The OFFICIAL Plustek 120 post your scans

Just an update concerning the focus problem i experienced with my unit. Plustek Support Germany asked me to send the scanner to them to have it re-adjusted. Good show !
 
I'm still waiting for the WOWness that makes me want to buy this scanner...
There have been some sharp examples of 35mm frames, but I have a coolscan for that.
I am currently using a V700 for MF, and I know there's more than just sharpness, but this is a Mamiya 7 neg that I scanned and downsized to 5000x4000 as a test scan for the film (Velvia) as well a sharpness test for the V700.
Sorry if I am spamming the wrong thread, as this is NOT a Plustek 120 scan - but this is a neg I would like to try on the 120 to compare.
I have not seen enough yet to convince me that the OF120 is definitely worth it. I'm sure when things are ironed out I will be convinced.. but not for now.
The lower right on this neg seems to be the sharpest point, would love to see a side-by-side of this for my own entertainment between the v700 and the OF120! :)


Mamiya 7 + Velvia 50 Test Shot by B.O.D, on Flickr
 
@BOD, please fix your post. As you can see, you just killed the thread with a ridiculously huge picture.

Post a smaller (max 800px) picture and those who want can have a look at full res picture on your flickr.
 
@BOD, please fix your post. As you can see, you just killed the thread with a ridiculously huge picture.

Post a smaller (max 800px) picture and those who want can have a look at full res picture on your flickr.

I have no idea what you're talking about.. if you look at the picture, I think you'll find it's 800px on the longest end.....



:)



...now!
 
Just an update concerning the focus problem i experienced with my unit. Plustek Support Germany asked me to send the scanner to them to have it re-adjusted. Good show !

I've been in contact with Plustek and have submitted requested scanning results.

I'm sure return correspondence is forthcoming.
 
Regarding less sharp scanning results with the 35 mm film holder Plustek Germany wrote me today, that they are aware of this issue due to customer responses and that the R&D department shall take care of it. Plustek Germany apologized and stated, that they are working on this issue with high pressure.

The German text sounds somehow artificial to me, as if the wording had iterated several times between the marketing department and the management. I am looking forward to a solution, but Plustek Germany did not mention when and how this issue might be fixed.

Happy scanning

Guido
 
Regarding less sharp scanning results with the 35 mm film holder Plustek Germany wrote me today, that they are aware of this issue due to customer responses and that the R&D department shall take care of it. Plustek Germany apologized and stated, that they are working on this issue with high pressure.

The German text sounds somehow artificial to me, as if the wording had iterated several times between the marketing department and the management. I am looking forward to a solution, but Plustek Germany did not mention when and how this issue might be fixed.

Happy scanning

Guido

Is it possible for you to make a measurement of the filmplane height of the different holders ?
I measured 3 of them and did not find any concerning deviations. Couple of 1/100 of mm's.

My scanner was picked up today and is on its way to Plustek Germany.
 
I already tried yesterday, but my measuring equipment is not as accurate as yours. I also did not measure a significant difference, but it is hard for me to measure with a precision better than about 0.2 mm.

Yesterday I tried to build a test target of film material. I cutted a part out and shiftet it upwards and cutted another part out and shifted it downwards from the plane of the film folder. I could see that the best sharpness is about in the plane of the film, but the accuracy was not sufficient to detect something suspicious.

I ordered an USAF 1951 test target from Lasersoft instead, tonight. It shall come as a mounted 35 mm slide, but I will sure be able to unmount it and place it in any holder. My aim is to compare the resolution between all holders. When the warranty time is over I might use it to adjust the focus inside the scanner if necessary.
 
Yes, good idea about that test target, that should give you a good reference source !

The scanner shop Scandig in München also sells such a transparant target but that one not mounted in a slide.
 
Wow, I really did kill the thread didn't I! :p
Not one post in a week? Has everyone just given up on this scanner?
 
I scanned an USAF 1951 target with the Plustek 120 and three different holders:
35mm slide holder
35mm film holder
6x6 film holder

in two different settings:
5300 dpi mode
10600 dpi mode.

You can download the files from Dropbox, I hope it will work. I scanned the files in 48 Bit HDR mode and reduced the bit depth later in Photoshop to 24 bits. But please be aware, that the file size is still about 30 Mbyte for the 5300 dpi files and 120 Mbyte for the 10600 dpi files. Her are the links, file names are self explaning:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/unyexsx3mbhqn5l/Plustek120_6x6-holder_05300dpi.tif?m
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1gbmawd0sew66rs/Plustek120_6x6-holder_10600dpi.tif?m
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uusckzo3ffsv1m4/Plustek120_35mmFilm-holder_05300dpi.tif?m
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mupudy6zo8ywhvx/Plustek120_35mmFilm-holder_10600dpi.tif?m
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rt54qsz7awe8abr/Plustek120_35mmSlide-holder_05600dpi.tif?m
https://www.dropbox.com/s/znv3iyp6321cn65/Plustek120_35mmSlide-holder_10600dpi.tif?m

I scanned the target only once for each mode, so there is no statistics about random changes of the sharpness due to random changes in the holder's or the target's position.

Please notice that I turned the target 90 degrees between the 35 mm slide holder and the other two.

My first conclusions:
In 10600 dpi mode the resolution is different between the motor transport direction and the scanline's direction. The latter seems to have a sampling frequency of 5300 dpi and upsampling by a factor of two is used to match the sampling frequency of the stepper motor. But 10600 dpi mode gives no significant advantage in resolution, so 5300 dpi mode is sufficient.

The resolution in the green channel is better than in the red channel or in the blue channel. Setting green to maximum in the SC2G expert dialog (90% green, 5% red, 5% blue) will give slightly sharper results in black and white scanning.

As already mentioned earlier the resolution using my 35 mm film holder is significantly lower than using one of the other two holders. I talked to Plustek Germany on the phone on Friday, and they are aware of this problem but have no solution yet.

Do you experts in scanning can draw other interesting conclusions out of the scans?

My scanner seems to have another problem. After switching the unit on only the blue channel is working. It takes some time, between a few minutes and one hour, until the red and the green channel are working too. I suspected problems with the software first, but currently I am convinced after some experiments, that it is related to the scanner hardware. Does anyone of you have the same problem?

Once it works the scanner does not show this failure again until it has been switched off for a longer time. But there a lot of negatives waiting, so the scanner stays switched on as long as possible ...

Happy scanning

Guido
 
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