Plustek OpticFilm 7500i SE Comments/Help?

[jbylake]

To keep up with my jones for 35mm film, I just couldn't keep a darkroom anymore, so I decided to go with a negative/slide scanner. I don't know very many people (around here) that do film anymore, so I had to go with what I read on websites about various scanners. The Nikon Coolscan was my first choice, but pricey.

So, I went with the Plustek, which came in a couple of days ago. My schedule has been hectic, and I haven't even been able to open the box yet, much less study the manual and try it out.

I'm not asking anyone to do my homework for me, but if you have any experience with this unit, and can offer up some advice concerning tricks/pitfalls/etc..to try or avoid I would really appreciate it.

Or If you just want to add your opinions, negative or positive, I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say. I hope it at least to give high resolution scans of B&W neg's, and color would be nice also. Anyway, I'd appreciate any comments that you might have concerning your experience with this scanner.

Thanks ahead, and remember: "beer isn't just for breakfast anymore"

J.:mrgreen:

 

[jbylake]

No Love/Hate for one of these??

J.:mrgreen:

 

[Derrel]

I don't have this specific brand of scanner, but I do have experience scanning film with other scanners. One tip on B&W film,especially older, traditional silver-based film like Tri-X or Plus-X or Ilford HP-5,etc is to scan it using the softeare settings for "Color Positive" or "Color Reversal" or "Color Slide",and then invert the resulting scan. Older, traditional film types might or might not scan quite right with the Plustek's software package--scanners almost invariably work better with the newer, dye-based B&W films called chromogenic films.

If your B&W film scans look really grainy, or are too chalky, or just don't look fantastic, feel free to scan them as if they were color positive film, and invert. That will often give a significantly better scanning result. Scanning film is largely about software and profiles. The profiles for color negative films for example, help compensate for the inherent color cast of the film base,so make sure you select the correct profile when scanning color negatives.

Finally, VueScan software VueScan Scanner Software is sort of like the Photoshop of the scanning world. This software is much better,and faster, at operating most scanners than the software that comes direct from the scanner manufacturers. My last tip: clean your film before scanning it. get an anti-static film cleaning brush from a darkroom supply place,and maybe some canned air. The cleaner the film, the cleaner the scan!