Plustek Opticfilm 120 with latest SF software problem

[naththo]

Hi,

I have bought Plustek Opticfilm 120 yesterday and installed all software including an update software off Silverfast website. Everything works fine as it is. Focus is fine. It seems only bother me is the iSRD on positive slide either 35mm or medium format, only few remain of dust particle or dust hair are still on image after iSRD is done. I did not want to play with sensitivity as if I try to it might erase the important dark area of image so I leave it auto so it retains the detail. I tried scan with negative film and the iSRD did work very well to compare. So I am guessing maybe its missing feature on Silverfast iSRD should have option to choose which one, black for positive and white for negative. So that then software will recognise a lot better and it will work better. Just my thought on that. I did use use very soft brush or wipe cloth to wipe gently and then blower before insert into scanner. I hope that Silverfast will be happy to find out why it is not working 100%. I looked inside the scanner between gap of film tray and the slot I can see infrared light is working perfectly.

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear customer,

iSRD is an automated function using the infrared image created by the scanner.
This does not require a choice on white or black defects.
That is only necessary for software sided correction like SRD.
If defects are not recognized you can raise the correction strength.
The 1:1 preview can exactly show you which areas are being corrected.

I strongly suggest not using any means to clean your images physically.
Any cloth no matter how soft will do more damage to your film than clean it.
Even using compressed air can damage the emulsion because it drives the dust particles through the sensitive emulsion.

Kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

[naththo]

Hi,

Thanks for reply, yes I understand thats a risk when trying to do stubborn cleaning. It is not easy since it is well known to have sticky spot on film believed to be mould. PEG-25 sounds risky job to try clean it off which I find so I thought nah I refrain from that. lol If I do want to risk it. I rather scan it original first and keep it in hard drive, then I can clean, scan again if it looks better, then I overwrite that file anyway. Thats either way.

I also noticed that IT8 profile have very strange behaviour I forgot to mention before, especially in dark shadow can be either red cast or green cast depends on different brand of IT8 target. Is that software behaviour problem in calibration? I never had problem with Nikon film scanner previously but Plustek seems totally different. I think it might be to do with different lighting due to LED backlight plus 3CCD. Nikon is totally different which I find does not use backlight much at all so the shadow stays nice and clean/dark but better sensitivity than Plustek in dynamic range though. Although I liked about Plustek is that lens is smaller aperture, so is sharper on edge and corner compare to my old Nikon 4000 is narrow depth of field. The reason why is to increase scan speed. Plustek had to use smaller aperture plus bright led backlight to compensate the scan time so it prevent from scanning far too slow. I also did a test of IT8 calibration in LPROF but it was awful, too green. I think LPROF did not like Plustek unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Oh well!

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear customer,

Yes, scanning before cleaning is certainly a good idea.

The dynamic range of Nikon scanners is very high.
With Multi-Exposure it reaches values as high as a drum scanner.
Though it does not explain why your Plustek would show a color cast.
Of cause the dark areas are where you see such an effect best.

The IT8 target could be responsible if it would be very old.
However SilverFast has safety measures which ensure you do not leave the range the IT8 standard sets.
(SilverFast is even a little more strict here)
Was the scanner warmed up (doing several scans) before calibration?
The light source is not effected by temperature much but the sensor might be.
Also make sure you are using the latest drivers.

kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

[naththo]

I will try again next time when my Plustek Opticfilm 120 is returned from Plustek under warranty repair. I will just do repeat calibration until it gets better then I save it in profile. Thanks for the idea you gave me which I need.

[naththo]

Hi,

I got scanner back. I recalibrated again and its fine now.

Also, I have test scan both 2650 dpi and hardware 10600 dpi to check out sharpness.

After I scanned 2650 dpi and opened up photoshop and leave it there. I scanned 10600 dpi, opened up photoshop and resize to be same as 2650 dpi and is sharper than straight out scan at actual 2650dpi, any idea why?

The straight out scan at 2650 dpi looks significantly softer than the hardware native 10600dpi resized to 2650dpi.

Would it be to do with software?

Nathan.

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear Nathan,

Downscaling a larger image is not the same as scanning at the same resolution.

Depending on the algorithm used to generate the smaller image various effects might occur.
some also depend on the used output format.
These can cause a sharpening-filter-like effect to occur.

