Plustek or Reflecta?

[mervyn_wilmington]

<p>I may wish occasionally to scan 35mm black and white negatives. High quality results are more important than speed of process.</p>

<p>The Plustek 8200i SE has some good reviews. However, elsewhere there is mention of the Reflecta ProScan 10T being better, but finding user reviews of the latter has proved difficult.</p>

<p>Might any members be able to help, please?</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>I think they're awfully close. I have the Reflecta ProScan 7200 (predecessor of the 10T), and I'm happy with mine, but I cannot compare it to a Plustek because I don't have one. With good negatives, I reckon it really gets about 14-15MP worth of info, which is plenty to print fairly large. For non-B&W, the IR dust removal works well, but if you'll only scan B&W negatives, it's of no use (in case of the Plustek, means you could consider the cheaper 8100 model, which lacks this feature).<br>

The software that comes with the Reflecta's is pretty crap, so budget an additional €80 (or equivalent) for VueScan, as that will definitely help getting better scans.</p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>Much of the output of any scanner depends on the user. If (what ever) works for them, they are likely to get great results. Otherwise it will be cursed for all time.'</p>

<p>I've had the 7200i for years and got great results from it. I only stopped using it because of the dropped driver support for windows 8+. The 7200 and the 8x00 models differ very little in output.</p>

<p>Here is a roll taken with Lucky SHD 35mm scanned with the 7200i and vuescan. I didn't think much of the supplied software.</p>

<p>https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterbcarter/albums/72157625104991195</p>

 

[mervyn_wilmington]

<p>Many thanks for the helpful comments. Two questions arise, please.</p>

<p>First, I have looked at scanners several times over the years, but never proceeded to buy one. The issue of dust always seems to raise its head. What is the difference between scanning and conventional darkroom enlarging? I always made sure my negatives were totally dust free, and rarely had a problem. Spotting pens were not needed - or hardly!</p>

<p>Second, I take the point that results are much down to the user. However - and generally with scanners - there often seems to be concern about the quality of the instructions that come with the device. If it is the case, it seems very unfortunate.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>It's not the instruction that come with these devices as such - the hardware needs little instructions. The standard supplied software is often sub-par, and while simple to use, doesn't get the best possible results. Instead the better pieces of software (Silverfast, VueScan) are pretty serious programs with lots of options and a matching learning curve.<br>

As for dust - my experience in the dark room is nill, but the whole idea is the same: dust will show up clearly when you enlarge (and with a scanner, you do much the same). If you manage to keep things completely dust free, no issue. If you do have dust, any piece of decent software (Photoshop, Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Lightroom, CaptureOne and so on) can deal with it - it's just a nuisance.</p>

[mervyn_wilmington]

<p>Thanks for that Wouter: very helpful.</p>

<p>I've been using Lightroom for my digital work for around 8 years. I've never had a dust problem, and have never had to clean a sensor.</p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>I guess it all comes down to market attitude. People don't expect to have a perfect print every time, when they buy an enlarger. They realize it will take some time to build up the skill. Doesn't seem to be the case with scanners.</p>

<p>Film and optical paper is 3d. There *is* depth and the enlarger is better at scattering light to minimize the effects of dust. A scanner is 2d and the surface (and dust / marks) becomes more in focus with the rest of the image. That said, wet mounting of negs are common in both and significantly resolves these issues.</p>

<p>Dust is not much of an issue with clean handling techniques, its no big deal. You need to learn how to spot, embrace it.</p>

<p> </p>

[MTC Photography]

<p>I have a Plustek 8200i film scanner. It has two types of dust removal app, isrd, infra red dust removal works only for color film, not for B&W.<br /> For B&W, Plustek SRD app is very good, I use it often for removal dust and scratch for Minox<br /> 8 x 11mm B&W negatives. the following is a post about using Plustek dust removal to clean<br /> a very dusty Wirgen Edixa 16 submiature negative sanned at 4000 dpi, with plustek B&W dust removal activated</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/minox-camera-forum/00deBG<br>

This is only an extreme example to demonstrate the power of Plustek dust removal<br>

photoshop does no have similar "dust marking" function, the filter>noise>scratch and dust<br /> in photoshop uses radius blurring, it blurs out the dust, at the same time it blurs out image details.<br /> The Plustek B&W dust removal SRD function, removes only dust and scratch, and left other<br /> image in original sharpness.<br /> Plustek SRD some times treats straight line feature as "scratch", use the eraser in export mode<br /> can erase these unwanted red scratch markings.<br /> The plustek SRD dust removal for B&W is similar to Polaroid dust removal, but works better</p>

[MTC Photography]

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18145433-lg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="992" /><br>

Extreme example of dusty Wirgin Edixa 16 negative left in drawer unprotected, catchimg massive dusts, not possible to remove with photoshop</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18150472-lg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="999" /><br>

After using Plustek Silverfast 8 Ai suite (bundled with Plustek 8200i scanner). Dusty negative<br>

cleaned.</p>

 

[MTC Photography]

<p>Dust and scratch is never an issue with my 35mm negatives or slides, because they were all handled<br /> by machines, with little chance of touching human hands.<br /> On the other hand, dust and scratch is always an issue with subminiature photography. First of all<br /> you need to cut 16mm film or 9.4mm film(Minox) from 35mm film stock in the dark room, then roll up the cut strips one by one into Minox or RADA cassettes, no matter how you clean your hands, dust in the dark room and dust on your hands have more chance to land on the film strips.</p>

<p>And then there is an issue with the magnitude of enlargement. A 35mm negative enlarge to 8 inch is only 8x enlargement,<br>

while a Minox 8mm x 11 mm negative enlarge to 8 inch is 24x enlargement, same size dust particle on a 35mm negative<br>

may be not noticable in and 8 inch enlargement, but with Minox 24 x enlargment, any minute dust magified enormously</p>

<p> </p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>In the Search box of this Forum, type in Reflecta or Plustek you should get a bunch of articles. </p>