Redux: 35mm only scanners

[morback]

What about the Plustek scanners? I see that the latest iteration is the 7600. Is that a viable choice?

Cheers...

Rem

All my scans are done with the Plustek 7500 AI. My flickr has large versions of most images. None of these are raw, what you see are a type of result you can get from it.

I personally don't see what difficult about the software. I find it actually rather lacking and clumsy, like the difference between Windows and OSX. I don't think I would go and buy the software package if I were to do it again, provided you can scan flat (no preset settings) in the regular version of things.

It's sharp, the grain comes out good, but I find the shadows to lack depth.
I don't use any of the gimmicks (multi-sampling) and it works fine. I don't even sharpen in either Silverfast or Photoshop. It's good enough for me.

It's a good, cheap printer. Great for flickr and small prints for home. For anything serious or really big I would send my negative out to be drum-scanned professionally.

Hope this helps. We had some discussions with scan comparisons (100% crops) on these forums. I think I posted an early Imacon vs the Plustek. Visible but marginal differences imho.

p.s: I don't think the 7600 is out in the US, yet.

 

[Mephiloco]

I like my Canoscan FS4000US. It's a little old, but it does scan at 4000 DPI when you need it.

 

[goo0h]

Plustek 7600 on the way....

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Plustek-OpticFilm-7400-7600iSE--7600Ai-12125

 

[Matus]

For those who can read german, here is a full review:
http://www.filmscanner.info/PlustekOpticFilm7600i.html
There are some comparisons at full resolution, so it is worth to check out.

Short Summary of the link above:
- true resolution at 7200 ppi is about 3250 ppi
- true resolution at 3600 ppi is about 2600 ppi
- iSRD works better then with the Plustek 7500, however does not reach the level of Nikon ICE
- true Dmax comparable with the 7500i model
- multi-exposure improves the shadow definition a bit (should look less 'flat') when compared to 7500i
- film holder must be moved manually for each frame (as with 7500i)
- Scann times (slow) - there is a table in the review - easy to comprehend

hope this helps ...

 

[remegius]

For those who can read german, here is a full review:
http://www.filmscanner.info/PlustekOpticFilm7600i.html
There are some comparisons at full resolution, so it is worth to check out.

The review was provided with an English translation. Very interesting. And VERY revealing. Thank you, Matus!

Cheers...

Rem

 

[Matus]

The review was provided with an English translation. Very interesting. And VERY revealing. Thank you, Matus!

Cheers...

Rem

Oh - I have NEVER realized that they provide their reviews in several languages - and I am coming to that site here and than fo more than 3 years !!! Now I am more-less fine with german, but 3 years ago it was harder :bang: oh well ...

But at least I have helped ...

 

[nightfly]

Honestly I use my Epson 4990 for 35mm prints up to 16 x 24 and am not disappointed.

I'm sure the dedicated stuff is better but with the viewing distances increasing for bigger prints how much of that detail are you really missing? Nose to the glass it's a bit soft but I don't think 99% of people really notice.

Your milage may vary.

 

[remegius]

Honestly I use my Epson 4990 for 35mm prints up to 16 x 24 and am not disappointed.

I'm sure the dedicated stuff is better but with the viewing distances increasing for bigger prints how much of that detail are you really missing? Nose to the glass it's a bit soft but I don't think 99% of people really notice.

Your mileage may vary.

That's really a very good point. I'm one of the ones who is guilty of putting nose to glass, and that's really a bad thing to do. Most large prints will be viewed at a comfortable distance that will not reveal all of the defects associated with small format scanning. And besides, if the image is good enough to stand on its own two feet none of that will matter anyway.

Cheers...

Rem

 

[nome_alice]

i just got a 7600i a few weeks ago for doing 35mm. same as others here i was happy with the V700 for doing 120 but not too pleased with the results from 35mm.

i don't have time to elaborate greatly but this is a quick comment I PM'd to arthur earlier;

Did you put your Plustek OpticFilm 7600i into work by any chance yet? Could you please up-load some pics you've scanned on your OpticFilm 7600i (direct scans, no manipulation/Photo Shop of any kind if you could🙂)?

