Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Minolta scanners, scanner support and replacement choices
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bfitzgerald
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Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Had the scanner for years took quite a while to get to grips with the Silverfast software which isn't very intuitive. I got good results from the scanner once I had this semi mastered. Using Vuescan also an option if you found that hard to work with.

So why did I let it go? Replaced a power supply that failed, never had any issues with it bar this. To do this I phoned up Plustek and spoke to a guy. At the time I was using Windows 7 64 bit and asked him why Plustek wasn't providing drivers for newer operating systems. He laughed at me and asked why I was using such an old scanner. My response was I was happy with it and it was working perfectly well for what I wanted it for (leaving the power supply part out of it). He then blamed Microsoft for coming out with newer operating systems.

Reality is decent companies update their drivers. The newer models did have the LED light v the bulb which I had not had a problem with, possibly some improvement in dynamic range. I didn't see a lot of reason to upgrade, if it's doing what you want why? Also the cost had risen hugely since I bought the 7200i, to get a comparable model would have been double the cost near enough. Once the power supply arrived I checked it worked, boxed it up and sold it on ebay (got a fair price cannot complain). I put the cash towards and Epson V550 and I'm happy with the scanner, better dynamic range and the software is easier to use.

Lesson to learn here is...well never laugh at a customer. I'll likely never buy another Plustek scanner ever again..because they don't support their products with driver updates :lol:
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bakubo
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Re: Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Unread post by bakubo »

I still have my Minolta Dimage Scan Elite F-2900 35mm film scanner that I bought in 2000 for US$1000 (US$1416 in 2017 dollars):

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DSE/DSEA.HTM

I made a lot of use of it from 2000 until early 2014 to scan old slides and negatives I took from the early 1970s until 2002. I wrote about it here:

Scanning Torture (or Learning to Love Your Digital Camera)

http://bakubo.blogspot.jp/2013/12/scann ... -love.html

Over 10,000 35mm slides and negatives scanned!

http://bakubo.blogspot.jp/2014/01/over- ... tives.html

The scanner and all my old film is packed away back in the States, but I still have a few more I could scan someday. The Scan Elite is a pain to use now because it uses the old SCSI interface and all I have to use it with is an old circa 2002 WinXP laptop that has several problems with it so is almost dead. Let us know how you like the Epson V550. I see that it is only about US$162 on Amazon. I could use it with any modern computer since it uses USB 2.0 for connection.
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the_hefay
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Re: Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Unread post by the_hefay »

I still have my Nikon Coolscan V that I bought used several years ago off ebay. I had the same problem Barry, about the drivers. Nikon didn't upgrade drivers for it past Vista and even the XP drivers were messed up and required copying the newest version of one ***.dll to another folder if you wanted to use the Nikon scan software without it shutting down in the middle of batch scanning. I ended up going with Vuescan and after a little bit, finally got comfortable with using it. Right now it's packed up though as I didn't feel it necessary to haul it to Peru, but I have plans to eventually finish my negatives and my Dad's slides. I'm just not sure when that will be yet.

As Henry said, I'd also like to hear how you like the Epson. I assume you're using the Epson software that came with it. Also, what OS are you using? Win 8? Win 10? Still Win 7? Mac?
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

The V550 is on a par with the Plustek for real resolution..but you need to take note on the sharpening the Plustek applied quite a bit by default (not a problem for printing), the Epson with sharpening off is fairly soft but at low or up it's on a par with detail v the7200i. I would add I was never unhappy with the Plustek on details depends on your post processing work-flow. It's a moot point because most of these scanners over state the resolution anyway and you'll get wall sized prints no problem with larger format film.

The Epson software is rather simple looking but offers a good range of settings I find it pretty easy to get to grips with it has all the adjustments you might want for scanning, dust removal, and settings. I know there are newer versions of silverfast I can't really see the point of bothering as you can't transfer the license you have to buy a new one. Vuescan also works well on it. Only downside is it's somewhat bulky compared to the 7200i. It's basically a V600 (slight differences on the case design) hardware is the same no photoshop elements thus lower price. I passed on the higher end Epson's because for me occasional use this is more than capable of good quality scans. I paid about £180 for it certainly worth getting the V550 over the entry ones because they lack the ICE IR dust removal. Did have pretty good results using the A57 for slides.

I don't dislike the Epson software it's not pretty but functional, some don't like it. Certainly faster to get going with this than the Plustek. Never blew a bulb on the 7200i I supposed being LED it should last ages. I am using Win 10 64bit no problems Epson updated the drivers for their scanners and software too. Downsides film tray holders could be more robust with some care don't see any real issues.
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bakubo
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Re: Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Unread post by bakubo »

Does the Vuescan multi-sample feature work with the V550? With my Minolta I pretty much always use it. Generally 2 samples for color negative film and 4 samples for color slide film. Slightly less noise. Here is what the user guide says about it:

Input | Number of samples

This option is available for scanners that support multi-sampling. As the scanner head passes over the media it makes multiple exposures for each location. The results for all samples are averaged.

This is a useful feature because any one exposure may be inaccurate, resulting in noise in the output. Noise will appear as one pixel whose color or tone is different than surrounding pixels. By taking multiple samples and averaging the results, the effect of inaccurate exposure is reduced.

This option will slow down scanning because the scanner is doing more. You should experiment with your scanner to see which balance of speed and accuracy is appropriate.

Number of samples is similar to Number of passes. Multi-sampling is preferable as the scanner head is positioned once, which ensures that the same area will be exposed for each sample. Multi-sampling is available only on a limited number of scanners.

Professional Option: This option is displayed when the scanner is capable of multi-sampling.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Bit late on this one. I had a monster slide scan job. Kodachrome stuff
Yes it supports multi scan on the V550 with Vuescan, and I tried a few with it works well. Obviously adds quite a bit of time to the scan I did a 4 pass scan on a difficult slide, and I managed to boost the shadows and hold the highlights. I would only use it for specific slides that are hard, or important scans where grain reduction might be useful.
The Epson software is generally pretty good, with some adjustment on exposure it can deal fairly well with Kodachrome; but it's a contrast high slide so Vuescan is worthwhile IMO too.
The thought of scanning 100's of slides with multiscan fills me with horror I spent an entire day scanning 200 slides and just used it on a select few. Still at least I can load 4 slides per scan, so it's def less of a nightmare job then the Plustek used to be

I run the images through polaroid dust/scratch removal software it's fast and works great. ICE is a no go for Kodachrome, it's great for other slides or colour negs.
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bakubo
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Re: Why I sold my Plustek 7200i

Unread post by bakubo »

bfitzgerald wrote: The thought of scanning 100's of slides with multiscan fills me with horror I spent an entire day scanning 200 slides and just used it on a select few. Still at least I can load 4 slides per scan, so it's def less of a nightmare job then the Plustek used to be
I suggest you read through this interesting thread about my experience scanning 10,000 slides and negatives:

Scanning Torture (or Learning to Love Your Digital Camera)

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... =13&t=8068
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