Pakon Scanner

android said:
Chris, I picked up a two year old laptop running Windows 7. I first tried XP in VMware and then XP mode. Neither worked. The Pakon would begin scanning and then throw up an error. I reached out to AAA and they said that I should be using a desktop, so I took the plunge and bought a second hand machine - the Pakon now works flawlessly. I'm not technical but I felt that maybe the slow bus speed on the laptop was the issue.
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Thanks for sharing your personal experience.
The desktop runs Windows 7 Professional with MS Virtual PC in XP mode?

Chris
 
Never tried it myself. but some of the FB group members swear by a piece of software called Colorperfect. Personally, I never tried slide film on the Pakon
 
So in just 3 days the little Pakon hit the eastern shores of Japan, it's already at the customs section of the airport. Fingers crossed.

About shipping, on Ebay it was mentioned that it'll come with USPS International Priority mail but it actually was sent by Fedex International Economy, hence the $70USD price. Anyways, the estimated delivery on Ebay said 30th of September and it's already within a 25km radius from where I am, pretty fast. It's the 18th of September still.

Will update back once it lands. For now, I've installed Parallels with XP Professional. Parallels handles file sharing in a fantastic manner between the host and the guest, the virtual machine also by default has access to all the network shared drives found on the host.

Once it comes in, I'll post back with my installation success (or the opposite)

Happy Scanning!
Ben
 
Just a quick update to let you know, the scanner came in today and I wasn't charged customs what so ever, despite the fact that the value was noted as $299USD.

Might be luck or just the fact that it's an old item. I did ask the guys who sell it to mark "Old / Used item" on the box.

I'll update back once I got it working. The package is huge by the way, 5.3 KG. Will be fun carrying it home during Friday night rush in Tokyo. Sometimes the trains are so packed I can't reach my pocked to get the phone out.
Ben

EDIT:
To summarize shipping from aaaimaging:

US (Cali) - JP (Tokyo) / $70USD (through Ebay) / Fedex Int'l Economy / 4 days door to door / no duty charged
 
A few more from another test camera.
I'm trying out Eos Film Bodies. These shot with an Eos 650 and EF 50mm f1.8ii ("Plastic fantastic" with metal mount). Just test images.

The PSI is a pia program. I remember now how horrible some programs were to use.
It reminds me of the pessimism some people had about computers and the possibility that the internet was anything more than a toy for geeks. :p
Some programs were really horrible! Boy those days are sure forgotten! Well... until one needs to use their Pakon :p

I've learned that "brightness" in the PSI is actually more akin to exposure as we know it in LR and such.
If one wants control of scanning exposure, adjusting brightness is how you get it!

Garden Lamps f4
f4 sample by Adnan W, on Flickr

Watering can F4 at MFD
F4 MFD sample by Adnan W, on Flickr

Charly at f1.8
Charly by Adnan W, on Flickr
 
Hi there,

I am trying to get going with the Pakon but am not successful. Have followed all the tutorials I could find but no luck.

I am running Mac OSX on a 2009 iMac 20" and Windows XP in parallels 10. Installed the software, connected the scanner, it was recognised and when I install the drivers, it just gets stuck and does not move any further. Virtual XP is hanging and needs to be forced shut down and restarted. Tried all the different versions of the driver I could find but no luck.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Ben
 
Ben I'm sorry I wish I could help you :(
I'm almost completely useless with these things.
I will say that even though I am using an XP laptop directly to the scanner, I still have trouble with the PSI seeing the machine.
I need to turn off and re-start for every session so far.
Good luck! i hope you get it going.
 
f16sunshine said:
Ben I'm sorry I wish I could help you :(
I'm almost completely useless with these things.
I will say that even though I am using an XP laptop directly to the scanner, I still have trouble with the PSI seeing the machine.
I need to turn off and re-start for every session so far.
Good luck! i hope you get it going.
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Hi Andy,

I am here to report "partial" success at last! :)
This is what I did in details.

1. Replaced parallels 10 with 9
2. Ran the same VM - failed right away just like before. Parallels version doesn't seem to matter.
3. Removed the VM and re-installed another one from a different ISO image. This time I did no updates / no Service Packs (currently on SP2) etc.
4. Installed the scanner and the driver was loaded without trouble.
5. Fired up PSI or whatever that thing is called and looked at the interface. I nearly dropped from my chair, I haven't seen something this ancient in a long time! What a nasty user interface.

So why do I say partial success?
Well, I don't know how smooth scanning is for you guys but I ended up scratching the first negative i stuck in and after 3 tries, I still am not sure if I have something wrong with my scanner or just with me.

I have only scanned strips so far but inserting the film in, I can't really tell when is the scanner about to pick my images up. The wheels are squealing a little, I guess it's just the age. Otherwise the film strip once taken up, will travel at an even speed all the way to the end.

The second issue I have is that the film isn't completely released, I need to pull on it to get it out. The end is still inside the scanner's body.

Once I press the stop, i get a warning message that something happened, either the scanner has jammed or something was interrupted. Is this normal? Again, I scanned strips of 6...

The pictures otherwise looked normal to my surprise so I guess it's working...

I didn't find options about changing the location where images are saved but I blame it on me being tired and just wanting to conclude the day by saying "I fixed it!"

I'll look again tonight.

Thanks,
Ben
 
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Hello again,

I have done my first tests, scanned in a strip of 6 frames from a film that I previously scanned on my Epson V750 flatbed. This should not be treated as a quality comparison for the below 2 reasons:

1. With the Epson, I always scan flat, discarding the default look. The scanner will make an educated guess at what an image should look like, much like the Pakon, but then I push the White and Black points out all the way as far as I want them included and then later fix in Photoshop.
2. The Pakon is brand new to me, this is the first scan job I did and I left all settings untouched.

Still, I believe it's an interesting comparison, I was mainly looking for how well the Pakon frames and while it did chop small pieces off at places, I think it was due to the fact that the edge of the usable negative wasn't straight and it straightened it out.

Overall I am very satisfied!

TOP: Epson V750 - scanned flat on purpose
BOTTOM: Pakon F135 Plus - scanned without changing a thing

Ben

PakonF135Plus_EpsonV750_comp01.jpg


PakonF135Plus_EpsonV750_comp02.jpg


PakonF135Plus_EpsonV750_comp03.jpg
 
Because of this thread and the Pakon pages on FB, I'm close to getting one of these units. Q I have is this: who services it if it goes belly up?
 
frank-grumman said:
Because of this thread and the Pakon pages on FB, I'm close to getting one of these units. Q I have is this: who services it if it goes belly up?
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As far as I am aware, you'll be your own serviceman.

I am playing with the idea of getting another unit just for parts or for spare. They stopped making these 10 years ago, God only knows how long they'll be available.
Check on FB, some of the guys put their units up for sale...

Good luck!
I am going to open mine up later next week as I get some nasty marks on the negatives once they ran through, just realized this.

Ben
 
frank-grumman said:
Because of this thread and the Pakon pages on FB, I'm close to getting one of these units. Q I have is this: who services it if it goes belly up?
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AES service used to fix them. In the south somewhere. An overhaul on an F235 was about 300. Hint: don't scan negs that have a strip of paper on the side without removing the adhesive as well as the paper.

Dante
 
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