However, the V600 is impressively designed to cater to film photographers.

The 8100 can struggle to reveal every detail in the shadow areas of high-contrast 35mm slide positives, but this is our only nitpick.įlatbed scanners are traditionally thought of as a more versatile but less finessed alternative to a dedicated film scanner. It also lets you scan the entire film frame with no overzealous cropping. Though the front panel has a QuickScan button that automatically scans and saves a frame to your computer desktop, it’s best to load up the bundled SilverFast software that provides comprehensive scanning options and pre-scan image enhancement.Įven without messing with the settings, and scanning at 3,600 dpi, the 8100 is in a league of its own for scan quality, extracting bags of detail from our 35mm negs and transparencies. Each 35mm film frame takes nearly 4 minutes to scan at max res, but 3,600 dpi is more than adequate for most film stocks and you’ll have a scanned frame in 1 minute 20 seconds.

This does however mean the 8100 is no speed demon. It’s also a real optical film scanner and not just a digital camera sensor in a scanner body. This is the baby of the OpticFilm range, yet it still boasts a respectable 7,200dpi maximum scanning resolution. See our full Plustek Opticfilm 8200i SE review for more details There is also a Plustek OpticFilm 8200i Ai available (see below), a flagship model that adds color calibration software into the package - useful for color transparency scanning, albeit at a higher cost. The price difference between the two scanners is smaller in the US, making the extra convenience of the 8200i SE very tempting.

But if you regularly scan multiple negs that are likely to need dust and scratch removal, then the 8200i SE could be a real time-saver and worth the premium. The downside? In some places, the 8200i SE can cost around 40% more than the 8100, making it rather less of a bargain. Combined with the iSRD feature in the bundled SilverFast scanning software, any dust and scratches on your negs are automatically detected and then removed from the digital scan - clever stuff. There's really only one key feature that separates the 8200i SE from the 8100, and that's its dedicated infra-red scanning channel. It's almost identical on this inside too, but that's no bad thing, as that means you're assured top-notch scanning quality, providing you're prepared to wait a while when using max 7200dpi scanning resolution. Apart from its black rather than blue finish, the OpticFilm 8200i SE could be mistaken for its baby 8100 sibling.

Calibration sheet for plustek scanner