The OFFICIAL Plustek 120 post your scans

[hanskerensky]

How is the film height being adjusted?

The Plustek Opticfilm 120 has a fixed focus so the build of the scanner and the holders should guarantee the correct distance between sensor and filmplane.

In the case of my Plustek 120 there is clearly a mis-adjustment somewhere which could only be corrected by raising the filmguides inside the holders with carton strips and in doing so increasing the distance between sensor and filmplane by about 0,6mm.

This evening i also did some focus tests with medium format film in the 6x6 holder and clearly had the same issue. This also could be corrected with strips of the same thickness as with the 35mm holder.

An image of this 6x6 test can be seen here on Flickr :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29504544@N08/8478816003/

Also be sure to have a look at the Original Size version to see the details:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29504544@N08/8478816003/sizes/o/


Will contact Plustek Support on Monday and ask if they can help me out as working with these carton strips is rather cumbersome.

 

[bwcolor]

Six mm is more than a little off. Looks like some QA issues to be worked out.

 

[clayne]

He said 0,6, aka 0.6 mm - *not* 6mm. 6mm would be wayyyy off. 🙂

 

[bwcolor]

Ahhh.. that makes more sense. Read it wrong.

 

[rdocksey]

velvia 100
mamiya 7ii 65mm f4

scanned at 5300 some sharpening in CNX2


jWindmill_resize by push2black, on Flickr


jWindmill_100crop by push2black, on Flickr

 

[rdocksey]

velvia 100
mamiya 7ii 65mm f4

scanned at 5300 no sharpening on the crop


jGrocer_resize by push2black, on Flickr


jGrocer_100crop_nosharp by push2black, on Flickr

 

[johnny.moped]

velvia 100
mamiya 7ii 65mm f4

scanned at 5300 some sharpening in CNX2


jWindmill_resize by push2black, on Flickr


jWindmill_100crop by push2black, on Flickr

oh, I see pepper grain. the same problem the coolscans had.

 

[rdocksey]

oh, I see pepper grain. the same problem the coolscans had.

I'm not familiar with this issue but I note I had sharpened that crop, here's one without sharpening - same problem?


jWindmill_100crop_nosharp by push2black, on Flickr

 

[scottyb70]

Looks like you may have oversharpened the first one.

 

[bigeye]

Another faulty unit. 🙁 We are at what, two, already, out of four? 🙁
I sure hope Plustek support will replace your scanner; still this level of production variations worries me. 🙁

Yes, it's similar to the variation I get with mature products, like Nikon lenses, of which I have had to send 1 or 2 back until I get a good one.

.

 

[bigeye]

Johnny: I'd slide the sharpening down a bit.

We're looking at crops that would print (@300dpi) to anywhere from 2 feet (@2900ppi) to over a meter @ 5300ppi square.

- Charlie

 

[Ebertoni]

Greetings everyone 😉
first time here!

I'm getting a lot of focusing problems with the opticfilm 120.
I'm an amateur photographer with a year and half experience in scanning MF with Silverfast and Epson v750 with fluid mount, I received my opticfilm 120 4 days ago from a UK seller throught Ebay, and after a lot of testing during the weekend i discovered that the scanner i received has a big focusing issue with all the film holder i tried.

Thanks to God i found this thread, tomorrow i will post some tests, but i have to admit i'm a bit depressed, Plustek seems to not be aware of the problem otherwise they should officially say something or at least they should, i guess.
Now, what do do?
Returning the scanner (money loss for sure)?
Waiting for Plustek?
Hacking the filmholder? 😉

Thanks for the attention! All the Best!
Emanuele

 

[XFer]

🙁 Why oh why they did not include focus adjustment!!!!!
We warned about this situation from the start, a year ago!! Mark, you knew it, I told you what was going to happen without adjustable focus. 🙁
All this people would have a perfectly useable scanner now!!

 

[hanskerensky]

Well Emanuele i would almost say "join the club" !

As you might have seen some postings earlier i experienced the same problem with at least 2 holders.

There is no sense in modifying the filmholders. The mis-adjustment of the focus must be corrected at its source inside the scanner. A job which (if still in warranty) only Plustek can perform. This will be a mechanical job so guess that the scanner has to be sent back to Plustek Support.

I mailed my complaint this evening to Plustek Support acompanied with photos which clearly show that my scanner is about 0.6mm out of focus. Hope they have a fast (and customer friendly) reaction !

Good thing to note is that once the scanner is in focus (i raised the filmguide with carton strips) it gives nice results so keep your spirit up !

 

[hanskerensky]

🙁 Why oh why they did not include focus adjustment!!!!!
We warned about this situation from the start, a year ago!! Mark, you knew it, I told you what was going to happen without adjustable focus. 🙁
All this people would have a perfectly useable scanner now!!

100% TRUE !

The people who designed this scanner should have known better. Even a pure mechanical adjustment, reachable from the outside, would have solved my problem and would have saved Plustek costly support hours.


btw Had a similar problem with my Canon 8800F flatbed scanner so was forced to put the film on the glass plate instead of in the holder to get max. performance.

 

[rdocksey]

without access to another scanner for comparison, is there an easy/idiotproof way of working out if the 120 has this focussing issue?

mamiya 7ii / arcros 100


jSinger_resize by push2black, on Flickr


jSinger_100crop_nosharp by push2black, on Flickr

 

[literiter]

without access to another scanner for comparison, is there an easy/idiotproof way of working out if the 120 has this focussing issue?

mamiya 7ii / arcros 100


jSinger_resize by push2black, on Flickr


jSinger_100crop_nosharp by push2black, on Flickr

If that is grain I see, and I think it is, your camera has the focus issue. That grain looks sharp to me.

Nice pic by the way.

 

[John Cox]

Just a quick question, how does the plustek compare to well calibrated epson flatbeds for Medium Format? I'm considering investing in my epson, but depending on how much more sense it makes to get a dedicated film scanner I may hold off.

 

[J. Borger]

If that is grain I see, and I think it is, your camera has the focus issue. That grain looks sharp to me.

Nice pic by the way.

What is the relationship between sharp grain and "the" focussing issue 😕

 

[brbo]

What is the relationship between sharp grain and "the" focussing issue 😕

If the grain is sharp and your subject/object is not as sharp as you would like, it means that the problem is not with the scanner but rather with focusing/camera shake/lens resolution...?