Plustek OpticFilm 120 Pro

[YOLKLAB]

Announced a bit more than a year ago, never was released to the market. Contacted Plustek several months ago with no word back from them.

Now it won an award, so I hope they still plan to release the scanner
https://blog.plustek.com/2019/11/13...the-prestigious-taiwan-excellence-award-2020/

 

[ozphoto]

Sounds like a great scanner; found this link on the Plustek site:
https://plustek.com/us/products/film-photo-scanners/opticfilm-120/index.php

And a store here in AUS has it listed AUD2379:
http://www.digitalcameragear.com.au...o-scanners/plustek-opticfilm-120-film-scanner

However, a lot of the other stores I checked, seem to indicate it is "Currently Unavailable".

These guys still have it listed:
https://www.helixcamera.com/product...ives-slides-120-film-scanner-pls-783064365642

 

[Billy Axeman]

So when the Plustek OpticFilm 120 currently costs E 1600,- what would be the price of the Pro version.

Moreover, a specialist scanner shop in Germany (ScanDig) says of this scanner (for already several years): "Since we and lots of our customers had many problems with this scanner, we have removed this device from our assortment. As an alternative we recommend the Reflecta MF-5000 or the Braun FS-120 or the Nikon LS-9000 ED."

 

[ozphoto]

You linked the old scanner. This thread is about the announced OpticFilm 120 Pro that has failed to appear 2 years later.

Apologies - my error.

 

[YOLKLAB]

Plustek just posted this video on YouTube, so hopefully they'll release it soon:

 

[grat]

... Would it kill them to make it just a little bit larger, say, 11x13cm? Then we could use it for 4x5 too.

 

[YOLKLAB]

finally also announced on their website:
https://plustek.com/us/products/film-photo-scanners/opticfilm-120-pro/index.php

 

[shutterfinger]

finally also announced on their website:

clicked on the link- then on the Where to buy- shows only one source, Amazon who show only 3 left in stock.

 

[YOLKLAB]

14 in stock at Amazon in Germany, 14 in France, 14 in the UK

 

[Deleted member 88956]

No idea how this thing focuses, can't see a word about this part anywhere from Plustek. So-called lens-calibration does not make a lot of sense, so I suppose this is for other splurge on and report before committing. Overall it does look pretty good, lots of film holders in the box too. Just no clue how many little people run inside to make focus right.

 

[Lachlan Young]

No idea how this thing focuses, can't see a word about this part anywhere from Plustek. So-called lens-calibration does not make a lot of sense, so I suppose this is for other splurge on and report before committing. Overall it does look pretty good, lots of film holders in the box too. Just no clue how many little people run inside to make focus right.

I suspect that the mechanism has a set of preset focus distances & you can cycle through them till you get to the one that seems sharpest. I do wonder what would be so difficult about putting a manual focus control on the machine, or making the system actually have an AF mode.

The other problem I see is that it states the sensor is 10600 pixels across - and that means it can deliver 5300ppi on 120. Except unless you use a 50x120 camera like the Noblex 150 it physically can't - it's going to be more like 4487ppi if their scan area spec is to be believed...

 

[Billy Axeman]

There is a user's manual on the Plustek web site via Tab Support, so I guess it will answer most questions.

 

[Lachlan Young]

There is a user's manual on the Plustek web site via Tab Support, so I guess it will answer most questions.

It's surprisingly vague - it covers the holders, installing Silverfast, and calibrating the focus (essentially you insert a neg, use a specific extra piece of software, it makes 11 scans, you pick the sharpest, then it calibrates to that) but not aspects like resolution modes etc. The modes it talks of are 'high resolution' at 5300ppi and 'default resolution' at 2650ppi but doesn't express what area these cover and/ or what the limitations thereof are. Doubly annoying to me is that if its default resolution is 2650ppi, they could have made it handle 4x5 too. Furthermore, I have a horrible suspicion that unless you scan mounted 35mm slides or 50x120 panoramics, you'll not be able to use the 5300ppi mode without losing image area. If that is the case, then it likely won't be long till a hi-res single 35mm strip carrier has to be offered.

I know this may be a controversial comment, but I've found myself actually almost wishing that they had designed a machine purely to deliver 2650ppi with the best possible focus, highly optimised MTF performance, 4x5 coverage, side by side simultaneous scanning etc, rather than necessarily chasing the pixel game. For a lot of what people need a film scanner for, it would likely do a superb job.

 

[Bormental]

@Lachlan Young I also just finished reading the manual, I think "default resolution" is what focus calibration tool uses to speed things up. That makes sense. I doubt the scanner itself has "default resolution". It's driven by software, i.e. set your own default.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

There is a user's manual on the Plustek web site via Tab Support, so I guess it will answer most questions.

Sadly manual is close to worthless, which does not speak well of Plustek.

