PlusTek scanner, or Canoscane LiDE?

[tamerlin]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of either of these? I have not found much, but
this seemed like a good place to ask. I hope to get to the lab early enough to pick up some film
tonight, and if there are any good shots, it might be nice to scan some of them to post and share 🙂

Thanks!

 

[djon]

IMO it's better not to be an "early adopter" of scanners...I'd go with the flow, do what everybody else recommends in my $$ and I'd only buy something that had a decent reputation for reliability and customer support (nobody's good at tech support, but some don't even try). That's what I did, first with an Epson 3200 and then with a Nikon V, both of which are perfect for their purposes (the Epson's great with reflective, very good with 120 rollfilm and the Nikon's the a reliable and genuine 4000ppi scanner that holds film flat without a lot of handling and adjustment).

Can't comment on the scanners you mentioned.

 

[Kin Lau]

I used to have a PlusTek. Simple scanner, but it depends on which model.

The Canon is much smaller, and I believe is USB powered.

Neither one will scan film, prints only. Quality wise, both are about the same.

 

[tamerlin]

I used to have a PlusTek. Simple scanner, but it depends on which model.

The Canon is much smaller, and I believe is USB powered.

Neither one will scan film, prints only. Quality wise, both are about the same.

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=120&modelid=11011

This is one that I was thinking of, mainly because it's inexpensive and made by a company with a
strong track record. Hm... I can't tell whether or not this one can do slides. Maybe I should stick with
the Epson... or bite the bullet and get a film scanner, and learn to stitch panoramas 🙂

 

[tamerlin]

IMO it's better not to be an "early adopter" of scanners...

Can't comment on the scanners you mentioned.

That's why I was hoping someone had some experiences with these... oh well. I'll continue to
do some shopping... I'm not in a hurry. 🙂

 

[Kin Lau]

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=120&modelid=11011

This is one that I was thinking of, mainly because it's inexpensive and made by a company with a strong track record. Hm... I can't tell whether or not this one can do slides. Maybe I should stick with the Epson... or bite the bullet and get a film scanner, and learn to stitch panoramas 🙂

The 500F looks quite nice and it _does_ do slides/negs. At 2400dpi, the scan will only be so-so, real resolution will be more like 1200dpi. It's hard to beat a dedicated film scanner. The Epson's have a good reputation for a flatbed, and seem to be approaching film scanners in quality.

 

[tamerlin]

The 500F looks quite nice and it _does_ do slides/negs. At 2400dpi, the scan will only be so-so, real resolution will be more like 1200dpi. It's hard to beat a dedicated film scanner. The Epson's have a good reputation for a flatbed, and seem to be approaching film scanners in quality.

I suppose it's a question of whether I'll be doing my own prints, or just using the
scanner for web galleries... tough call.

The only downside to using a dedicated film scanner is the XPan thing. A flatbed
would make that easier, but for the good ones, the prices are comparable to some
of the nicer film scanners. Tough choice :bang:

 

[Kin Lau]

The only downside to using a dedicated film scanner is the XPan thing. A flatbed would make that easier, but for the good ones, the prices are comparable to some of the nicer film scanners. Tough choice :bang:

I missed the XPan part... forget about the 500F then, it can only do a single 35mm frame. Go for the Epson 4180, 4870 or 4990, all will do medium format, and has 35mm performance very close to a dedicated film scanner. The 4180 is 1/2 the price of the other two (only about USD$100- more than the 500F), the 4870 & 4990 being about the same price as a ded film scanner and both have digital ICE. The 4990 can also do 8x10 transparencies, so you can also do a "digital contact sheet" as well.

BTW, I have tried using a HP 3970 (I think) for scanning negs, it was not very good. It's in the same class as the two you've mentioned, so if your doing shots with the XPan, then it's probably worth it to get something better. For quick scans for the web, try using the DReb with 50/1.8 and the neg/pos on a lightbox. It works surprisingly well.

 

[tamerlin]

I missed the XPan part... forget about the 500F then, it can only do a single 35mm frame. Go for the Epson 4180, 4870 or 4990, all will do medium format, and has 35mm performance very close to a dedicated film scanner.

Oh well, it was worth a look. 🙂

The 4180 is 1/2 the price of the other two (only about USD$100- more than the 500F), the 4870 & 4990 being about the same price as a ded film scanner and both have digital ICE. The 4990 can also do 8x10 transparencies, so you can also do a "digital contact sheet" as well.

That could be useful. I'll have to consider that one seriously, I think.

BTW, I have tried using a HP 3970 (I think) for scanning negs, it was not very good. It's in the same class as the two you've mentioned, so if your doing shots with the XPan, then it's probably worth it to get something better. For quick scans for the web, try using the DReb with 50/1.8 and the neg/pos on a lightbox. It works surprisingly well.

Now that I hadn't thought about. I got myself a lightbox specifically to facilitate viewing the slides
(a loupe also), and like every Canon user I have that 50mm f/1.8 lens 😀

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!