Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE - Film scanner (35 mm) - 35mm film - 7200 dpi x 7200 dpi - USB 2.0
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
By William E. Davis
Got the 8200i in today, and installed the software quickly enough. I like the fact that the unit came with a carrying/protective bag roomy enough to fit all the cables, manuals, power supply, and accessories easily. The unit is quiet, well built and nice looking. The two film holder doors are easy to access and in about an hour from unpacking it, I had already scanned about 25 pics of my daughter. The software, Silverfast, is not all that intuitive, but there's a mode where you make the settings you want and preview the scan, place your framing, and then do the high rez scan. I like the output options, all the important and useful file formats are there. The scanner is pretty quick, maybe 30 seconds for a huge scan from 35mm film. Then, there's a 'Silverfast for dummies' way where it holds your hand. Red logo is the geek mode, blue is the dummy mode.
The scans I did were of Extar film from about 1993, and pretty grainy, but I still got very nice and balanced images. Output files can be 7200dpi and you can get huge files, but if you're using fine grain film, it's worth it. Some of my Panatonic-X B&W images were awesome!
Overall, this is a solid piece of engineering. Highly recommend it as long as it continues to work like it has today!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
By Martin B. Pawlocki
I had the 7200 for years. The 8200 if faster and more flexible. It does a much better job with scratches and dust
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
By Movielighter
Anyone wanting to take on the chore of scanning 35mm slides or Negatives needs to understand that there is a lot more involved than the scanner in this process.
1) The negative\positive image needs to have been taken well with a descent range of exposure that can be corrected in post.
2) Clean film free of dust, hair and any other build ups (pec pads and emulsion cleaner work excellent).
3) Gloves to handle the film and keep from getting scratches, finger prints, etc on it while you are working, latex do well.
4) Storage for the masters once clean so they will be protected for years.
5) Software to make corrections (contrast, sharpness, tone, etc.) in post (Lightroom, Photoshop, etc)
6) Time - It will take several minutes to do a single great scan with previewing, adjustments then scanning to the desired format.
This unit meets all the needs of a scanner for your film once you have prepared everything else. Watch the short videos that come with the software, read the manual, practice a couple of times and you will be scanning in no time!
After testing other models, and reading reviews for several weeks, I decided to order this scanner to scan several 35mm slides from the 50's and 60's I have on hand. The first one completed was dirty and I wanted to test the spot removal function. It did an amazing job and removed almost everything, well enough for a slideshow or web page. After cleaning and rescanning, the photo came out amazing as a 7200DPI, .tff. I brought it into Adobe Lightroom and made some adjustments to the white balance, contrast and sharpness then started the filing system for storage of both the slide and the new digital file.
This seems to be not only one of the best for the consumer level, but also one of the best values out there as far as price.
If this helps at all, here is my workflow for storing:
On slide "2013-12-06 0001" then I name the digital photo the same on the computer, and finally in Excel put the same information and a brief description of the image such as "1950's Beach, Sunny, Hawaii" this way I can do a search if needed. I then carefully place the slides into a dust free container that will seal and black the light from entering.
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