As for the lens calibration, the way its function is described, it is far and away from actual scanning time. It takes "20 minutes" to complete, it's done OUTSIDE of Silverfast. So without actual live AF or on the go MF adjustment, film may pop well after focus is adjusted. It makes no sense to see it as an improvement to a fixed focus (except that some sort of lens focus is allowed). It may make things better in some cases, but outcome will not be known until actual scan is completed. To me quite a disappointing lack of basic function in a scanner of this price.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

It's surprisingly vague - it covers the holders, installing Silverfast, and calibrating the focus (essentially you insert a neg, use a specific extra piece of software, it makes 11 scans, you pick the sharpest, then it calibrates to that) but not aspects like resolution modes etc. The modes it talks of are 'high resolution' at 5300ppi and 'default resolution' at 2650ppi but doesn't express what area these cover and/ or what the limitations thereof are. Doubly annoying to me is that if its default resolution is 2650ppi, they could have made it handle 4x5 too. Furthermore, I have a horrible suspicion that unless you scan mounted 35mm slides or 50x120 panoramics, you'll not be able to use the 5300ppi mode without losing image area. If that is the case, then it likely won't be long till a hi-res single 35mm strip carrier has to be offered.

I know this may be a controversial comment, but I've found myself actually almost wishing that they had designed a machine purely to deliver 2650ppi with the best possible focus, highly optimised MTF performance, 4x5 coverage, side by side simultaneous scanning etc, rather than necessarily chasing the pixel game. For a lot of what people need a film scanner for, it would likely do a superb job.

I agree this whole machine appears a big missed opportunity to deliver a game changer.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Another annoying piece is that apparently there is SN on an ... activation card. So not something permanently attached to the machine. Keep it in a safe place they say. What's the idea here? Have that card scanned, multi-printed, copied, place a copy in a bank, keep one under pillow, one behind the toilet, and another at your favorite restaurant ?

 

[shutterfinger]

The serial number is for getting updates and registering the Silverfast software. Silverfast is scanner specific. The copy for your V700 will not run your V850 which will not run your 8200I which will not run your Pro 120.

 

[albireo]

Fantastic news. If this is as good as their 35mm scanners are this could be a game changer for me.

I know a few people who own the old Plustek 120 and get incredible medium format scans with it. If this is even a little better that the old one, I'm sold.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

The serial number is for getting updates and registering the Silverfast software. Silverfast is scanner specific. The copy for your V700 will not run your V850 which will not run your 8200I which will not run your Pro 120.

If you don't know, don't mislead. SN is needed not just for Silverfast but also for getting Plustek support and any time contacting Plustek service. I'm not going to argue with Plustek's own language. However, having looked at manual again, SN is also on the back of the machine as one would expect, so not an issue any more for me.

Machine itself remains suspect in the area of focus handling though, so I will wait for further developments and real reputable tests.

 

[Billy Axeman]

So now everybody is waiting for the reviews because no one wants to buy a E 2200,- scanner to find a skeleton in the cupboard.

 

[Lachlan Young]

@Lachlan Young I also just finished reading the manual, I think "default resolution" is what focus calibration tool uses to speed things up. That makes sense. I doubt the scanner itself has "default resolution". It's driven by software, i.e. set your own default.

I had a closer look at the screenshot of the Silverfast interface in the documentation & it looked like the 2650 limit is definitely one of the modes - you can adjust resolution up to 2650, but over that it interpolates. You would likely then be able to choose 5300 on a narrower scan strip. The coding on the carriers likely controls this. This would be fairly standard for CCD type scanners - whose ppi is limited by the number of pixels on the linear array - 10,600px arranged across the width of whatever you scan. In this case it sounds a lot like it has been determined that a 50mm and 100mm width are the modes it has been set for.

 

[Les Sarile]

We can just hope that they've made some significant upgrades to the previous model based on this review -> https://www.filmscanner.info/en/PlustekOpticFilm120.html
Hopefully, Scandig will review it. Interesting that there are not a lot (any?) of reviews prior to release. In this day and age, it seems typical to at least get a few out.

 

[Bormental]

We can just hope that they've made some significant upgrades to the previous model based on this review -> https://www.filmscanner.info/en/PlustekOpticFilm120.html

Great review, thanks for sharing. Basically it comes down to lack of auto-focus (perhaps focus issues affected its true optical resolution) and awful scan times. 1hr for a single 6x7 frame is insane... I was thinking about a dedicated scanner as DSLR scanning of color negatives takes me 15-20 minutes per frame, primarily spent stitching and tinkering with color, but this apparently is still three times (!) faster than OpticFilm 120 scan time, not even counting the Silverfast adjustments that seem to require non-negligible time per frame as well.

 

[Les Sarile]

Great review, thanks for sharing. Basically it comes down to lack of auto-focus (perhaps focus issues affected its true optical resolution) and awful scan times. 1hr for a single 6x7 frame is insane... I was thinking about a dedicated scanner as DSLR scanning of color negatives takes me 15-20 minutes per frame, primarily spent stitching and tinkering with color, but this apparently is still three times (!) faster than OpticFilm 120 scan time, not even counting the Silverfast adjustments that seem to be require non-negligible time per frame as well.

Unfortunately there are reasons that Coolscans still command the price they do even many years later . . .