If you've bought a Plustek 7600i SE scanner "recently"...

<p>I bought a Plustek 7600i SE last Monday from B&H, and took delivery today. <br /><br />It came with SilverFast 6.6 SE, and upon registering it on the LaserSoft website, I was given a free upgrade to SilverFast 8, with a new serial number. Here's the upgrade blurb, following registration:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.silverfast.com/reg/en.html" rel="nofollow">www.silverfast.com/reg/en.html</a><br /><br />"Dear customer,<br /><br />Thank you for registering your copy of SilverFast!<br /><br />Your serial number was automatically upgraded from a SilverFast 6.6 to a new SilverFast 8 serial number due to an agreement with the hardware manufacturer.<br />Please replace your old serial number with the new one provided below. You may download the Installer of your latest and greatest upgrade of SilverFast 8 here. Please make sure to run the installation before using your new serial."<br /><br />I don't know how recent the purchase has to be be, in order to qualify for the free upgrade, but thought others might find this useful. For all I know, this might apply equally to the 7600i Ai scanners as well.<br /><br />Hyun. </p>

<p>Hyun, I'd be interested in your experiences with this scanner. I have a Minolta scan elite 5400 II that might need repairs and since it might not make sense to repair it I was thinking of getting another film scanner. The Plusteks are one of the very few film scanners you can still buy new. Your feedback would be helpful. Thanks.</p>

<p>I've done a few tests, and it's pretty darned sweet. I've used three scanners previously to scan film--a Minolta Scan Dual III (nice scanner, no Digital ICE), CanoScan 8400F (flatbed scanner, very lacking when it comes to 35mm film scanning), and Nikon Coolscan 4000 ED (it was a loaner, and was very nice while the loan lasted). The 7600i looks to be a keeper--I'm seeing great results straight from the scanner, with only minor tweaks needed afterwards. I tried SilverFast 6.6 before upgrading to 8, and the new version's interface is soooo much nicer. I like that it's got six or seven different "sharpen" settings (including USM with the three value sliders), not just a generic "sharpen" function. </p>

<p>My biggest reservation prior to buying the scanner was that it did not have motorized feeder mechanism--you have to push the film strip holder by hand. In practice, it's not turning out to be that big of a deal. Certainly it removes the issues associated with the automatic feeder malfunctioning (which happened frequently with the Scan Dual III and occasionally with the Coolscan 4000 ED).</p>

<p>I'll post some samples later tonight. If you have any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer.</p>

<p>Hyun.</p>

<p>P.S. Plustek just announced 8200i SE and 8200i Ai--according to their US rep, the hardware is the same as the 7600i SE/Ai, it just comes bundled with the newer version of SilverFast. I've read elsewhere that the newer ones have a sightly higher dynamic range, but nothing definite. Still, I felt that for $300 the 7600i SE was an exceptional value.</p>

<p>I'm still waiting for the 120 film scanner from Plustek. Might save a few pennies for that one.</p>

<p>For the sake of your scanning results, Hyun, I hope you didn't make a mistake by rushing into your recent 7600 purchase... <strong>CEBIT 2012</strong> just openend its doors in Germany and so far, from my browsing internationally, I get additional infos about the 8200 scanners only from Plustek's German website... <em>"Die OpticFilm-Scanner von Plustek verfügen über die neuste</em> <em>LED-Beleuchtungstechnik und über eine verbesserte Optik."</em> In plain English: <em>"The OpticFilm-Scanners from Plustek offer</em><em> the newest LED lamp technique as well as improved optics."<br /> <strong>Improved optics..?</strong></em> As compared to..? Their own previousgeneration models, or..? Not very forthcoming. <br />And not very clear. To be continued, I guess.</p>

<p>The "old" 7600i was already using LED lighting. My opinion is just a change in software.</p>