Plustek OpticFilm 7300 Film Scanner

Good scanner that does the job done, January 24, 2008

I've been using this scanner for a couple of days now, and have scanned approx. 50 negs.

Pros: Works as promised. Installation is quick and easy. You can get the software installed and ready to work in minutes. I tried both Quick Scan and Intelliscan. If you are trying to preserve your treasured memory recorded on your negs, don't ...read full review I've been using this scanner for a couple of days now, and have scanned approx. 50 negs.

Pros: Works as promised. Installation is quick and easy. You can get the software installed and ready to work in minutes. I tried both Quick Scan and Intelliscan. If you are trying to preserve your treasured memory recorded on your negs, don't bother with Quick Scan as its result is quite poor. Intellican, together with SliveFast software, on the other hand can produce very good results. I'm now using Intelliscan exclusively to scan all my negs into digital photos. SilverFast software is powerful and feature rich. There are many switches and knobs you can turn to adjust your scan result. The build quality of this machine is also very impressive.

Cons: I consider these things minor, but they do affect user experience.
1) There are 3 Quick Start guides when you open the box, how will you know which one to go first? Well, let me document it here so everyone else can save some time. Follow the Quick Start guide for hardware and driver installation first. If you don't want to bother with Quick Scan that generates poor result, skip the guide on that. Follow the guide on SilverFast software installation guide. Once finished, you can start scanning your negs and slides using Intelliscan.
2) The learning curve for SilverFast is steep because its documentation is not very well organized. The CD does contain QuickTime movies that explain various features in the software, but there is nothing to connect them together to give you a bigger picture on the work flow that you will go through. But I still find that to be more useful than the doc.
3) The film holder is not the easiest thing to use. I wish it had "teeth" that can quickly and easily hold your neg strips in place.
4) If you plan to scan all your negs accumulated over the years in one weekend, it won't happen.

Conclusion: Overall, it's a very good machine that gets the job done. Result is good, and price is reasonable. For all the memory recorded on your early pictures, spending a bit time to preserve it is well worthwhile.

minimize

Best 35mm scanner (for the price), February 1, 2008

Yes, It's slow but worth the wait. I left film photography several years ago to get "into" the digital era. But I missed the quality of Ilford and Kodak B&W film. Plus I have tons of Negatives laying around. As a result, I've taken my old film camera's out from storage (Nikon fe, Nikon f100) and began shooting several roles. I then decided to ...read full review Yes, It's slow but worth the wait. I left film photography several years ago to get "into" the digital era. But I missed the quality of Ilford and Kodak B&W film. Plus I have tons of Negatives laying around. As a result, I've taken my old film camera's out from storage (Nikon fe, Nikon f100) and began shooting several roles. I then decided to have most of my c41/b&w film developed at the local mini lab and scanned on a disc for digital editing... The best of both worlds I thought.
But something was missing... I soon realized that taking film to get developed by others takes the fun out AND is frequently a hit or miss experience. So I dug into my storage room and found my developing/darkroom equipment and then began to do some research on quality 35mm scanners. Plustek was the best for it's price and was recently reviewed on Shutterbug mag. The downfall... Plustek Opticfilm 7200 wasn't MAC compatible. BUT... to my surprise this new model (7300) as well as the 7500 are now MAC compatible. Fairly quick and painless to set up and get started. And yes it takes some time to scan (especially at highter res) but I'm in no hurry especially since I'm so particular of results. I totally recommend this scanner to anyone looking to digitize old 35mm film or for those creative folks that want to use both analog and digital formats. Does the trick! minimize

Its slow but does what it promised, February 28, 2008

The Plustek scanner has been great so far after 700 slides is working great. I use it with OS X Leopard. The photos are looking great and get a color and brightness tweak automatically. there are shortcuts you will use when you get used to it. Obviously scanning one slide at a time is going to be slow to go but the quality is extremely high and...read full review The Plustek scanner has been great so far after 700 slides is working great. I use it with OS X Leopard. The photos are looking great and get a color and brightness tweak automatically. there are shortcuts you will use when you get used to it. Obviously scanning one slide at a time is going to be slow to go but the quality is extremely high and the files can be very large if you choose to save them that way.
Installing the program was a bit of a challenge, I had to register it online first before it would work.
I hope this helped someone to choose this scanner, it is really a great buy for the money minimize

