Plustek Opticfilm 7300
by Plustek
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List Price: Our Price: $250.00 You Save: $39.00 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Plustek Opticfilm 7300
Customer Review: Some tips for an excellent unit
Summary: 5 Stars
I did my due diligence before buying this scanner. Ten years ago I decided to digitize all of my negatives and slides and there was a huge selection of dedicated slide/film scanners to chose from; Nikon, Canon, Polaroid, Epson, among others. At the time, I chose a Minolta Dual Scan V with 2700 dpi.
Now only Nikon and Plustek remain available in the U.S. I wanted the Nikon V ED, but it has been discontinued and the Nikon Coolscan 2000 ED is over $2,000 with Amazon stating it "usually ships in 1-2 months." My initial preference was for the English Reflecta RP 7200 which has a 7200 dpi and Silverfast AI software., but it is not available in the U.S. and the Pacific Image 725 OU, which seems to be identical, does not include Silverfast. Amazon offered the Plustek at $[...] with Silverfast SE software and free shipping and I couldn't resist.
The Plustek arrived well packaged and setup was quite fast and simple. Documentation is minimal so reading user reviews on Amazon was very helpful in avoiding pitfalls. Specifically, I did not waste time with the Plustek software, but went directly to the Silverfast. NOTE: you MUST install the Plustek disk first because it contains the necessary drivers for the hardware. I have Photroshop CS3 on a Windows XP system with a Dual Pentium 1.7 and 4GB of RAM. I installed using the Photoshop TWAIN plug-in and was up and running in less than 20 minutes.
I strongly suggest registering the software immediately after installation so that you can download the most recent update. The version in the box is not the most recent, and may be the cause of some complaints about it not working with Photoshop and/or Macs. For some reason, I was unable to register from within Silverfast, but I went to [...] and registered without a problem. Download and save the update for future use in case you need to re-install. I would also suggest typing the serial number in your word processor and saving the document so that you can cut & paste later.
The Silverfast software has a reasonably high learning curve, but a few simple tests in the beginning showed me what worked best in my situation and also convinced me that most editing should be done in Photoshop. Specifically, I scanned a small cropped section of the same image at 2400, 3600, and 4800 dpi and compared them side by side. I found that 2400 was adequate for family photos or images that would print at 8 x 10 or smaller and 3600 worked best for me with images I intended for larger format. There was a small increase in image clarity at 4800, but not, I felt, sufficient to justify the huge increase in scanning time. I did find that running the 2X Multi-Scan feature significantly improved image detail.
One problem I encountered was that when I did my initial tests, I tried running several features at once and managed to freeze the system. I re-booted and all was well but suddenly Silverfast no longer accessed Photoshop via TWAIN. I uninstalled and re-installed twice with no improvement. An query to Silverfast via their website brought an e-mail the next day (possible corrupted TWAIN shortcut. Copy and replace it) but in the meantime I had re-installed again using the regular Photoshop/StandAlone plug-in method and all was well again.
Bottom line: The unit works beautifully.
Customer Review: great little scanner
Summary: 5 Stars
after 2 weeks and over 700 negatives and slides scanned i find very little to complain about with this scanner. i am using this under osx leopard and have not tried the windows software.
pros - depending on the quality of the negatives or slides the results can be absolutely amazing. some well preserved slides i scanned, kodak of unknown film type, at 1200 dpi produce 1.3 megabyte files of approximately 7.1 megapixles - 3320x2240 pixels. color saturation and replication was excellent using the default settings. color negatives from kodak gold 200 also scanned excellent using the default settings. slight changes to the saturation and brightness were necessary on a few of the negatives but those were a result of the lighting when the pictures were taken. for black and white negatives the default settings for kodak tmax 400 and trix 400 work very well. the only items i have needed to change are the brightness for midtones and overall brightness depending on how the picture was exposed orginally. several negatives i scanned at 2000 dpi, both color and bw, and the size of the files grows to about 11 megabytes each, 5577x3763 pixels. still excellent quality scan, just about 3 times longer to actually scan the file. i have not used the more advanced featurse for automatic scratch removal so i cannot comment on that part of the software. if your negatives or slides have been stored in protective sleeves, the 3 hole punch style with 6 sleeves for 6 pictures each seem to have worked best for me, the results can be fantastic. a few color negatives i have tried that were loose in the packets ritz camera would return your pictures in have a had a lot of scratches on the negatives.
cons - 1. the software will not work without stamping a big DEMO text across the scans unless you register it thru the internet. this is lousy! especially as the software provided is an SE version. read Special Edition with less features than a full version. 2. user name has to be capital first letter of first name and capital first letter of last name. you cannot type your user name in all caps or all lowercase. registration fails otherwise but does not tell you why. 3. how do you this on a machine that does not have access to the internet? i.e. a dedicated workstation in an office would not be able to use it. 4. sometimes when scanning bw negatives the saturation will wig out and the displayed color will change to a purplish hue. turning the saturation setting to the lowest setting corrects this but i am not sure why it happens in the first place.
neutral - as stated by others scanning is a little slow. you will not scan your entire collection in a weekend. considering the amount of tweaking i have done on underexposed or overexposed pictures i can see automatic scanning might not be best for everyone.
final comments - on osx after the scan is complete the file is opened with preview so you can rotate it then if you need to. i would recommend this scanner to someone else who has the time, the collection, and the desire to scan a lot of negatives or slides. the only negative, pun intended, i have is the software registration - especially for an SE version of software.
