Digital Photography Forum
Help. I am new to photography and not the best at it. However I have 35mm films I took traveling the world 20 years ago that I would like to now store the images on my computer. I have been looking at sending the photos to a comercial centre but as I have so many over 2000 images it will cost quite a lot to have this done professionaly. Therefore I am looking to either buy or hire (if Poss) a scanner so I can do this myself. I have been looking at the Plustek 7300, 7200iSE but don't know enough about them to know whether it is worth me doing this, and if it is what should I buy for under £200
Me too!
Peggy,
I have the exact same problem.
I trained as a photographer in the days of 35mm negative and have files and files full of archived images needing to be digitized.
I have looked at commercial scanning options too, but these have proved quite expensive as you have noticed.
At the moment I am thinking about buying a second-hand scanner on ebay.
I have not decided on a model yet, but have done some research and I am leaning towards options from Nikon.
I will look over the Plustek models and get back to you on what to look for and how these measure up.
Talk soon,
Ed
What I know so far
Peggy,
I've had a quick look around and I have to tell you, the plustek looks like a very viable option.
Bare in mind that I have not been "hands-on" with it yet, but it does seem to offer a very good range of features.
The 7300 has a decent resolution and looks like a good buy at the price.
Remember though, that these scanners do not have digital Ice, which is basically a dust reduction system, so you may have to spend a lot of time retouching images afterwards.
You probably already know this, but I'll warn you anyway: scanning is a very tedious exercise and very labour intensive. You will have to sit there for hours, feeding the scanner while it does its thing.
One last thing, are most of your images on negative or do you have some slides too?
Scanner
Hi Ed,
Thankyou for your quick replys. I think I have got as far as you have with the plustek 7300 but I didn't really understand the dust reduction system which for an amator would be a real problem. What I need to know is if I bought the 7300 is there software you can buy with this to sort out the dust reduction? There is the plustek 7200 iSE which may be better. I don't really understand the differences between the models. I have also looked at the Ion slide to PC which is much cheaper. Do you know of any reviews that have been done of these scanners?
Thankyou for your help
Peggy
scanner
Hi Ed I forgot to put that I have only negatives to scan. I realise it will take some time for me to scan the pictures. I am not very technical so will need whatever I buy to be able to reproduce a reasonable quality. I wouldn't have the patience to play with each picture once it has been loaded onto the computer.
Thanks,
Peggy
Here's how I see it.
Peggy,
I am going to try to not be too technical.
Digital ICE (image cleaning and enhancement) is a process which takes place at the scanning stage and I've seen it in action, it works amazingly well.
It can remove even rather large spots on an image without affecting the detail of the picture.
I have included a link to show you what it is capable of.
http://asf.com/gallery/ice/film/imagepages/image5/
The 7200 iSE ships with an alternative technology, but which works in a very similar way. (It is called iSRD, in case you want to know.)
I have not been able to find any reviews of that specific technology, but like Digital ICE, it works using infra-red scanning, so the technologies and their results should be similar.
The slightly less expensive 7300 has no "on-board" dust removal, and this is the major difference between the two scanners.
You asked about dust removal software, certainly this is available and most software packages such as Photoshop or even the free program called Gimp will have an automatic dust removal function. But with all these systems the problem is that because it does not take place at the time of scanning, the software has no real way of distinguishing between image detail and a flaw in the negative. Put another way, to the program, a spot of dirt on your nose at the time when the picture was taken and a spot of dirt on the negative looks exactly the same. The software may remove the spot of dirt on your nose (or stray hair or whatever) thinking it is an image flaw.
So, yes, the software is available, but is of much lower standard than a solution that takes place during scanning.
In my opinion then, if you have the extra money lying around, go for the 7200 iSE, it will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
Shutterbug has given the Plustek scanners a very good review over at http://www.shutterbug.com/equipmentreviews/scanners_printers/0907plustek...
For a review of the 7300, look at http://www.filmscanner.info/en/PlustekOpticFilm7300.html
As for the Ion Slide 2 PC, the only review I have been able to find is this one at Engaget.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/18/ion-audio-slides-2-pc-does-what-it-pr...
I have to say, I'm not very impressed. I'd rather use a flatbed scanner than one of these, and I definitely will not use a flatbed scanner. Ion is an audio specialist and I don't think they have ever made scanners before. That being said, it certainly is a cheap option, so if money is the only concern... Nope, not even then, I just don't think this is worth it.
Well, I hope that clears things up a bit.
If you want, I can give you a more detailed answer of what all the different terms mean, but I did not want to baffle you with science, better to just lay out the facts I always feel.
By the way, thank you for bringing the Plustek brand to my attention, I think I may be investing in one of these myself in a month or two.
PS.
Ps. The reason I asked whether you have negatives or slides is that you generally need a higher quality scanner for slides than for negatives, in which case I would have suggested an option from Nikon.
