Plustek Opticfilm 120 Pro

astrosecret said:
would be interested to hear your impressions on this machine vs. some more widespread, affordable scans from a lab with scanners like noritsu. this could shape up to be a good alternative if it can get the film really flat and focus properly.
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The Noritsu scanners are of course high-end industrial devices. Designed for a cost-effective workflow. No doubt their price will be accordingly.

You will find an interesting piece of information about the Noritsu HS-1800 embedded into this page on www.filmscanner.info :
https://www.filmscanner.info/en/FilmscannerKlassen.html

As the purpose for the desire to scan film can differ widely I can only tell you why I personally would not favor the use of a scan laboratory. I am a collector of vintage cameras, mainly medium format and also use these as a hobby. In many cases I have to repair and adjust such cameras to get them going again. Part of that process is shooting one or more test films.

For me it is important to have a reliable high resolution scanner and standardized scanning parameters so I can compare one image to another e.g. for checking the exposure or the lens infinity focal point. IMO it is next to impossible to give a Scan Lab exactly the instructions necessary to obtain the same results.
Also the feedback is direct and I do not have to wait for days before the Lab returns the digital result.

Furthermore it is quite easy with one's own scanner to scan just a desired part of the film frame with a higher resolution. To flip the film or do other crazy stuff.

But guess when somebody only would want to have his/her film strips scanned without too much extras then it could be more cost effective to use the professional Scan Lab service. After all a OF 120 Pro scanner does cost around 2200 US$ and you can have a lot of film frames digitized for that amount of money.
 
hanskerensky said:
The top resolution is 5300 dpi. It is however not very practical to work with such high resolution in medium format so I stick to 2650 dpi which gives me for each scan a .tiff file of about 100MB for a 6x6 image.
5300 dpi would give me an enormous file of about 400MB. Not nice to work with in e.g. Photoshop Elements.

For 35mm film scans I generally do use 5300 dpi.
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Good to know.

I use Epson v800 and Silverfast AI. The bad thing about Silverfast is the way it scans a film holder: it scans just one frame each pass.
Batch scans are basicaly single frame scans repeated for each frame.
This means at least one pass, two if multi-exposure is selected, and another extra if iSRD. It takes a long time.

I suppose this behavior is the same for Plustek. How long it takes to scan a single frame?
 
ckuwajima said:
Good to know.

I use Epson v800 and Silverfast AI. The bad thing about Silverfast is the way it scans a film holder: it scans just one frame each pass.
Batch scans are basicaly single frame scans repeated for each frame.
This means at least one pass, two if multi-exposure is selected, and another extra if iSRD. It takes a long time.

I suppose this behavior is the same for Plustek. How long it takes to scan a single frame?
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I also have an Epson V700 and use Vuescan for that. Bought a lifetime license for Vuescan many years ago.

For the Plustek OpticFilm 120 I use Silverfast and the batch process is as you described it, many single scans in a row. I normally use iSRD so 2 scans for 1 frame. How long it takes is very much dependent on the available CPU power and internal RAM (Memory). Silverfast loves to use your RAM so be sure to have plenty of it as it speeds up the post-scan processing.
 
Hans - could you check if the 120 Pro works with Vuescan at the moment? I use Vuescan with everything and would be interested in the Plustek only if it had full functionality via Vuescan.
 
albireo said:
Hans - could you check if the 120 Pro works with Vuescan at the moment? I use Vuescan with everything and would be interested in the Plustek only if it had full functionality via Vuescan.
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Just did some testing with the latest version of Vuescan but ran into some problems :

1) Preview only shows me part of the film holder, about 6 of the 12 frames on a 35mm holder. I tried many settings for the Media Size but just cannot get more.

2) Scanner source is shown as a generic "Scanner(A32)" and I do not have the possibility to activate a IR Dust Reduction. It is however possible to make a scan at 5300dpi.

Preview :

OpticFilm 120 Pro Notes (09) by Hans Kerensky, on Flickr

Scan with Vuescan at 5300 dpi :

OpticFilm 120 Pro Notes (10) by Hans Kerensky, on Flickr

Full size version here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/29504544@N08/50228321127/sizes/6k/
.
 
