Plustek has died

[EoinC]

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Update on Plustek 7600.  A new 8100 joined the family today.  I unboxed it and set it up almost immediately.  Once I connected it to the computer I deleted my old versions of Silverfast 6 and 8 and loaded the new version of Silverfast 8.  Of course, it did not work.  I called Plustek and was instantly connected with a young lady named Bubbles.  She was very professional, friendly and knowledgable.  It took a few minutes for her to figure out what was wrong, but she got my computer and scanner working perfectly.  I took an old scan from a recent roll and scanned one of the negatives again.  Attached is a reduced copy of that scan.  I am happy again with Plustek and their excellent service.  

 

Wayne 

Excellent, Wayne. I'm pleased to hear that your Plustek relationship has been restored, as I have also recently bought one. I haven't experimented at all, but am happy with the results so far (using Vuescan).

[gbealnz]

That makes at least three very happy Plustek customers.

 

Your comment about the Canon is timely Wayne.

 

I have returned to M/F, got the itch, and scratched it. Now I find the BEOON is not really doing as good as I want, so have tried a couple of other options, heck I even "scanned" a couple of older slides (6x6 and 6x4.5) today with the X-Vario and an Elpro, don't laugh. The results were astounding, better than the similar attempt with my usual Fuji X-E1 and 50mm Summicron R plus Elpro. I'll post these on the I Like Film thread.

 

But I can buy a new Canon at a decent price, found out today, so am considering that as well, specifically the 9000F Mkii. Use the Plustek for 35mm, the Canon for proof sheets plus M/F. Good plan?

Gary

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[250swb]

A dedicated 35mm scanner and a photo flatbed for medium and large format and contact sheets is the perfect setup. But I would go for an Epson V700 or V800 over the Canon. The Canon can scan 48 bit colour but only output 24 bit colour, and for B&W where subtle tone is King it is worse, the Canon can only output 8 bit Greyscale. Conversely the Epson can scan and output 48 bit and 16 bit.

[gbealnz]

Perfect Steve, greatly appreciated, just the sort of information I need.

Miserable I am but not that miserable.

Gary

[too old to care]

I agree, the Epson is superior in every way, except cost.  I will keep mine, but when it fails a new Epson will replace it.  Problem is, it may never fail.  

 

Wayne

[gbealnz]

Steve,

A clarification if you could. Cut and paste from the Canon 9000F Mkii specs. Does this mean that it will output in 24bit colour, and 16 bit B&W, or not?

 

Scanning gradation (colour)

  48bit input -> 48/24 bit output Scanning gradation (greyscale) 48 bit input -> 16 bit (Film scanning only) / 8 bit output

 

 

The Epson (V700 in this case) is a bit more specific, although it does state the output is also dependent on the editing software.

 

Color Bit Depth: 48-bits per pixel internal / external¹

Grayscale Bit Depth: 16-bits per pixel internal / external¹

 

Still of the same opinion, the Canon is "inferior" because of the output?

Gary

[250swb]

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It is written in a confusing way but it seems to mean you can scan in 48 bit colour to 16 bit Greyscale but the output is 8 bit. I guess sometimes it may be best to scan in colour because you have three colour channels to gather the information, such as if you want to scan a colour negative to B&W (but you would do better scanning it in full colour and converting to B&W in post processing). But with a B&W negative you don't want to scan at 48 bit colour even though it is possible because it adds the additional noise of two redundant colour channels. In fact the advantage of using Vuescan is that it can easily use just one of the colour channels and scan in Greyscale, that way you can (with testing) choose the sharpest colour channel of your scanner (usually green). I should add that while we are talking about scanning in Greyscale images should be saved as more flexible 16 bit RGB TIFF files.

 

Steve

Edited July 7, 2016 by 250swb

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...But with a B&W negative you don't want to scan at 48 bit colour even though it is possible because it adds the additional noise of two redundant colour channels....

 

Testing this hypothesis might be worthwhile.

 

Scanning at a depth of 48 bits to TIFF and discarding two of the three channels might have the advantage of a greater depth, of course. In addition, it prevents the scanner from adding the three channels into one, thus avoiding any problems registering the three channels. Also, if the originals (prints, in my case) have stains, it's easier to remove them if the full color information is available. Often, stains are rather monochromatic. 

[chrism]

Gary,

I have a working order Epson 4870 (110V) that has been replaced by a V850 so I can scan 10x8 negatives. I suspect that shipping it to NZ would cost more than paying for one locally, but if you want it you can have it and its film holders.

 

C.

[gbealnz]

Thank you Chris. I'll PM you.

Gary