Plustek OpticFilm 120 with VueScan

[jmoche]

I just picked up the newest version of the Plustek. It comes bundled with Silverfast 9 and does an excellent job with both 35 and 120. I've been using VueScan for years with both a V850 and Coolscan 5000 and Silverfast does not play nice with the workflow I've been using. Unfortunately, VueScan will simply not work with the Plustek. It's fine when dust reduction is turned off, but as soon as you need to use the IR scan everything goes haywire. The issue is that the IR scan is offset horizontally from the RGB scan when using VueScan. Ed Hamrick has confirmed that it's the offset that prevents the dust reduction feature from working. He has not yet offered any solution for this. I should add that this has apparently been an issue going back years and years with different versions of the Plustek 120. Has anyone here encountered this issue and, more importantly, found a way to get VueScan to work with dust reduction turned on? Thanks!

 

[film4Me]

Why not use the Silverfast that came bundled with the Plustek? Also, is your VueScan the latest version?

 

[jmoche]

VueScan produces a dng file with dust reduction applied that can be processed by Negative Lab Pro; Silverfast does not. I am using the latest version of VueScan and have also tried older versions with the same results.

 

[film4Me]

VueScan 9.8.45. February 23, 2025.

Ok, but check the version number anyway.

I see you've posted in another site and a member said he changed his computer, then everything was fine. How old is your computer, and is it a Mac or Windows PC?

If it's a Mac and you like Macs, changing to the new iMac M1 may be more suited for a new Plustek scanner. I know nothing about the latest Windows PCs, I gave Windows away many years ago. It's macs4Me now lol, they are stable, secure, and the iMac M1 has a solid state HD, the computer stays cool, even on a hot day, as it is here now. I can't give any advise on Windows PCs, they are a distant memory.

You say that your bundled Silverfast does an excellent job for 35mm and 120, but it's limited in what it can do with your Plustek, is that right? Bundled Silverfast is a bare bones Silverfast, they want you to buy their bells and whistles version, if you can afford it.

Getting back to the guy on the other site who sorted the sorted the problem by changing his computer, did you DM him or find out somehow which computer he changed to? Sounds like he had the answer.

 

[jmoche]

I'm running version 9.8.45.01 of VueScan under Windows 11. The Silverfast that came bundled is the full version of Silverfast 9 Ai Studio. It's the same bells & whistles product they offer on their website, not the stripped down version that is bundled with some scanners.

Silverfast has a different method of producing a "raw" scan than the one implemented by VueScan. The Silverfast version is a 48 bit RGB file or, if dust reduction is turned on, a 64bit RBGi file. This 64 bit file is designed to be processed using Silverfast HDR or Silverfast HDR Studio. Both of those products take the 64bit file and use Negafix to produce a cleaned, color corrected, positive image. This is not really different from the image processing that can be done within Siverfast Ai Studio itself, except that when you do the processing with Ai Studio you end up with a TIF. I can scan a negative as a positive and then process it in Negative Lab Pro, but the results are not equal to what I can get when I process a raw VueScan image. Some folks prefer VueScan to Silverfast, and some prefer Silverfast over VueScan. I admit that I am a newbie when it comes to Silverfast. If there is no solution to the VueScan issue. I'll have to take the time to learn Silverfast. I suppose I should add that Ed Hamrick at VueScan requested some specific information from me (which I provided) before he got back to me and told me that the reason dust reduction was not working on VueScan was because the IR scan was offset from the RGB scan. His last words were "I'll have to think about this." That was nearly 2 weeks ago. I'm going to give it another week before I dive deep into Silverfast and get started scanning the 6x6 color negs from my wedding 52 years ago. I scanned them a couple of years ago on my Epson 850 and those results are not close to what I can get from the Plustek. Unfortunately, time has not been good to those negatives and scanning without infrared to eliminate/reduce the defects will require more time that I want to spend in Photoshop before I can produce good prints.

There is just one person who had the identical problem I do and is also using the identical scanner. I did DM him but have not heard back from him. At the time he posted, he had not gotten any response from VueScan. All other examples of VueScan/Plustek incompatibilities are years old and in some cases over a decade old. There have been several versions of this scanner and all were sold as OpticFilm 120. Just based on descriptions from users, though, they do not all appear to be the same machine.

On an entirely unrelated subject. our newspapers here in Los Angeles are filled with stories of the Australian response to wildfires, and how our urban planners should take a cue from their Australian counterparts. We had to evacuate our home for 9 days, but given the direction the wind was blowing I don't think we were ever in any real danger except for the danger of living in a neighborhood that has no electricity and no way to bring food back in if you left.

Thanks for the input.