one to go from USA style to German style inexpensively (on eBay, at hardware stores, etc.).

By the way, the XAs is the best 35mm film scanner I've ever used -- it's quite exceptional really. The XAs will scan one entire roll of 35mm at a time, 36-40 frames or so automatically with beautiful results. There is no hassling with film loader trays, cutting film, uncurling film, etc. etc. I think you will love it.

 

[agentlossing]

I have no input on the wall outlet compatibility, but I second the recommendation of the XAs. It's a fair chunk of money to drop for a scanner, but it's so much better and easier than the other options. I don't typically scan a whole uncut roll just because I don't have a dust-free enough spot for that length of film to sit while it's being fed through, but I cut six-frame strips (or however long your negative sleeves can handle) off the strip that's hanging from my shower curtain rod as I go.

 

[David Murphy]

By the way I checked. The XAs needs 12V at 1.5 A if one wants to supply it with DC power. The power connector is a large diameter type of a standard size that is often used with DC power packs that power laptop computers and such (there is a whole family of these round female plugs of varying, but standard diameters). I could measure it and look it up, but I'm too lazy. In any case, one could also easily power the XAs off any clean 12V power source capable of supplying at least 1.5 A (or 18 Watts of power). I'm sure compatible power packs ready to go can be found online at low cost as an optional approach.

 

[David Murphy]

I have no input on the wall outlet compatibility, but I second the recommendation of the XAs. It's a fair chunk of money to drop for a scanner, but it's so much better and easier than the other options. I don't typically scan a whole uncut roll just because I don't have a dust-free enough spot for that length of film to sit while it's being fed through, but I cut six-frame strips (or however long your negative sleeves can handle) off the strip that's hanging from my shower curtain rod as I go.

I fully understand about the dust, but have you tried the dust removal option with the XAs software (either the Pacific Images package or Silverfast)? It works amazingly well!

 

[MyNameIsGregor]

Hi there,

I have no experience with your specific device but if the manufacturer's electrical info says 110 - 240V then it should work. If you want to be 100% certain ask the manufacturer directly specifically if the freq. range also tolerates 50 -60Hz.

Thank you for this, I will send them a message!

 

[MyNameIsGregor]

Gregor,

I am in California, and I just bought the Pacific Image XAs from Amazon and got it working this weekend. It is powered with an external pack power adapter that takes the AC wall power to some standard lower DC voltage that the scanner accepts. Yes the power adapter will directly accept 240 V and 50 Hz as input (voltage is the issue with DC adapters, not the line frequency). My model came with only the two prong ungrounded US wall plug, but of course line plug adapters from US standard to other country standards are easily available and you should be able to find one to go from USA style to German style inexpensively (on eBay, at hardware stores, etc.).

By the way, the XAs is the best 35mm film scanner I've ever used -- it's quite exceptional really. The XAs will scan one entire roll of 35mm at a time, 36-40 frames or so automatically with beautiful results. There is no hassling with film loader trays, cutting film, uncurling film, etc. etc. I think you will love it.

Thank you, David for your detailed response! Very helpful!I'll keep you guy's updated🙂

 

[Out to Lunch]

Check the warranty.

 

[agentlossing]

I fully understand about the dust, but have you tried the dust removal option with the XAs software (either the Pacific Images package or Silverfast)? It works amazingly well!

Actually no, I haven't experimented enough with the dust removal to get a setting or strength that I like, but I try to be extremely careful about dusty negatives just so I don't introduce any dust into the scanner, it scares me to think of dust getting into an area that can't be accessed or cleaned.

 

[David Murphy]

Actually no, I haven't experimented enough with the dust removal to get a setting or strength that I like, but I try to be extremely careful about dusty negatives just so I don't introduce any dust into the scanner, it scares me to think of dust getting into an area that can't be accessed or cleaned.

Well to be clearer, there is dust removal and scratch/defect removal. It's hard to avoid either or both with film all the times.

I've experimented just a little bit with these removal features on both the Pacific Image software and the (included) Silverfast software. My initial impression is that they seem to work quite well - I'm impressed so far. This scanner works up to 10,000 dpi with enhancements like overs scanning, multiple pass sampling, dust/defect removal, very deep color depth, and raw file formats. Of course using all those features for all images can make a scan take a very long time and generate very large files, but the results of these features targeted to select images are pretty darn impressive from what I've seen so far.

Using film from a camera with a high quality lens and fine grained film, I'm certain the quality of the output when the scan parameters are pushed, would exceed that of any full frame digital camera. I can't say that about all scanners I've used. Of course displaying such images to take advantage of this capability demands similar high resolution displays, printers, etc., but the capability is inherent in the technology.