Plustek or epson flatbed ?

A

Alan Clark

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About 20 years ago when I wanted to make digital prints from scanned negatives, I bought an Epson V700 flatbed scanner. It gave nice results with 120 and 5x4 film, but I wasn't too happy with 35mm. So eventually I bought a Minolta 35mm film scanner. When this stopped working I got a Nikon 35mm film scanner, and when I could no longer run this, took another look at scanning 35mm film on the V700. For a few years snow I have been getting quite nice results. Prints compare favourably with wet prints which I still do in my darkroom. But I have been wondering about getting a Plustek film scanner. Does anyone use one of these? Would a Plustek film scanner give me something what I'm not getting with the Epson V700 flatbed?

Alan
 
I still use my Nikon Scanner with unmodified software! The answer is to buy a laptop which is still running Windows XP and use that solely for the scanner. Yes XP will still be 'unsupported' by Microsoft but it does not need to be connected to the internet and will work quite happily as it is and infinitum. I scan and then save the files onto a memory stick from the 'Pictures' folder, then transfer the files to my desktop to be worked upon.

If you get rid of all the other files that you do not really need in the XP Laptop, any antivirus can go, games can go and it will run surprisingly quickly.

Using your Nikon scanner (if you still have it) will give you all the Nikon features that a Plustec doesn't have. The Digital ICE on the Nikon is in my opinion unsurpassed to get rid of dust and scratches. In addition the D Max of the Nikon is greater than any current flatbed and if you wish you can always scan in RAW, again which is not available in any current flatbed I know of. The D Max of a Nikon Coolscan V is 4.2, the closest Flatbed is the Epson V800 which is 3.9. I think from what I have seen there is not a flatbed scanner that will equal a dedicated film scanner for quality and sharpness

Or you can invest in alternative software such as Vuescan or Silverfast which will allow you to use a Nikon Scanner or a Minolta version with Windows 10 on a laptop or desk top computer. I don't know much about those, but apparently they work reasonably well.

There is a company near Norwich where I got my XP laptop called Value Computers. They are reliable and efficient. Tel 01603 721982
 
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Toby Webster said:
Just get vuescan and use the Nikon.
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The beauty of VueScan is that you don't need to go looking for legacy computers to run old scanners, it handles an enormous range of otherwise "incompatible" scanners, as long as the connectors are not someone like SCSI. Anything with USB connection should be fine.

But if, for some reason, you really want to run XP only software, you don't need to get another computer, simply install it in a VMWare virtual machine on your existing computer
 
I know little about the Plustek scanners. The upper-level ones seem to offer an impressively (unnecessarily?) high resolution. I am aware that you can only do one scan at a time, possibly a relevant downside. I recall reading some reviews a while back that weren't entirely glowing, worth doing a search.

The Nikon legacy scanners can be found out there. The IVED is good, the 4000 (the same but with improved resolution) and V both better. The downside is slightly temperamental circuit boards - they need care, especially the latter two with their firewire connections. They can though be repaired.

I believe that all are significantly better than any flatbed for 35mm.

Also worth looking into pixlatr, new but very simple tech.
 
Thanks Toby. Much food for thought here.
Bye the way, what scaner do you use for your 120 negatives?

Alan
 
On our level, I don't think the Nikon scanners have ever been surpassed. I have had mine serviced (Coolscan V - There is a guy near Doncaster does them) and it is as good now as it ever was. In his words the mechanics of the scanner are bomb proof as are the optics and sensor, but didn't make any comment on the other bits and pieces.

Mine only has a USB connection which is plenty fast enough for me, but what puts it above other scanners is the ability to scan in RAW. None of the others can do do this.
 
I use a Coolscan 9000ED Alan. I've also got a IVED and a 4000ED, both of which need to be serviced. The latter has the firewire card issues, the IV needs a good clean.
 
Toby this may help you .

The person who lives near Doncaster who can service Nikon Scanners is actually in Lincolnshire so not far from from Doncaster. The last time I was in contact with him was way back in November 2020.

The website is www.lincolnscan.co.uk and his E mail is coolscanuk@gmail.com and the person who does the work is called Graeme Hardie.

Because of Covid I didn't get my scanner serviced but it seems he is still in business (His website was updated in July this year) if you need to get in touch with him.
You have prompted me that mine still needs doing, so have sent him an E mail to see when it can be done.
 
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Toby and John, many thanks. I'm having a rethink about how I do things so your comments were very helpful.

Alan
 
I sent the E mail and to my surprise I got a reply almost by return. I am dropping it off at his place and then visiting a friend as well who I have not seen for years. So yes he is still active, I am waiting for a quote for cleaning only and a turn around time. so will post it when I get it
 
John King said:
Toby this may help you .

The person who lives near Doncaster who can service Nikon Scanners is actually in Lincolnshire so not far from from Doncaster. The last time I was in contact with him was way back in November 2020.

The website is www.lincolnscan.co.uk and his E mail is coolscanuk@gmail.com and the person who does the work is called Graeme Hardie.

