Plustek OpticFilm 8200i AI - 35mm Film & Slides Scanner. IT 8 Calibration Target + SilverFast Ai Studio 9, 7200 dpi Resolution 64Bit HDRi , Mac/PC

Plustek OpticFilm 8200i Ai S/N 5A2FAA000693 I purchased this unit from Amazon in April 2021. The unit was delivered in seven days, a fantastic delivery time considering that I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. The unit was well-packed and undamaged upon arrival. It was easy to set up and install the unit, and I could start scanning immediately. I bought this unit to archive my extensive 35mm slides and negative film collection. For this purpose, I intended only to scan slides and negatives at a relatively low resolution and archive these on a hard drive. The scanner is easy to use and reasonably fast, and I could quickly scan approximately 60 slides an hour. Scanning at 1200 or 2400 DPI and 24-bit colour was adequate. I experimented with higher DPI ratings but did not find any benefit. I experimented with the included SilverFast software but found it more manageable, in my case, to further process images using Photoshop when this was required. Over several months, I could scan and archive approximately 8500 images, both slides and negatives. Having completed this campaign, I moved on to other work. I restarted the unit to scan the remaining thousand or so slides in mid-December this year. I immediately discovered that the unit had developed a fault: every other slide failed to scan, the unit jamming and emitting a shrill buzzing sound. This could be stopped by pressing the exit button, but the problem would return when scanning the next slide. To assess this problem, the unit's cover was removed (it was already out of warranty), and operated itwithout the cover. The unit's working parts, that is, the part that carries out the scan, move over the transparency controlled by a worm drive actuated by a small electric motor and a pair of gear wheels. The working parts are an elegant piece of engineering and are very well made. But the Achilles heel lies where the gear wheel attached to the motor meets the gear wheel that rotates the worm drive. Observing the action of the scanning unit, I noticed that the pre-scan forward and back movement ran smoothly, but the scanning movement attempted to overrun its limit and was stopped by the buffer at the end of its travel. This caused the motor gear wheel to skip resulting in a high-pitched buzzing noise. This could be ended by clicking exit on the screen. A close examination of the mechanism did not identify any means of adjusting the length of travel of the scanning unit. I concluded that returning the unit to the manufacturers would be necessary to correct this problem. Unfortunately, I live in South Africa, and the shipping and other costs to do this would exceed the unit's value, so I don't believe this is an option. So, this unit will have to join my ever-growing collection of dysfunctional or dead and obsolete electronics that line the shelves of my office. My assessment of the 8200i Ai is that it is a fine piece of engineering and will produce satisfactory results for the home user. Still, buyers should know that its useful working life may not extend beyond seven or 8000 scans; anything beyond that is a bonus. It presents good value for money bearing in mind the above limitations. Updateed on January 2 2023 Following interaction with the very prompt and helpful people at Plustek, I uninstalled the original version of the app and replace it with an updated version. This eliminated the problem with the movement of the scanning unit. However, a new problem emerged: the app froze after one scan. Plustek advised that this was due to issues with USB drivers and advised some s/ware adjustments. Acting on this advice did not resolve the problem, which may lie with a possible incompatibility with SilverFast or the new image-handling app that came with the upgrade. A workaround was found: a desktop or laptop with no prior Plustek/Silverfast apps installed was utilized. Only the Plustek Quick Scan app was installed - nothing more. The scanner now works perfectly. This is a possible solution for other scanner users who may encounter similar problems with the Plustek 8200i Ai. Best wishes for 2023 to you all.

