Plustek film scanners - some questions

[Makten]

I have a little question for you Plustek owners: Is the film masked to the very edge of the frames? I'd like to have the "natural" border of the film left uncropped by the scanner.

Like this:

Also, what's the difference between all of the seemingly similar models? I mean, the 7200, 7300, 7400, 7500 and 7600 have almost identical specs. And what's this "AI" and "SE"? Software I suppose. Does it matter if I'm gonna do most of the PP in Photoshop?

Thanks for any input! 🙂

 

[Zonan]

Don't have a Plustek, but do have Silverfast software. Ai is the full version, SE is the "lite" version of the software. I have the AI- never tried the SE version. I think you can demo them if you currently have a supported scanner, to see which you would want if you get a Plustek package. I figure if you are going to do it, do it with the most capable one.

 

[Zonan]

BTW, there is an extensive review of the 7600i-Ai on Luminous Landscape within the past week or so. Quite positive.

 

[Makten]

Don't have a Plustek, but do have Silverfast software. Ai is the full version, SE is the "lite" version of the software. I have the AI- never tried the SE version. I think you can demo them if you currently have a supported scanner, to see which you would want if you get a Plustek package. I figure if you are going to do it, do it with the most capable one.

Yes, I now know that Ai is the "full" version, but I don't really know the difference. I'm probably going to buy the 7600i, but I can't afford the Ai version. So I wonder if the lesser software is suitable. My workflow will be slow and precise, so I'll probably export the images quite "raw" (which would actually be "soft") to Photoshop and do the rest there.

BTW, there is an extensive review of the 7600i-Ai on Luminous Landscape within the past week or so. Quite positive.

I just read it, and it looks very promising. 🙂

Edit: By the way, the picture above was duplicated with a closeup lens on my DSLR, using a homemade tube and "neg holder" infront of the lens. It works alright, but I'd like to get better sharpness. I had to sharpen it a bit too much in PS, and it still isn't too sharp even scaled down. Dynamic range and everything is fine though.

 

[umcelinho]

sometimes it masks, sometimes it doesn't, it's not very precise. my complaint about the 7500i is that the lamp of mine broke, so I had 4 months of not being able to scan negatives with it (i had a flatbed epson color photo 3200 which worked for scanning BWs at least) because the support here in Brazil is REALLY terrible. So I sent it to Plustek USA under warranty and it was properly fixed (but it's in NYC now, so I can't tell how it is now...).

Since the 7600 uses a different lighting it should be of no worries. But I do dislike the film tray, putting curled strips in it was quite an annoying challenge.

btw, the differences are indeed subtle. i never scanner my negs in the full scanner res, so it was kind of pointless, i didn't need that much resolution. a 7200 could fill your needs, depending on which resolution you're willing to scan at. i found it took too much time to scan at a high res, so i started scanning at 3200 dpi, it was much faster (also i used to scan the entire negative, nowadays i only scan the worthy ones, after checking the previews).

the price difference between the 7200 and the 7600 should be big, so it's a point to consider. the 7600 should be more reliable due to the new lamp. i'd get the cheaper software as well, unless you really want the better one. you can always get vuescan, it's pretty good and it can save the scans in RAW.

 

[Fujitsu]

I have a little question for you Plustek owners: Is the film masked to the very edge of the frames? I'd like to have the "natural" border of the film left uncropped by the scanner.

Like this:

Also, what's the difference between all of the seemingly similar models? I mean, the 7200, 7300, 7400, 7500 and 7600 have almost identical specs. And what's this "AI" and "SE"? Software I suppose. Does it matter if I'm gonna do most of the PP in Photoshop?

Thanks for any input! 🙂

If you fiddle enough with a given frame you can get masking on all sides, but regularly you wont. It depends on the camera as well. (Some expose a little larger are, some a little less).