I'm doing my research for affordable 35mm film scanner and any info from physical owners is highly valuable to me,

thanks a lot in advance!

ah bugger. i just wrote a whole account of everything 7600i so far, then went and closed the wrong tab!

in short.

resolution - way better than V700, just bit short of Coolscan 4000.
DMax - a little bit less than V700 - more than enough to get every bit of detail out of negative film. haven't had a problem with black and white yet. will probably be a problem with underexposed slides. though multi-exposure give a lot more detail in the shadows (which you won't see until you lift the shadows in photoshop)

with respect to direct scans. i scan everything as 16-bit linear tiffs and run them through ColorNeg photoshop plugin. This way I circumvent Vuescan and Silverfasts attempt to correctly process the image.

I can give you some full size crops scanned at the 7200dpi setting when i get some time.

For some idea here's some recent images I've scanned on the 7600i Click the "All Sizes" to see them a bit bigger. I don't sharpen scans for upload for flickr. Film info in the tags.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nome_alice/3880938521/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nome_alice/3881250790/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nome_alice/3878772140/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nome_alice/3875093454/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nome_alice/3871936659/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nome_alice/3866664690/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nome_alice/3865183882/

All the best
Alistair.

oh and to add to that. i've just printed some A4 crop test prints from a 36x24" print for exshibition and they're fine - eyeballing close enough to give you a headache.

 

[remegius]

...though multi-exposure give a lot more detail in the shadows (which you won't see until you lift the shadows in photoshop)

Can you elaborate on this. I was going to ask earlier what are the advantages of making multiple scanning passes. I've tried it and don't notice any difference when I compare the scans side by side.

Cheers...

Rem

 

[nome_alice]

Can you elaborate on this. I was going to ask earlier what are the advantages of making multiple scanning passes. I've tried it and don't notice any difference when I compare the scans side by side.

Cheers...

Rem

Do a scan with a single pass and a scan with multi-exposure and open them up in photoshop. they'll look the same, but when you lift (brighten) the shadow areas (using curves, levels shadow/highlight - whatever your favourite method) there will be a lot more shadow detail in the multi-exposure scan. the single pass scan will have very little detail, it will look flat.

 

[nome_alice]

i've scanned some B+W on the 7600i now.

Tri-X 400 @250 Rodinal 1+50 9 minutes @ 20ºC

they've been 'processed' in photoshop so dmax etc can't been scientifically evaluated but hopefully it can be seen that the 7600i is easily good enough to deliver the goods with 35mm. just wish they'd bring out a medium format version!!!

 

[morback]

Looks very good to me. Better than what I get from my 7500 it seems. But I tend to forget the unsharp mask.

 

[Paddy C]

i've scanned some B+W on the 7600i now.

Tri-X 400 @250 Rodinal 1+50 9 minutes @ 20ºC

they've been 'processed' in photoshop so dmax etc can't been scientifically evaluated but hopefully it can be seen that the 7600i is easily good enough to deliver the goods with 35mm. just wish they'd bring out a medium format version!!!

Thanks for posting these. Would you mind (if you are able) to post a 100% crop from one of the scans? I can deliver images of this quality from my V700 at this size.

 

[nome_alice]

Thanks for posting these. Would you mind (if you are able) to post a 100% crop from one of the scans? I can deliver images of this quality from my V700 at this size.

The pictures posted in this thread are resized and sharpened courtesy of flickr. If you click through to the flickr page and click all sizes and go to 'Original' that's the uploaded image without flickr's sharpening/resizing - only 1800x1200, not full res though.

If I get time I'll save a 100% scan and upload a few crops.

My other scanner is a V700 and it's been promoted to medium format duties only. The 7600i really does burn it for 35mm.