Thank you for taking the time to showing this, Hans.

Seems like support is not there yet. FWIW Ed Hamrick from Vuescan is super responsive and I don't doubt he will implement support to the 120 Pro to Vuescan in no time. I happily used my copy of Vuescan with a couple of Plustek 35mm devices (7500i and 8100) for a long time, with no issues.
 
albireo said:
Thank you for taking the time to showing this, Hans.

Seems like support is not there yet. FWIW Ed Hamrick from Vuescan is super responsive and I don't doubt he will implement support to the 120 Pro to Vuescan in no time. I happily used my copy of Vuescan with a couple of Plustek 35mm devices (7500i and 8100) for a long time, with no issues.
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Yes, agree, Ed Hamrick is a great person !

If I get the chance I also will do a test with the combination Vuescan and my almost 7 years old Plustek OpticFilm 120. See how that goes. Might be a setting that I missed somewhere.
 
hanskerensky said:
If I get the chance I also will do a test with the combination Vuescan and my almost 7 years old Plustek OpticFilm 120. See how that goes. Might be a setting that I missed somewhere.
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Just did, no problem for the old OF120 in Vuescan. Scanner is correctly recognized as being an OpticFilm 120. In preview I can select the Frame number to scan in my 35mm holder. On the "Filter" menu it is correctly shown that IR Dust reduction is available and I can choose between "None, Light, Medium, Heavy".

The driver used is for an "A31" scanner so my guess is that Ed just did not yet implement the "A32" driver from the OF 120 Pro. Guess that will be a piece of cake as it must be very similar.
 
ckuwajima said:
Good to know.
How long it takes to scan a single frame?
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Here some times and a compare with the old OF 120 :
Desktop W7 Prof., Intel i5-6400 CPU 2.70GHz, 16 GB RAM

Old OF 120 35mm holder
USB2 interface
Overview : 42,8 sec
Ok dialog to preview : 35 sec
Scan Color 48->24 Bit
5300ppi 108mb tiff
Auto CCR, No iSRD till finished (saved) : 2m 1s
Auto CCR, iSRD till finished (saved) : 3m 28s

New OF 120 Pro 35mm holder
USB3 interface
Overview : 50,1 sec
Ok dialog to preview : 21 sec
Scan Color 48->24 Bit
5300ppi 108mb tiff
Auto CCR, Noi SRD till finished (saved) : 1m 8s
Auto CCR, iSRD till finished (saved) : 2m 30s
 
hanskerensky said:
Here some times and a compare with the old OF 120 :

Desktop W7 Prof., Intel i5-6400 CPU 2.70GHz, 16 GB RAM

Old OF 120 35mm holder
USB2 interface
Overview : 42,8 sec
Ok dialog to preview : 35 sec
Scan Color 48->24 Bit
5300ppi 108mb tiff
Auto CCR, No iSRD till finished (saved) : 2m 1s
Auto CCR, iSRD till finished (saved) : 3m 28s

New OF 120 Pro 35mm holder
USB3 interface
Overview : 50,1 sec
Ok dialog to preview : 21 sec
Scan Color 48->24 Bit
5300ppi 108mb tiff
Auto CCR, Noi SRD till finished (saved) : 1m 8s
Auto CCR, iSRD till finished (saved) : 2m 30s
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the comparison test!
And please keep us updated with your further tests and assessments.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Jan
 
hanskerensky said:
Here some times and a compare with the old OF 120 :


Desktop W7 Prof., Intel i5-6400 CPU 2.70GHz, 16 GB RAM

Old OF 120 35mm holder
USB2 interface
Overview : 42,8 sec
Ok dialog to preview : 35 sec
Scan Color 48->24 Bit
5300ppi 108mb tiff
Auto CCR, No iSRD till finished (saved) : 2m 1s
Auto CCR, iSRD till finished (saved) : 3m 28s

New OF 120 Pro 35mm holder
USB3 interface
Overview : 50,1 sec
Ok dialog to preview : 21 sec
Scan Color 48->24 Bit
5300ppi 108mb tiff
Auto CCR, Noi SRD till finished (saved) : 1m 8s
Auto CCR, iSRD till finished (saved) : 2m 30s
Click to expand...

