Plustek Opticfilm 120 chops off parts of the frame

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borge

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I recently received a Plustek Opticfilm 120. It's a brand new unit, never been used. I am using Windows 8.1 x64 with the latest Plustek driver and Silverfast Ai Studio 8.5r3 (latest).

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the driver and Silvferfast. And also reset all Silverfast settings, and powered off and on the scanner.

The scanner seems to chop off some of the top and bottom of my 35mm frames. The film is inserted 100% correct, and I've tried with several different film types, and everything, but this still happens, and unless I'm able to solve it the scanner is being returned, even though it is sharp. It doesn't matter how sharp it is when it makes 3:2 35mm images look like 4:3 aspect images due to the top and bottom cropping.

Here's two examples

Epson V850 <----> Plustek Opticfilm 120
EpsonV850.jpg Plustek120.jpg

To my eyes, the aspect ratio of the Epson scan looks correct for 35mm, while the Plustek scan looks more like 4:3 (popular in P&S and Olympus 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras).

Does anyone know how to fix this, or is this normal with this scanner?
 
I dont own this scanner, but have you tried contacting plustek's support? I cannot imagine this is the proper operation of this scanner. You should probably ask them about it.
 
I have the same scanner and have not seen that issue, my only guess is it must be something in one of the settings somewhere...

I really like mine. I've had it over a year, when they finally sorted out the parts availability issues.

I would email, or call their support line. Contact Mark Druziak, markdruziak@plustek.com
He's a great guy, will be more than happy to help you out.

cheers/ken.
 
Looks like you are using a demo version of the software. Maybe the software is cropping it because of that.
Check with Silverfast
 
lewis44 said:
Looks like you are using a demo version of the software. Maybe the software is cropping it because of that.
Check with Silverfast
Click to expand...

I am using a demo license, that's correct. But I'm using the latest software for the specific scanner. And the only difference should be that the images should contain the whitemark. I'm not registering the included license until I've decided to keep the scanner. As of right now, if this is normal behavior of this scanner, I'm returning it for a refund, so I can't use the license.

I've also tried with the latest version of VueScan with the same results.
 
Just for the record, Mark Druziak isn't with Plustek anymore.

I'm afraid I don't have any personal experience with the scanner, but if the previous poster was implying that asking for advice on this forum was somehow the wrong thing to do, then I'd have to disagree: in my experience you'll often get better information from other users than from the manufacturer.
 
This is not a scanner problem, mine does scan the full 35mm frame. However, the last update to 8.5r3 might have introduced an issue with the *default* frame sizes when scanning 35mm film. I noticed yesterday after updating that the default frame size was slightly different than it used to be, but changing it either by selecting a different aspect ratio, maximising the frame, or by dragging the frame edges until satisfied restored things to sanity. Don't forget to click on 'copy settings to all frames' if you're batch scanning using the job manager.

As a side note, the update to 8.5r3 also introduced a funny bug where the first frame in the job manager gets assigned the last frame number in the job.

- N.
 
ndnik said:
This is not a scanner problem, mine does scan the full 35mm frame. However, the last update to 8.5r3 might have introduced an issue with the *default* frame sizes when scanning 35mm film. I noticed yesterday after updating that the default frame size was slightly different than it used to be, but changing it either by selecting a different aspect ratio, maximising the frame, or by dragging the frame edges until satisfied restored things to sanity. Don't forget to click on 'copy settings to all frames' if you're batch scanning using the job manager.

As a side note, the update to 8.5r3 also introduced a funny bug where the first frame in the job manager gets assigned the last frame number in the job.

- N.
Click to expand...

I'm not able to select the entire frame, as that would be outside of what is visible inside of Silverfast. So there is no avoiding this. Also, I am experiencing the same issue in Vuescan.
 
Just spoke to someone in the US.
Apparently it is indeed a framing issue within the 8.5r3 software, which is being addressed in the final version release.

I'm using the previous version, which is why I haven'y noticed the issue...
 
fad gadget said:
Just spoke to someone in the US.
Apparently it is indeed a framing issue within the 8.5r3 software, which is being addressed in the final version release.

I'm using the previous version, which is why I haven'y noticed the issue...
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the info! Does anyone know if it's possible to download a previous release of Silverfast? 8.5r2? I can't find previous versions on their website, and I would really like to know if this is indeed a software issue before I return the scanner to the shop for a refund.

What version did you use by the way? 8.5.0r2 - or a an even earlier version than 8.5?
 
Could try scanning it with one of the medium format holders then manually crop it. That's what I have to do when I scan any strange formats, like Widelux.
 
goffer said:
Could try scanning it with one of the medium format holders then manually crop it. That's what I have to do when I scan any strange formats, like Widelux.
Click to expand...

No way. I'm not doing that on every 35mm frame. I'd rather return the scanner.
 
Ya, that was a while ago... It may have changed since then.

Which version came packaged with the scanner, mine was an earlier version and I had to update it to 8.0.
 
This came directly from someone at LSI a couple weeks ago, have you tried this?

"We have improved the frame positioning within SilverFast. A fine adjustment of any frame can be made from the overview dialog next to image selection. This new function streamlines the batch process and eliminates the need to individually adjust the image scan area for each frame."
 
fad gadget said:
Ya, that was a while ago... It may have changed since then.

Which version came packaged with the scanner, mine was an earlier version and I had to update it to 8.0.
Click to expand...

I have no idea. I haven't had a DVD/CD drive in my computer for many years. So I can't find out.

I sent Silverfast an email. Hopefully they will reply quickly.
 
fad gadget said:
This came directly from someone at LSI a couple weeks ago, have you tried this?

"We have improved the frame positioning within SilverFast. A fine adjustment of any frame can be made from the overview dialog next to image selection. This new function streamlines the batch process and eliminates the need to individually adjust the image scan area for each frame."
Click to expand...

When I start Silverfast I get the following message:

"The new functionality for the Plustek OpticFilm 120 (precise fine adjustment of scan frames) is not available for Windows, yet."

As of 25/03/2015, Plustek is making new drivers that makes this available for Windows systems".

My Plustek driver is from 04/08/2015 however..
 
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