Dust removal at the scanning stage also does not work on some types of slides, so that would have changed our considerations too.
Hope that helps.
Scanner
Hi Ed,
Thankyou for all your research. I have looked at all the information you have sent to me and agree that it is important to have dust removal or the equivalence of ICE. I am therefore going to relook at the 7200iSE also the Reflecta crystal scan 3600 may be adequate. Let me know what you think.
Kind regards,
peggy
More info
Hi Peggy,
Sorry for getting back to you so late, I have been running around chasing breaking news with my camera.
Anyway, back to the scanners. The Reflecta is an interesting choice, as it offers only about half the resolution of the Plustek, but comes in at about the same price (as far as I can gather.)
The 3600dpi of the Reflecta is, in my opinion, not enough to justify a dedicated negative scanner. It's not a lot more than you will get from a flatbed scanner with a transparency accessory.
If you are not too bothered about the maximum resolution offered by the scanner, then I would maybe consider a second-hand Nikon Coolscan, something like the IV ED, which I have found on an ebay auction for around 100 pounds. The resolution is only 2900dpi, but the Nikon is one of the most trusted names in scanning technology.
The one thing I have not looked at for the Plustek is the actual scanning times. This can be a major factor.
I once worked in a photo-lab where we had to scan negatives for customers and I remember the old industrial scanner we had was capable of delivering spectacularly high resolutions, but would take up to five minutes to scan a single image. In the end we never used to scan at the highest resolution, which made the entire exercise a bit pointless.
I have to say though, I am overall quite impressed with the Plusteks (provided you work on a Windows PC, as Plustek does not have software available for Mac), and if you can get hold of one for not too much over 200 pounds (buying new), I'd probably go for it.
In the mean time, though, I have found this really useful site for scanner reviews, called Scandig with all sorts of information and reviews. (I think the articles are directly, if badly, translated from German, but the quality of the information seems high enough to make one look past the interesting turn of phrase.)
I shamelessly cut and paste from them below:
Company Reviews:
Nikon
Nikon only offers upmarket film scanners. The lowest priced model is more expensive than the top-of-the-line models of many a manufacturers. All Nikon film scanners can be recommended, because they all feature high image quality.
Plustek
The company Plustek from Norderstedt offers film- and flat bed scanners in the lower to middle price range. Plustek film scanners exclusively work with Windows PCs. The company Quato developed Apple Macintosh drivers for these scanners and sells identical devices under their own name for PCs and Macs.
Quato
The company Quato Technology from Braunschweig offers a film scanner since 2006. It is built under license by Plustek. Thus the scanners by Plustek and Quato are identical in construction. While Plustek sells their scanners only for operation with Windows PCs, Quato developed a Apple Macintosh driver, so that the Quato scanner works with both PCs and Macs.
Reflecta
The german company Reflecta situated in Rottenburg covers a wide field of application with their film scanners. No other manufacturer offers such a wide product range as Reflecta. All film scanners by Reflecta have in common that they play to their strength only in combination with the scan software Silverfast. That's why we offer all devices by Reflecta in a cheap bundle with Silverfast.
Scanner
Hi Ed, There is a Plustek 7200 iSE on Ebay at the moment but I have been outbid and it is secondhand. It does take a longer time to scan at a higher resolutio about 4-5 minutes but also the files are so large that most people end up setting the Plustek to a lower res. This is why I thought the Reflecta may have been ok if it was at a lower price. What I might do is buy the Plustek new and then sell it on after I have done my 2000 negs.
Thankyou for your help and all your research into this for me. I am sure others will find this very useful too.
Kind regards,
Peggy
Agreed.
I know what you mean about the high res being over-kill for most purposes, but I'm sure there will be one or two negatives that are so important that you will want it scanned at the best res possible. And if I was going for a lower res scanner, I'd go for an older Nikon.
Tell you the truth, the research has done me good to, because I've been putting off digitising my own negs for a while now.
Who knows, I might end up buying your Plustek when you're done with it!
If you have any more questions, let me know.
Hi Ed
I tried to buy a Plustek scanner on ebay but the price they were going for it was only £40 more to buy new. I knew exactly what I wanted so I bought it directly from a company advertising on ebay. I phoned the company and they had lots of information regarding the differences between the models. I have bought the 7200i apparently the 7200iSE has the older software. I paid £189 and it is due to come this week. I will let you know how I get on with using it. It does have the dust removal on this model which is very important so thankyou.
Peggy
Great News!
Hi Peggy,
Has your scanner arrived yet? I hope you are happy with it, because I would feel at least partly responsible if you aren't :)
The £189 sounds like a good price. Let me know how you get on with it, because like I said, I might be investing in one too.
And most importantly, don't forget to post some of your scanned pictures here on the site.
Take care.
Ed Sutton
good info
peggy,
i was in the same situation as you and thanks to your blog i know know the answer aswell so thanks.
and thanks to everyone who has given advice
thanks
jen x