Because of Covid I didn't get my scanner serviced but it seems he is still in business (His website was updated in July this year) if you need to get in touch with him.
You have prompted me that mine still needs doing, so have sent him an E mail to see when it can be done.
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Thanks John. Yes, I am aware of him. Indeed I passed his details on to Martin some while back. I picked him up from 'the Nikon Coolscan Users' facebook page, which is a quite useful resource.
 
Hello everyone,
This is my first post here on this forum and would like to share my experience scanning 35mm film after about 10 years of experience fooling with it. I have put in many painstaking hours to find the best quality scanning equipment and software for 35mm film that I can find. Below is a list of the scanners I am familiar with and specifically for scanning Ilford black and white films as well as E6 slide films.

Scanners I have experience with on multiple formats and all using Silverfast Ai versions 6-9:
- Epson v700
- Minolta DiMAGE 5400 V1
- Plustek 8200Ai
- Pacific Image Prime Film XEs

Limited hands on experience:
- Heidelberg s3900 drum scanner
- DSLR and copy stand
- Noritsu

For dedicated black and white at home I think the Minolta 5400 is my favorite scanner for image size/true dpi (around 5400), details/DMAX and sharpness. I have compared it to the same negatives scanned with the Nikon scanners in the past and for 35mm specifically I would always take the Minolta. That said they are both the best, expensive, hard to find in good shape and hard to drive these days and so I would no longer recommend buying one unless you want to invest lots of time in setup and maintenance.
Instead I will recommend the Prime Film XEs scanner (in the Europe I believe it is sold under the name Reflecta Proscan 10T or a newer model). It is a quirky and unassuming looking little hunk of plastic that retails for about $400 USD. It comes with a terrible proprietary scanning software that I do not use. Instead I use Silverfast Ai studio from which I get excellent results. I did an extensive head to head test with this scanner and my Plustek 8200Ai on both black and white as well as slide film. In the end the PI XEs outperformed the plustek in both dmax and sharpness. I tested and compared them using same Silverfast Ai software and both were IT8 calibrated with a slide target. I scanned with the Plustek at 7200dpi (it's true max dpi is about 3200ish or less) and the PI XEs at 5000dpi (true max dpi is between 4-5000dpi). The Plustek is a fine scanner, well built (better than the PI XEs), simple single mirror reflection of the led lit negative through the lens onto the sensor and with good company support. It also has decent profiling for operation through the third party Silverfast software. I think its a quality product that could have a little better resolution in the end. That said it is fathoms better then 35mm images scanned with a flatbed like an epson (no matter how well tuned you gave the focus plane on the Epson). It produces excellent accurate color when calibrated and the negative detail range is decent until you get to the most dense of ranges around zone 8 or 9 if 10 is your max on your scale. I think the eye on the PI XEs is just better resolving and honestly I think the DMAX difference has more to do with the strength of the LED light source illuminating the negative then any technical advantage. When calibrated with a target the richness of black and white and color fidelity of slides are excellent with both scanners. I think the Plustek would benefit greatly from either a higher resolving more stopped down lens and or a manual focus control. The PI XEs (while fixed focus) seems to have a much greater depth of field for its in focus range which helps to accommodate some buckle and flex in the negative without sacrificing details.
Both scanners are of very simple construction with a manual feed negative carrier. Neither are fast machines and so I recommend the use of a phone app to take a picture of your negatives placed on a light table and then invert them to evaluate. Then carefully select those you will consider for scan preview and finals. There is an automated feed and focus version of the Prime Film called XAs in the US that is more expensive but from what I can tell its added features are not high quality and its bolstered specs are just hype. I think you will get just as much out of the XEs manual version for your money. Both of these scanners are supported by the manufacturer for firmware and drivers. Both are supported by the latest OS and by Silverfast and I believe VueScan as well. The resolving power of the Plustek is easily accommodated for with a little post sharpening. So if you prefer the better build then dont let that stop you. there is more to this art then just sharpness.

A note about scanning software:
I have used Epson scan, VueScan and Silverfast as well as Linocolor for the commercial machines. In the end I think Silverfast is as good as it gets! They have lots of experience with all things film scans and their software, while bloated, reflects that. I find the automated IT8 calibration, ME tool, and negafix are invaluable. Also, I notice that Silverfast does a superior job at automatically selecting the best color channel to scan a given black and white negative with. I don't really fool around with their editing and automation tools so I don't have an opinion on that. I just use it to get a flat, calibrated, scan with the full range of tones at 16 or 48 bit depth. VueScan will do a fine job as well but I prefer Silverfast and seem to get better results specifically from their Ai software version...your mileage may very.
If you get a manual feed scanner I recommend either scuffing/sanding the carrier surface or painting it with matte grill paint so the shine from the carrier in the LED light does not flare into your negatives during scan.
I hope Plustek gets their production on the pro 120 going and at a much more reasonable price. I think the upgrades on that machine may be exactly what we are all looking for for 120/35mm scanning...I am anxious to try one out.

I hope this opinion helps. I felt like sharing some of my experience after coming to this site from a link on a helpful video on printing posted by Martin Henson. Thank you very much Martin!
 
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