I've noticed that there are some new slide and film scanners hitting the market. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a decent scanner to do reasonably good scans of decent slides and 35mm film I took prior to digital. I noticed that some scan at a resolution of 7200 dpi. Is this enough to print the photo, and how big?
Seems like the most advertised scanner is the Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE Film Scanner. Does anyone have any experience with this unit?
Thanks.
Bill
The Plustek 8200i cannot batch scan. You have to manually advance each frame. I think you can get about the same image quality from flatbed scanners. The Epson V600 and V700 allow you to scan several 35mm positive or negative frames in a batch. You're not going to get noticeably better quality without going to a drum scanner.
I have both the V600 and the 8200ai. Part of my retirement project to digitize 35 years worth of my pre-digital film plus a few dozen Kodak carousels inherited from my wife’s and my grandparents.
The 8200 does 7200 dpi, the V600 is close at 6400. The V600 does batch scan and I have extra carrier trays to have the next group ready to go. Batch is fine for slides after pre screening them with a small viewer. Batch scanning negative strips is not always beneficial, unless you want everything on the strip. Do like the V600 for photos.
The 8200ai is a nice size, takes up significantly less space. I got used to advancing one at a time pretty quickly but it’s good to have extra holders ready for the next set/strip ready to go.
Bottom line is they both give very good results. I prefer the 8200’s operation, results and size. Honestly haven’t tried printing anything yet. Besides film I’m also digitizing video and I still have a ways to go.
jtford9 wrote:
I have both the V600 and the 8200ai. Part of my retirement project to digitize 35 years worth of my pre-digital film plus a few dozen Kodak carousels inherited from my wife’s and my grandparents.
The 8200 does 7200 dpi, the V600 is close at 6400.
7200 only possible on drum scanner, even Imacon lacks it.
Flatbed Epsons (I have V750 Pro flatbed Epson and had Nikon 4000 and Minolta Multi Pro - now flatbed but highly regarded in the industry) reached a liitle under 3000 dpi, and it depends on film flatness etc. issues.
Plustek could advertize even 10000, 14000 etc. and maybe such pixels will be there - interpolated and blurry, but not details.
No way. To say nothing of details supposedly stored in film (not stohastic grain crystal conglomerates).
So, film flatness provided by holder, focus ability, IR cleaning and software convenience is more imporant.
I am awaiting the delivery of a 300mm AS rail to mount my PS-4 film holder to scan a filing cabinet worth of transparencies and neg's. It will all be done in camera, Z9 w/105mm MC, so that is another solution if you already own the camera gear.
q-w-z wrote:
So, film flatness provided by holder, focus ability, IR cleaning and software convenience is more imporant.
100% agree, especially the ability of the holder to ensure film is flat. IR cleaning is also a must unless one wants to spend hours retouching their scanned images.
I spoke to the "scanner" guy at B&H who told me that both Braun and Pacific Image make pretty good scanners for film and slides. He said to avoid Plustek, it's not good for professionals or people who want good results and they are good enough to make 8x10's with them. The Plustek scanners are good for people who just want internet photos to show family members. He recommended the
scanner except it's $2,773, which is a lot of money. However, it processes a lot of slides or film very quickly and at a very high megapixel (15.3 mp) so you get a high-quality picture. He also recommended this Braun for $349, which is also 15.3 MP, but you have to hand-feed every slide or photo by hand. I guess it depends on your time. I don't mind hand-feeding because I don't have the money to spend on such an expensive investment. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1634150-REG/braun_64400_reflecta_combo_album_scan.html
Many years ago I bought an Epson V5000 scanner that comes with slide trays and is supposed to scan both film and slides, and it does an okay job, but it takes a really long time and it doesn't correct hair or dirt or anything. I use it as a regular scanner and a photo scanner now. Just not worth being a slide scanner. I hope that if I get one of these slide scanners, they will work a lot better! let me know if you have one and how it works out. Good luck.
I've used the Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE Film Scanner for years and have gotten great results with Tri-x negatives. Even made a 20x24 metal print. It's possible with a good negative.