These times are good enough. I get Epson v800 scan times at the same ballpark, but at much lower 2.400 ~ 3.600 dpi resolution.

Thank you very much!
 
fatihayoglu said:
Does it scan with film borders? What I mean is, if I scan with this, will I be able to see the brand and stock of the film as well?
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For 35 film that is possible if you use another holder then the one designed for the 35mm film. For instance you could put your 35mm filmstrip in the 6x4.5cm holder. That leaves more then enough room for the borders.

There are some disadvantages though as it would be harder to scan the whole strip in one batch because of the different framing. Also you have a greater chance on sagging or bulging of the film as it would be less tighter contained. However scanning 1 frame at a time should pose not too much a problem.

For medium format it is more difficult. With 6x6 and 6x4.5cm it should be possible to cut the film in 1 frame pieces and place that frame 90 degree rotated in the holder. With anything larger (6x7, 6x9 and 6x12) I do not see a solution.
 
hanskerensky said:
For 35 film that is possible if you use another holder then the one designed for the 35mm film. For instance you could put your 35mm filmstrip in the 6x4.5cm holder. That leaves more then enough room for the borders.

There are some disadvantages though as it would be harder to scan the whole strip in one batch because of the different framing. Also you have a greater chance on sagging or bulging of the film as it would be less tighter contained. However scanning 1 frame at a time should pose not too much a problem.

For medium format it is more difficult. With 6x6 and 6x4.5cm it should be possible to cut the film in 1 frame pieces and place that frame 90 degree rotated in the holder. With anything larger (6x7, 6x9 and 6x12) I do not see a solution.
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Thanks Hans
 
I also have the 120 Pro and use Vuescan, and I can report my experience with it on the Mac (10.13) - with the plustek ScanApi framework installed, Vuescan recognizes the scanner and its properties, and apparently knows enough to eject the film carrier upon startup, but as of today (Vuescan x64 9.7.32) does not successfully complete a scan. As I, too, much prefer Vuescan to SF, I am anxiously awaiting full Vuescan support. Many thanks to Hans for his work on this!
 
I am tempted to go for one of these scanners. I have an Epson V800 flatbed, but it seems the OpticFilm 120 Pro is capable of much better scans. A Minolta Scan Dual 2 that I have had for 20 years started behaving erratically a few years ago, and is only for 35mm images anyway.
 
hanskerensky, can you comment on the dynamic range of the new scanner? The biggest issue with my plustek 120 is the somewhat limited DR causing colour shifts and in some cases banding in the densest parts of my negatives.
 
Kamph said:
hanskerensky, can you comment on the dynamic range of the new scanner? The biggest issue with my plustek 120 is the somewhat limited DR causing colour shifts and in some cases banding in the densest parts of my negatives.
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My feeling is that the sensor of the OF120 Pro is the same one as that used on the older OF120. According to the leaflet the dynamic range is 4.01 (as with the old one) but that will only be reached when using ME (Multiple Exposures). However I personally never did measure what it really would be with and without ME on my OF120 scanners. Maybe time for another test 🙂
 
hanskerensky said:
My feeling is that the sensor of the OF120 Pro is the same one as that used on the older OF120. According to the leaflet the dynamic range is 4.01 (as with the old one) but that will only be reached when using ME (Multiple Exposures). However I personally never did measure what it really would be with and without ME on my OF120 scanners. Maybe time for another test 🙂
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That's unfortunate but not really a deal breaker either. Would be cool to see a test. Cheers!
 
Kamph said:
That's unfortunate but not really a deal breaker either. Would be cool to see a test. Cheers!
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Well, I did scan the Silverfast IT8 target, a 6x7cm color slide, both with and without Multi-Exposure. Frankly speaking I did not see and did not measure any differences in the 24-step greyscales present on the target scans.

Maybe I do something wrong ?
Perhaps I should scan in 48bit mode instead of 24bit mode ?
Maybe I should use a completely different target ?

I did measure in Photoshop Elements and see the grey scales in both scans go from the grey value 13% (step0, light) to 93% (step23, dark). No difference whatsoever.
 
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