Scanner – Plustek 120

C and H.

Favourite, Film, Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Life's Little Moments, Portrait, Scanner - Plustek 120, Teaching point, Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton

(About a girl and her dog)

This was taken at bedtime, under very dim light.  The film was therefore pushed quite a bit during post processing to lighten things (I should have instead “pushed” it during development).

I’m actually amazed that I ended up with an image that I like, given my previous attempts to capture such scenes in my kitchen without the aid of daylight have never produced satisfactory results, with digital cameras (M9, M8, D3S, D3, D700, etc.) anyway.  Although film doesn’t make up for poor lighting, it certainly is more forgiving.

—Peter.

C and H

↑Leica M3, Voigtländer Nokton 40mm @ f/1.4, and Kodak Tri-X 400.

Plustek 120 and Silverfast: Mark’s settings for dust removal.

Film, Guest Post, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 120, Teaching point

I recently reported on the Plustek 120 scanner for scanning B&W film.

After reading about my positive experience with the Plustek 120, my friend Mark purchased one.  Mark, being a Master in film processing, develops both B&W and colour film.  While using the colour film dust removal feature of the Silverfast sofware, he initially found things weren’t working.   However, a few quick changes in Silverfast solved the problem.

Mark writes:

“I appear to have a fix for the problem… It seems that there is a setting under [Silverfast’s] “Preferences > Special > Maximum Offset for iSRD alignment” that is “Maxed Out” by default. I have decreased my value to 50 (from a default of 70) and decreased the detection threshold to 2 (in the iSRD Dialogue) and the resulting correction is PERFECT, with no alterations in the underlying grain structure of the resulting scan…I hereby declare this to be a FINE scanner…“

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Thank you for this information Mark.

—Peter.

1963 M3 – Test Shot.

Film, Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Leica M3, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 120, Teaching point

Completing my move back into shooting film is my acquisition of a Leica M3.

I’m revisiting an old friend, in that I’ve owned two of these previously (a couple of examples of my previous output with the M3 can be seen here and here) .

This one is from 1963, and it still has the “L” seal intact — which means it has never been opened to be serviced since leaving the factory in 1963.

How well does this 50+ year old camera fare?

Here is a test shot from today (focus is on the angels):

1963 M3 Test Shot

↑Leica M3, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH @ f/1.4, and Kodak Tri-X 400.

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The focus is spot-on, and most of the shutter speeds are working perfectly.

Now, do I get it serviced to get the last ounce of performance out of it, or do I leave it untouched (with the L seal intact)?

Hmmm…

—Peter.

Hockey Girl.

2014, Favourite, Film, Hockey, Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Mamiya RZ 110mm F/2.8, Mamiya RZ67 Professional Pro II, Portrait, Scanner - Plustek 120

It’s February 9th, 2014.

That’s today.

My wife and I are rushing to get Hockey Girl ready for her early game, and we’re running late.

I notice it’s snowing outside and the light looks magical.

I turn to my wife, and she immediately understands.

She says, “5 minutes”.

I run upstairs to grab the Mamiya, which is already loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400.

Hockey Girl and I go outside, and I shoot a few frames.

This is one of them.

As it turns out…

Hockey Girl goes on to score her first ice hockey goal, ever.

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Hockey Girl

↑Mamiya RZ67, Mamiya 110mm @ f/2.8, and Kodak Tri-X 400.

Epson V700 vs. Plustek 120.

Film, Inspiration, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 120

Here is a high magnification crop from each scanner, from yesterday’s Smile image.

Qualifiers:

  1. Default values in SilverFast 8 (identical settings for both scanners).
  2. Each manufacturer’s stock film holders were used (the Epson ones are flimsy, the Plustek ones are impressive).
  3. I’m only examining sharpness (though I already have an opinion about dynamic range that I’ll keep to myself for now).
  4. This is a B&W comparison only (no colour comparisons are forthcoming – sorry!).
  5. This is not scientific.*

*This was done for my own evaluation purposes.  I have other crops I’ve compared but I’m only posting one because it is representative of the overall results.

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The Epson V700 is on the left, the Plustek 120 is on the right:

epson-v700-vs-plustek-120-photographs-by-peter

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My verdict?

The Plustek 120 wins.

However, the Epson V700 was hampered by its substandard film holders.  Those of you who are using the BetterScanning substitutes are likely coaxing better performance out of the Epson.

Please note that we are splitting hairs with these crops.  The overall image quality is excellent for both.

In actuality, I was happy with the Epson — until I saw what I can get from the Plustek.  And my goal was to get something at least as good as the Epson in a smaller package.  The fact that I’m getting better image quality (in the context of my workflow) is a bonus.

The second big bonus with the Plustek is that there is no large, smudge-prone, glass panel present from which I have to keep wiping away fingerprints.

The third big bonus with the Plustek is that the film holders can accommodate 3 frames of 6 x 7 film (the Epson ones hold 2.5… which is very inconvenient).

Finally…

I’d like to congratulate Plustek for keeping film scanners alive.   I’m no longer plagued by crazy notions of purchasing a used (and discontinued, and unsupported) Nikon Coolscan 9000 for an inflated price in the second-hand market.

The Plustek 120 appears to be a quality product that is well-conceived and is well-executed.  And thank you Plustek, for finally including well-engineered film holders!

Hopefully, it’s built to last.

—Peter.

The Plustek 120 has arrived!

Film, iPhone, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 120, Teaching point

That was fast delivery!… ordered yesterday, here today.

(Thank you Canada Post)

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Plustek 120-1

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I still have the plastic protective sheet on the front 🙂

The footprint is certainly much smaller than the Epson V700.  Excellent.

For comparison purposes, here is the Plustek 120 from above, with a standard 3-hole punch and my recent Polaroid photo sitting on top of it:

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Plustek 120-2

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Now, the question is:

Will it perform as well as the V700?

—Peter.