Customer Review: RE: Plustek Model 7300 OpticFilm Scanner
Summary: 5 Stars
RE: About Model 7300 OpticFilm
Dear Plustek:
My company, Polymer Valley Media Corporation based in Fairlawn,
Ohio USA is the Master Licensor of the largest privately-held single-artist
fine-art collection of its kind in the world; the Lowell S.V. Devin Collection
of Drawings and Paintings.
After researching several popular slide scanner brands and models
we chose the Plustek OpticFilm 7300 (w/Silverfast SE Plus) to commence
initial testing from hundreds of 35mm Kodachrome 64 archive slides of
the collection taken throughout the mid-1980's and 1990's.
Although we had prior commercially-prepared digitized slide files
from the collection, simplicity of use and 'first-person' quality control
of results from your Plustek OpticFilm 7300 were voted better than
those from the commercial lab.
The Value of the Human Factor:
This is especially critical in balancing legacy-integrity
of both art and (its) attending 35mm photo-archive record,
prioritized individual attention your Plustek product most
assuredly provides. For us, output continuity is everything,
the advantage of an all-purpose scanner such as your
OpticFilm 7300, the result being more natural, not
over-processed looking results.
We wish to share our story with Plustek
and invite decoration markets and manufacturers
worldwide to preview and compare our historic results.
Respectfully,
David B. Keller
Founder & Exec. Director
[...]
&
Pres. & Chairman
Polymer Valley Media Corporation
3867 W. Market Street #400
Akron,OH 44333 U.S.A.
Customer Review: Very capable scanner at a great value.
Summary: 5 Stars
After getting back into 35mm film shooting, I was finding scanning with my Epson V500 very frustrating. Even with ANR glass inserts, it was still hard to avoid Newton Rings on my images. While the medium format scanning was great, something was lacking on the 35mm end. So I started searching for an affordable option that would yield acceptable results.
As far as a dedicated 35 scanner goes, the Nikon Coolscans are top of the food chain, and out of my price range. I searched Flickr for a couple of weeks and viewed images scanned with different equipment. I decided I liked what I saw with the 7300 so I ordered it up. Amazon's shipping was ridiculously quick, by the way.
What I get from the 7300 is beyond what I could have expected at this price point. The Silverfast software packaged with the scanner is $120 by itself. It is a very powerful piece of software with a tremendous amount of control. Once I got the basic understanding of the software suite down, the very first scan was amazing. It was the same sized tiff that I would get from the V500, but the detail in the grain was so sharp! I'm still blown away at the sharpness that this little scanner is able to read. When enlarging a file in Photoshop, it's just like looking through a grain magnifier in the darkroom. The negative holder holds the film very, very flat. Most film would have to be flattened under the weight of books for a day or two just to get a half way decent scan with the Epson.
While it is missing some features, such as digital ICE, and auto-feed, it works perfectly for my needs. I also wish I was able to scan 100% of the image, borders included, but it's pretty close. The actual footprint of the scanner is tiny too, easy to fit on a desk.
I love it and wouldn't hesitate to buy it.
Customer Review: Plustek to the Rescue
Summary: 5 Stars
This scanner is a marvel! It arrived less than 24 hours after I'd place the
order, and it has changed my life! I'd struggled with terrible name-brand
flat-bed scanners for years [they produced terrible noise in the shadows and
were dead-slow at resolutions above 200dpi] in my efforts to digitalize a
collection of many thousands of treasured 35mm slides dating back 50 years.
Not only is this scanner incredibly fast compared to the my old ones, but it
does a triple pass for every slide, then averages the results to produce
images that are beautiful and have no noise in the shadows. I've succeeded
in making wonderful pictures from slides that were terrible! One set, very
important to family memories, taken in 1969 at a special occasion, had been
unusable due to inadequate flash technique [they made everyone look like
stainless steel; i.e., no flesh tones and gleaming highlights]. Due to the
capacity to try different resolutions [up to 7200dpi] and then use the
remarkable software to achieve optimal tones, I was able to resurrect the
entire collection, with the exception of a few that had been hopelessly
underexposed. Trouble with finding the detente position for the slide carriage
reported for earlier/other models has been eliminated on this model. While I
can't just set it and walk away the way commercial processors would have to
do, I'm thoroughly delighted with this unit. Thank you, Plustek & AOL.