#plustek — Public Fediverse posts

Finally bought a #Plustek #OpticFilm7300 to properly digitize my home-developed films.

After struggling for a good two hours to get the old SilverFast version to work on my neglected #Windows installation (and finally giving up), I thought I’d give it a try on my #Debian setup. Opened #Skanlite and … simply scanned the negatives. It just worked:
https://pixelfed.de/c/992065695823922169

Scanned as TIFs and edited in #Darktable.

#filmPhotography #filmDevelopment #35mm

#scanning #tips #software
The final two pieces of software are proprietary: Plustek's scanning software, and Hamrick's #VueScan (which is cross-platform, but I use it on Windows currently).
#plustek's config/scanning tool is really good at scanning & splitting things for you- I've used this extensively for smaller magazines, manuals, and pamphlets. It's quick & effective.
#VueScan is my current go-to for book/magazine scanning (anything that's printed to the edge). It's really good at this, and absolutely trash at any document that needs to be split- I try every so often, and just find I've wasted an hour trying to get it to work.

#scanning A little about the scanners themselves that I've used:
#Canon CanoScan LiDE 300- this is a solid workhorse under Linux, and is what I used for quite a long term to do a wide variety of scans. I've used Gnome Document Scanner, KDE Skanlite & Skanpage with this.
#Plustek OpticSlim 2680H- picked this up as a "parts only" thing, and got lucky there. This is absolutely amazing when you have a magazine/brochure/pamphlet that fits open on the glass
#microtek XT3300- this is my book edge scanner (was cheaper than a Plustek OpticBook at the time).

I've taken one old (1986/87) roll of film and scanned it with both the #Easy35 and with a #Plustek OpticFilm 8200i.

For a lot of the frames, there’s little important difference to my eye, but there are some things I see:

* The Plustek's frame holder can clip edges of frame. (See the cat photo. Excuse the mismatched exposure.)

* The Easy35 frames have some stray light. (This roll was pretty curly width-wise.) Only *obvious* (to me) in certain cases, but surely a factor.

After working with Ed Hamrick, the originator of Vuescan, I have decided to return my #Plustek OpticFilm 8200i. Luckily this should be fine, as I am (just!) within the 14 day period from the UK Consumer Contracts regs 2013 (replaced the old EU Distance Selling regs). I have requested a returns code from the seller, packed it all up after photoing every bit. Silverfast have removed the associated licence from my account. Hoping my 7500i comes to life again!

Last night I scanned a 24-frame roll of #Kentmere 100. It was a nightmare! #Vuescan was showing the skies as out of gamut! It's possible my #Plustek 7500i (bought in 2011) is in its death spiral, but I'm also wondering if I set the EI to 400 rather than 100 (the previous film was at EI 250, and I make have changed it without glasses). The negatives look very dense... annoyingly, there is a second film to come using the same EI. 😞