Polaroid SprintScan 120

[alanrockwood]

Lucky me! I won the bid on a Polaroid SprintScan 120, including slide and film holders. Now I am crossing my fingers waiting for it to arrive and hoping it is in working condition. I am fairly optimistic that it is in working condition, but we shall see.

This is a 4000 dpi scanner that can do up to 120 size film. It is a clone of a Microtek ArtixScan 129TF film scanner. SilverFast software comes with it, but the version of SilverFast that comes with it is probably too old to work on my Windows 10 machine, and I plan on using it with vuescan anyway. It has a SCSI interface, which is no problem for me because I have a working scsi card on my Windows 10 machine that I use with my Canon FS4000US scanner.

There is no IR clean function on this scanner. I wish there were, but I don't see that as a fatal flaw.

This brings me to the following question. How does the scan quality from this scanner compare to a Nikon scanner that is also capable of medium format scans at 4000 dpi?

Any comments are welcome, but if you have experience with both the Polaroid (or equivalent ArtixScan) scanner and a Nikon medium format scanner your comments will be particularly appreciated.

I am going to assume that this scanner is probably a slower scanner than a Nikon scanner, but if so I don't see that as a fatal flaw.

Thanks.

 

[brbo]

I recently bought a Microtek 120tf without holders for 50 EUR, since I had this scanner quite some years ago and liked it very much. So far I could only find a 35mm holder so I'm not using it much since I have other 35mm scanners.

It's a very good scanner when it works properly. A lot of them develop a problem with colour registration and/or banding or visible wave pattern. Sprintscans and Microteks do have different firmware so problems might be more or less prominent in particular brand.

They are only a tiny bit less sharp than Nikon CS 8000 that I had. Lens has a bit of CA. What sets this scanner apart though is flare resistance. Nikon/Minolta hi-end desktop scanners are like million times worse in that regard. Microtek is almost in the drum scanner category (it needs to be clean, o course). You don't need to mask the negatives, you can scan with sprocket holes included and light will not affect the pictorial area.

Sprintscan/Microtek 120 also support firewire connection. Speed is OK, probably faster than CS 8000 in fine-mode (which is the only mode usable on that scanner).

 

[alanrockwood]

I received the scanner, and it works great.

 

[Cinema]

post some scans

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Hi Alan, how is the PrintScan 120 working out? Can it handle 6×12 negatives? And did you set up SilverFast to run it?

 

[alanrockwood]

Hi Alan, how is the PrintScan 120 working out? Can it handle 6×12 negatives? And did you set up SilverFast to run it?

The film holder does have an open area large enough to hold 6x12 negatives, so I think it can probably handle 5x12 negatives, but I am not sure if actually can handle 6x12 negatives.

I am using vuescan to drive the scanner rather than SilverFast because I already know how to use vuescan.

 

[brbo]

As most dedicated desktop MF scanners, it can only scan film up to 6x9 in one go. For 6x12 you need to scan in two parts and then stitch them in PS.

Imacon/Hasselblad Flextights and Plustek 120 (and flatbeds, of course) can scan 6x12 in one go.

 

[malassan]

I am new in this forum
can you tell me the amount of auction you paid for this scanner
thank you

 

[brbo]

I bought it for 50 EUR (sold as not working), but it had no holders so I had to buy them seperately. That was additional 60 + 120 EUR for 35mm holder and 120 glass holder. I never got slides holder since I don’t need it.

Those scanners don’t come up for sale very often, but I guess price around 500 EUR would be a good price for a working one with all holders.

 

[alanrockwood]

I am new in this forum
can you tell me the amount of auction you paid for this scanner
thank you

I got it on ebay. The bid price was $540. Total cost, including sales tax and shipping was $619.53.