We get requests every so often from photographers who want to get their old slides and negatives digitalized. We’ve looked around at length for the answer, but the Nikon 600 went out of production, and most of the other scanners now are flatbeds that are too huge to ship. But the newest Plustek fits the bill: a dedicated 7200 DPI, 48 bit film and slide scanner that is much faster and easier to use than previous models.

Its light source comes from a white LED maximizing color detail. To minimize noise, the scanner’s multi- sampling function makes 4 scan passes that are averaged together so image noise is cancelled out. It has a multi-exposure function that is utilized with negative film to provide improved shadow & highlight detail. It also has iSRD (Infrared Smart Removal of Defect), which utilizes a combination of hardware and software to automatically eliminate minor flaws, such as dust and scratches, using an infrared channel to detect the flaws. And it can scan an image in about a minute through a USB 2.0 connection.

Two film holders are provided: one is for holding up to four mounted slides, the other is for filmstrips up to 6 frames.

We include the Silverfast software with this rental on a CD. Loss of the CD results in a charge of $385. (The software is expensive!) By renting this package, you agree that at the end of the rental you will remove all software from your computer.

MAC USERS: Our friend for life, Mitch Parker, found a LOT of problems using the Plustek on a Macintosh and spent a lot of time finding and effective workaround. But the bottom line to use the Plustek on a Mac the Silverfast software is too limited to be useful, and downloading VueScan will be necessary, and it costs $39 to purchase online from VueScan.