Scanner for 120/135: Nikon 8/9000/Braun FS120/Epson

[SaveKodak]

I too have the PF120 and found it excellent. You can even get a glass mount for it to do wet scans! With Vuescan I'm thrilled with extremely detailed scans and high dmax. Very comparable to results I got from a CS9000 I used years back.

 

[philipus]

Could you post a few results? And have you tried to wet mount with it?

br
Philip

I too have the PF120 and found it excellent. You can even get a glass mount for it to do wet scans! With Vuescan I'm thrilled with extremely detailed scans and high dmax. Very comparable to results I got from a CS9000 I used years back.

 

[roscoetuff]

SaveKodak: Ditto philipus's note.

Philipus: Thanks for your help. Enjoyed the shots on your web page. Thanks also for the texts posted there. Looking forward to reading them.

 

[phrons]

You can get surprising results with a flatbed.

As mentioned already before, if you want to do a big print you probably have to get it rescanned via drum scan anyways.

How many times do you even print 11x14?

How many times do you print bigger than that?

I have a v550 and I can get pretty good prints from 35mm 5x7. Passable prints 8x10. 120 I can get cropped 8x10 and it looks really good.

The most important question is how often do you print?

 

[roscoetuff]

Phrons: Well meant no doubt, but as I've re-entered photography via digital with a high res sensor, I'm used to printing big with an Epson Surecolor P800. Big prints show me everything... the good and the bad, and they are a great motivator for better shooting. My basement walls are full of them. Fairly.... no where else. So I print big for myself. Maybe it's an ego indulgence, maybe it's not. Seems to be working for me. But whatever floats your boat.

 

[philipus]

Thank you Skip, I appreciate it.

I wet mount myself using the Coolscan 9000 (but only medium format films) so I'm curious about the results from a modern scanner.

Btw, how do you find the P800 in terms of clogging of the nozzles?

Br
Philip

SaveKodak: Ditto philipus's note.

Philipus: Thanks for your help. Enjoyed the shots on your web page. Thanks also for the texts posted there. Looking forward to reading them.

 

[roscoetuff]

Philipus: Never had a clogged nozzle. I've owned it about a year and it can go a month or two with no use and then bingo, prints just fine. And it prints b-e-a-u-t-f-u-l-l-y. Love the output.

My "new" scanner came and I've just dropped it off for a tune-up. Fellow does hybrid like many of the rest of us: Nikon film-icam with scans to print on a Canon. He's using some plastic-type sheet that looks like a wet print. Nice work.

 

[Ted Striker]

I'm surprised no one has gone with a Plustek OpticFilm 120. It's a damn good scanner. I've been exceptionally happy with mine for now almost 2 years.

 

[SaveKodak]

I'm surprised no one has gone with a Plustek OpticFilm 120. It's a damn good scanner. I've been exceptionally happy with mine for now almost 2 years.

I think the problem is that they were so inconsistent. I bought one with high hopes, but it had consistent and severe banding. It seems some people got great units, others like me got junk. I returned mine and a while later got the Pacific Image PF120. It seems to have to same inconsistency, but out of luck I ended up with a good unit. Now I love that scanner.

 

[Ted Striker]

I think the problem is that they were so inconsistent. I bought one with high hopes, but it had consistent and severe banding. It seems some people got great units, others like me got junk. I returned mine and a while later got the Pacific Image PF120. It seems to have to same inconsistency, but out of luck I ended up with a good unit. Now I love that scanner.

Well any product can have the occasional lemon. Look at how many lenses people go through looking for a good one!

I just checked and the Plustek 120 is now on sale at B & H. $300 off the regular price.

I've got a scan going right now on my 120 as I type this.

 

[giganova]

I have the Plustek 8100 or 8200. Took 3 hours to do a roll of 35mm.

You are either doing something wrong or have the wrong software. At 4,000 dpi, a 35mm scan takes me 90 seconds on my Plustek 8100 and VueScan. That's one hour total, not three.

 

[giganova]

Timely thread, I'm in the market for a 120 scanner as well.

Could I use VueScan with the Epson V600?

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

FWIW, I just had a terrific experience with Coolscan service by eBay seller Nikon_Coolscan. He's in Takoma Park, suburban DC. I highly recommend this guy.

 

[roscoetuff]

giganova: Nope. THat's the way that hunk of junk works: SLow. And it's 36 shots. THe Nikon Coolscan can do some automation which speeds up even 120 rolls. Much higher res and better output. Lovin'' it!

 

[giganova]

giganova: Nope. THat's the way that hunk of junk works: SLow.

Not true, VueScan is about twice as fast as the Silverfast software, with the same hardware.

 

[giganova]

I'm on the fence buying a 120 film scanner and boiled it down to either the Epson V600 or V800. Wanted to take advantage of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales with $200 for the V600 and $750 for the V800. I read some direct comparison and the V800 seems to be having a higher resolution (plus an LED light with no warm-up time and longer life time), but I'm not sure the marginal improvement justifies the higher costs.

Question: do these scanners allow scanning the borders of the negatives? I LOVE seeing the black frames around the negatives and the frame numbers imprinted on the film.

 

[roscoetuff]

Giganova: Depends on the setup and DPI resolution. I can only vouch for my own comparison. Silverfast has some more intuitive features. But FWIW, I'm using Vuescan with the Nikon Coolscan 8000 and it works great. Not fast, but reasonably automated.

Were I to get a flatbed scanner, I would get the Epson v700 or higher just in order to be able to put 2 strips of negatives side-by-side for scanning at one time. If that's not important to you, then the price on the v600 at $200 or so is darn good. While you might be able to do this with one of the earlier models, the holders for the v700 and later are set up for this. Getting one on Black Friday might be a GREAT thing.

Other (new) choices: Plustek 120 and the Braun 120. The scanner review website said they used to carry both but found the inconsistent quality of the Plustek reason to drop it from the lines that they retail. Used - if you're willing to go there, I'd look at v700... or maybe the Nikon Coolscan 8000 or 9000. My 8000 was roughly $800. But be sure to have the seller double box it before shipping as they are heavy, and routinely damaged in shipping. There is also a flaw in the design of the front door I've finally replaced with a brass door.