Modern 35mm optimized scanner?

EASmithV · May 1, 2012

I love shooting 35mm with my Nikons, but my darkroom is a PITA and limited to BW, so I do a lot of scanning... MY V700 dosen't cut it for small format, and the better scanning holders seem kludgy and inefficient not to mention annoying.

I'm looking for a scanner which isn't;

1. Using some kind of archaic parallel port or scsi or serial connection
2. Doesn't need some kind software kludge to make it work
3. Doesn't cost 15 grand

I see people paying thousands for an old Coolscan, only to have to come up with some kind of software kludge to make it work... C'mon, there's gotta be a better solution... Isn't there?

gmikol · May 1, 2012

There's a 35mm / 120 format scanner on the near horizon from Plustek. Supposed to offer 4000+ real DPI. There's a fairly long thread about it on photo.net. There's a company rep participating, but he's been fairly cagey about hard specs and release date. Apparently it was going to use a Kodak sensor & it got discontinued, so they had to source something else and that set it back.

There's also a couple of different 35mm plusteks. And the Pacific Image / Primefilm 7250Pro3, as well as a 120 model...don't know much about it. The Plustek 35mm models aren't AF, as far as I know, but the Pacific Image is. 7200 DPI sensor. Fairly honest 3600 DPI output.

And the Coolscans don't require a software kludge if you're using VueScan or SilverFast. And I think getting it running under Win7 isn't too difficult, from what I understand. Don't know anything about Macs.

As far as I know, that's everything in terms of dedicated film scanners.

--Greg

cabbiinc · May 1, 2012

The "kludge" isn't the software, it's the interface. I have a Nikon LS-2000 and it's great. But it's SCSI, which typically isn't bad but the SCSI PCI card I have didn't have drivers for it for 64 bit OS. I found one online that someone had "borrowed" code from anther card that had the same innards that did have a 64 bit driver for it but it was still something that was a PITA until I found that. Also the reason why manufacturers went with SCSI was because at the time there were a good percentage of computers with SCSI interfaces for printers and drives and it was more than twice as fast as USB 1.0. I also have a Canon FS4000US and it's either SCSI or USB 1.1, the scan times with the USB 1.1 is close to twice as long as SCSI, and I don't think my SCSI interface is particularly fast for SCSI.

I've been using Vuescan for a number of years now. It works on any scanner I've thrown at it. When I buy a new scanner I don't have to figure out the intricacies of the software, just keep using what I've been using.

Plustek is about the only game in town right now for 35mm scanners. There's others but the Plusteks are well regarded. Just get the one with IR dust removal. Anything beyond that in the new field will likely cost a whole lot more.

There's a reason why people pay so much for a Nikon scanner. It's usually worth it.

EASmithV · May 2, 2012

So, Plustek is a good name in scanning but they don't make an AF 35mm / 120 model... Looks like I should start shopping for a Pacific Image? AF Is a definite must, I'm tired of unsharp scans.

How good is the Pacific image / Plustek at punching through subtle dark tones on slides?

artobest · May 2, 2012

Wait for the 120 from Plustek. It will be better than the current line-up. How much better we don't know, but this looks promising.

Also, have you tried the betterscanning holders for your V700? They're not so bad to use, and really make a hell of a difference to scan sharpness. Day and night.

chuck94022 · May 6, 2012

I get great 35mm scans using the betterscanning holder. I use the universal holder and tape the negatives, which is not hard at all once you get used to the process. I don't currently bother with wet mounting with the betterscanning universal mounting station - not much difference I can see. But artobest is right that between the OEM holders and the betterscanning holders, the difference is substantial, and makes the v700 good enough by far for my typical 35mm scans. If I need something really big I can always get a drum scan, but that's not common for my 35mm stuff.

jeff786 · May 10, 2012

+1 plustek is so good

GRHazelton · Jun 18, 2012

artobest said:
Wait for the 120 from Plustek. It will be better than the current line-up. How much better we don't know, but this looks promising.

Also, have you tried the betterscanning holders for your V700? They're not so bad to use, and really make a hell of a difference to scan sharpness. Day and night.

I use the betterscanning 120 holder, plus their anti-Newton's rings glass for scanning in negs from my Pentax 645n. The combination is far, far better than the V700's 120 holder. Setup takes a while, since the height is adjustable via little screws, so it is a matter of repeated scanning, adjusting, etc. Not much fun, but the results are worth it.

I wish betterscanning would introduce a 35mm carrier with comparable features. Are you listening, Doug Fisher?

dslater · Jun 21, 2012

I still use my Nikon Coolscan V ED. It uses a USB 2.0 connection. Getting it working under Windows 7 x64 edition takes an extra step, but not really a bad kludge. The problem is that Nikon doesn't provide a Win 7 x64 driver for it. However, VueScan does. the good news is that NikonScan 4.0.3 works on Win 7 x64 - you just need a driver.
So... to get the driver, I downloaded and installed the demo version of VueScan - this will install a driver that NikonScan is happy to use. Once VueScan was installed, I just left it there - it doesn't take up much space.

indigo · Jul 4, 2012

EASmithV said:
I love shooting 35mm with my Nikons, but my darkroom is a PITA and limited to BW, so I do a lot of scanning... MY V700 dosen't cut it for small format, and the better scanning holders seem kludgy and inefficient not to mention annoying.

I'm looking for a scanner which isn't;

1. Using some kind of archaic parallel port or scsi or serial connection
2. Doesn't need some kind software kludge to make it work
3. Doesn't cost 15 grand

I see people paying thousands for an old Coolscan, only to have to come up with some kind of software kludge to make it work... C'mon, there's gotta be a better solution... Isn't there?

The Nikon Coolscan V, Coolscan 5000, Minolta Dimage Elite 5400, Dimage Dual IV all are kind of expensive due to scarity but none cost the 15 grand. They don't work with windows 7. But you can buy a top of the line workstation in the Windows XP era for not much money and use that as a scanning computer. After scanning you can work with the scan images with a Windows 7 (or soon Windows 8) computer.

artobest · Jul 4, 2012

Don't know about the Nikons, but the Minoltas work fine in Windows 7: http://www.frisno.com/2009/11/konica-minolta-dimage-scan-dual-iv-works-in-vista/

Eric Rose · Jul 4, 2012

I do what Indigo suggests, use an XP machine for scanning. I have both an Epson flatbed and a Nikon Coolscan 5000 hooked up to it. Works like a charm.

Ihmemies · Jul 9, 2012

Nikon's usb scanners work fine on 64bit Vista, Win7 and Win8... at least with Vuescan's drivers installed. With them in place Nikon Scan works too.

Modern 35mm optimized scanner?

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