I have forwarded your other postings to our support system for analysis.

kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

[naththo]

This is still very inaccurate colours unfortunately in Plustek Opticfilm 120. I wait decent while for warm up. I did IT8 calibration. I still end up with awful side effect of green haze or magenta haze across the slide film with that profile. Especially in shadow. I think maybe software forgot to compensate it because Plustek has LED backlight while Nikon Film scanner does not and use mirror instead for RGBWI light to emit through film into mirror and bounce to the CCD sensor to get native colour. White LED light combined with CCD will increase likelihood of much more colour error than Nikon because of you combine CCD RGBI with W LED light, it is not accurate. I think Plustek attempted that way because they want to have small aperture so you can get sharper images across rather than shallow depth of field like those Nikon Film Scanner does have. Perhap software should really try compensate between true RGBI from CCD sensor and the White LED to get more accurate result on positive film mostly but is a very difficult one I reckon. Its like the most complicated algorithm that needs to write up. I don't know what to do next. I am really at loss for that. It makes me feel like return the whole scanner for refund but can't because it is totally impossible to buy different brand in Australia. Braun is very shy and will not sell FS-120 globally or don't want to go over top and stay low profile and only sell locally to Euro only. Perhap you and Plustek better get real serious and talk each other and try resolve that problem. Its not your fault. Its Plustek's fault that causes a LOT of problem to everyone with all of scanner with very poor accuracy of colours etc. It is everyone worst nightmare. I see a LOT of complaint in Plustek forum much more than I have seen in other forum like Nikon. Incredible really is it? Did you know that one of store in Euro stop selling Plustek cos they no longer trust Plustek. They felt like cheated by Plustek promising to sell that works well turns out horrible one and lots of customer returned it to them so filmscanner store decided this is it. They stopped selling Opticfilm 120 and instead recommended Braun FS-120. Plustek should be ashamed of themselves for causing so much problem. But once again I am not making defamation against Plustek. This is a very serious concern and it should be seriously illegal to sell unit without properly test is being conducted. I am very frustrated, not kidding at all. I have had problem with this for about 3 months and this is not end yet.

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear customer,

SilverFast of cause is already individually tailored to each device.
However the light source adjustment and calibration take place inside the firmware/driver and SilverFast already uses an individually created colorspace.
Calibrating the scanner using SilverFast's IT8 feature even creates an individual profile for the device.
But of cause this requires a stable color output.
Color variations unfortunately can not be calibrated or predicted software sided because they mostly occur erratic.
So unfortunately this has to be corrected by Plustek because it happens outside of SilverFast's sphere of influence.


Kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

[naththo]

Ah I understand now.

I also did have Wolf ***** 35mm it8 slide target fortunately so I give it a try the same 35mm "provia" as yours 6x7cm medium format provia it8 target. I noticed quite difference in brightness is because 6x7cm film has much better dynamic range than 35mm itself. So using 35mm profile on 35mm film it did brighten up a bit more than 6x7cm profile. Now that make sense why it has different dynamic range. I also noticed quite difference in brightness with sRGB and Adobe1998 output profile but monitor cannot distinguish Adobe1998 well. So I stick to sRGB because my screen only support that sRGB (Standard monitor). I will keep tweaking and get use to it. Its so different to Nikon Film scanner thats why it takes me time to find the right way to get it right out of Plustek at least.

[naththo]

Some of slide film or negative film. Film scanner had failed to remove all dust/scratch even at max strength. I think the infrared may be faulty in the scanner unit or either software doesn't know how to as infrared in Plustek may have been done differently to Nikon. Nikon is much more native infrared which works much better than Plustek. I try other software but still struggle to remove some dust/scratch. So maybe it could be hardware problem. There is no update since for a while from Plustek. Perhap Plustek need to look at?

[naththo]

G'day from Australia,

I have noticed a rather significant problem in Silverfast Software.

The iSRD correction is misaligned and miss the mark over actual area of dust and scratch, results in still dusty and filthy in output scan result file. Perhaps, is it software or is the film scanner infrared having issue problem like misalignment infrared light or the tray movement calibration is out of range? Here's the url for you to see it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35204416@N08/12206513565/

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear customer,

Please make sure you are using the latest manufacturer drivers and the latest SilverFast version.
Scanners are precision devices.
Make sure the scanner is positioned on a stable , vibration free surface.
If that does not solve your issue please contact Plustek about this.


kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.