Plustek 7300 vs Coolscan 5000 ED, May 2, 2009

I'm going to review this scanner in relation to another film scanner I have used, the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED. Why don't I still have the 5000? With the scanner and all the attachments I had, I had about $2K invested in the 5000. I finished a project I had with it almost 2 years ago so I sold it because I didn't want $2K just sitting around unused. ...read full review I'm going to review this scanner in relation to another film scanner I have used, the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED. Why don't I still have the 5000? With the scanner and all the attachments I had, I had about $2K invested in the 5000. I finished a project I had with it almost 2 years ago so I sold it because I didn't want $2K just sitting around unused. Then a few weeks ago another huge project involving negative scanning came up. Unfortunately, I no longer had the $2K to re-invest in the 5000 setup so I went looking for other options. This scanner seemed to have the best performance in a budget film scanner based on reviews so I gave it a shot.

Image Quality: I can't tell the difference between the two. Now, I need to mention that I don't scan at the full DPI that the scanner can do. With every film scanner I have tried (I have tried 3 different ones at this point; the other two I mentioned already and the third was a high end Canon flatbed scanner with filmstrip holders) I have found that full DPI results in an extreme loss of my time (takes way too long) as well as adding a lot of grain but adding no additional detail when pixel-peeped with Photoshop. So, I never scan at the highest DPI. On the 7300, the 7200DPI setting is indistinguishable from the 3600DPI setting in terms of detail so I use 3600. Again, I find no difference between the quality of the two scanners.

Software: This, as it turns out, is the most important part of the scanning process. I have now used 3 different scanning software programs. I have used a Canon one, I have used the one that came with this scanner, and I have used a program available online called VueScan Professional. I have found that the worst thing you can do is use the software that came with this scanner. Do not use it! Really poor processing with this bundled software. Trust me on this, buy the Vuescan professional software online. It's not prohibitively expensive by any means and if you ask me it is essential to getting the most out of this (or any other) film scanner!

Speed: Well, yes, the Coolscan 5000 does blow this scanner out of the water when it comes to speed. You do get something for your $1200 (with no attachments; up to $2K with the full compliment) If you are going to be doing this permanently, yes you will probably want the 5000. If this is a one time deal and you are on a budget, then the 7300 is probably the way to go at 1/5 the price, which brings me to the next bullet point...

Price: The 7300 is 1/5 the cost of the Coolscan 5000 ED. Hey, you really can't beat that ratio.

Build quality: 7300 is actually better than I thought in this respect. I was expecting a tiny and flimsy machine. It iss actually larger and more solidly built than I expected. That said, it is no 5000. The 5000 is a piece of military hardware compared to this--it's built like a tank.

In summation, you will have to weigh your own personal preferences as far as speed and cost goes. To me, these are the only two variables. As I said I have found the quality to be indistinguishable. You are going to have to make your decision based on how much money you have and how much free time you have. It is a slow inexpensive scanner vs a fast expensive one. Please take my advice and read online reviews of the Vuescan software. Don't take my word for it on that; see what professionals say about that product. Just please don't waste your time with the bundled software that comes with this machine. minimize

Plustek to the Rescue, May 12, 2008

This scanner is a marvel! It arrived less than 24 hours after I'd place the
order, and it has changed my life! I'd struggled with terrible name-brand
flat-bed scanners for years [they produced terrible noise in the shadows and
were dead-slow at resolutions above 200dpi] in my efforts to digitalize a
collection of many...read full review This scanner is a marvel! It arrived less than 24 hours after I'd place the
order, and it has changed my life! I'd struggled with terrible name-brand
flat-bed scanners for years [they produced terrible noise in the shadows and
were dead-slow at resolutions above 200dpi] in my efforts to digitalize a
collection of many thousands of treasured 35mm slides dating back 50 years.
Not only is this scanner incredibly fast compared to the my old ones, but it
does a triple pass for every slide, then averages the results to produce
images that are beautiful and have no noise in the shadows. I've succeeded
in making wonderful pictures from slides that were terrible! One set, very
important to family memories, taken in 1969 at a special occasion, had been
unusable due to inadequate flash technique [they made everyone look like
stainless steel; i.e., no flesh tones and gleaming highlights]. Due to the
capacity to try different resolutions [up to 7200dpi] and then use the
remarkable software to achieve optimal tones, I was able to resurrect the
entire collection, with the exception of a few that had been hopelessly
underexposed. Trouble with finding the detente position for the slide carriage
reported for earlier/other models has been eliminated on this model. While I
can't just set it and walk away the way commercial processors would have to
do, I'm thoroughly delighted with this unit. Thank you, Plustek & AOL. minimize