Hi All, I decided to write this review as many of us are looking to scan 35mm film and there is either a lack of reviews for newer scanners; or older scanners are too cost prohibitive. I'll surmise my experience of the Plustek 8200i/SE/AI in this review. ** A quick side note: The differences for each version of the Plustek 8200i is software/Silverfast and Infrared(for SE/AI). For most users the 8200i/SE is more than suitable. I decided to spend a bit more and get the AI version for the IT8 Calibration Target( from SIlverfast this cost roughly ~$100USD) First, what I require from a film scanner: - Fine image quality( for a range of film types: E6, C41 & B&W) - Small footprint, lightweight( it is going on a desk) - Relatively Fast for scanning single frames(I don't need Batch Scanning/Roll Scanning) - Modern connections like USB 2.0/3.0 Second, what i want to avoid in a film scanner: - Cost( think Pakon 135/235; Nikon Coolscan 5000/9000) - Manufacture no longer supports the scanner/discontinued( for more than 5 years) - Software Requiring Older Operating System & outdated ports( Like Windows XP & Firewire) Now for my experience: In the past I had a Pakon 135+(a scanner that scans whole rolls of 35mm film and outputs to 6MP). In the week since my purchase of the Plustek 8200i, I've rescaned a few negatives to compare. The Plustek 8200i does a fine job at scanning 35mm Film with the included SIlverfast 8( which can be upgraded to Silverfast 9 for free. Copy & paste this link here: https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx2C26L6RMP8HAJ/ref=ask_dp_lsw_al_hza?asin=B009724JZY ) Image Sharpness/focus is spot on, Color is faithful & true, USB 2.0 allows scanning speeds to be quick( ~1min for a Prescan & 2.5mins for a Final scan @ 225 DPI w/ MutiSample and Dust & Scratch Removal enabled) It meets all my needs & needs of most users. And it definitely rivals/outperforms the Pakon 135. Though i can see where some might not like the Plustek 8200; for instance: -The Plustek 8200i can only scan 1 frame of 35mm film at a time. It is not automated; you must manually advance the included film holder to scan the next frame. I normally do not scan a whole roll of film; i pick and choose the frames I want to edit/share/print. For some, that is a bit too hands on.**** -Some people have commented that Silverfast can be a bit complicated. I agree it can be; but there are video tutorials in the program to help teach you about the tools SIlverfast offers. If you take it slow; have a notpad near by to take notes/reminders and be patience with yourself; it is doable. Otherwise, Vuescan would be the next best option. I personally opted for SIlverfast; as the interface just 'flows' better for me; and the colors from Vuescan are not to my liking. I am thoroughly impressed with this scanner. I was very hesitate with going with a modern scanner; as most of the photographers I follow/look up to use a Pakon 135 or a Nikon Coolscan 5000/9000. Those scanners are great and they set a standard for scanning film but raising costs & costly repair are not what I need right now. The Plustek does the job and it does it well. Here are some tips that I have after reading the manual for the scanner : #1- Label the top of the scanner(see pictures). You can slide the scanner in from either the left or right. I decided to only one side "Enter" & the other side "Exit". This is to help with consistency and for TiP #2 #2 Label the Film Holder(see pictures). The manual suggests that you lay the film with the Emulsion(dull) side down, with the top of the frame point towards the back of the scanner & the Film Info read from left to right. Plustek explains this on Page 4 of the Quick Guide manual shipped with the printer. These tips have helped speed up my "scanning" workflow and helps with problem solving. ****For those who want a scanner a bit more hands free, I recommend : https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Image-PrimeFilm-Automatic-Scanner/dp/B07K2GCRRY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=7YS3LDA1V2RH&dchild=1&keywords=pacific+image+prime+film+xas+super+edition+film+scanner&qid=1630528170&sprefix=xa+film+scanner%2Caps%2C250&sr=8-3

I typically keep my reviews short and technical, but this time I feel compelled to share my experience. In April 2022, I purchased the Plustek 8200AI scanner and AI plays a crucial role - without SilverFast, the image quality could vary significantly. I initially installed it on an older PC, thinking it could handle large images. Following the instructions, I held off on upgrading to SilverFast 9 for later. As I started scanning 35mm black and white negatives, I quickly realized that when I reached 3600ppi, my PC needed an upgrade NOW. After building a new PC from scratch and installing OpticFilm with SilverFast 8, the performance improved dramatically, and I fell in love with the scanner. Now, it was time to upgrade SilverFast, and that's when I encountered an issue. I wasn't sure where to turn, but Plustek Support came to the rescue. They stayed with me throughout the upgrade process, even though it was coming from SilverFast directly. Their dedication was unexpected and highly appreciated. I intended to write a review at that point but got sidetracked with my scanning workload plus my actual work, since photography is my hobby. Recently, I came back to my scanner and decided to upgrade SilverFast and encountered another hurdle. went to Plustek for new driver and after - SF couldn't detect my scanner, and that's when I reached out to Plustek Support once more. David spent a good 10-15 minutes with me, reinstalled the driver, and although SF could see the scanner, it didn't cooperate. David identified it as a direct SF issue and provided me with a support link. By the way, SilverFast support is also commendable, but since the company is in Germany, email support worked perfectly for me, and it was quick. Now, to sum it up: As of today: I've scanned around 2000-3000 old negatives, some of which are over 50 years old and have never been touched. With this scanner, you can breathe new life into old pictures. I was able to recover images that my dad never printed because he thought they were ruined. It was a picture of my first day on earth. Just a tip: When you set it to 3600ppi or 7200ppi, it takes some practice and experimentation to get the desired results, but it's absolutely worth the effort. So, when you are thinking about investing into this compact device, you'll get: an outstanding film scanner excellent software for scanning and preprocessing your films, slides, and images and in the background (in case you will ever need any help ) - the best support team I've encountered in the consumer IT world these days. Thank you, Plustek, for the exceptional device and the incredible support team.

What a horrible ordeal it was to get the drivers and software loaded. The instructions are terrible. I could actually do a QuickSan on a slide but the results would only render a negative and there are absolutely no controls/adjustments available via QuickSan. When pressing the IntelliScan button that brings up SilverFast, the software would pop up but the Source box was always empty. This would not allow me to enter my license number and therefore could not use the software. I have a Lenovo W530 laptop running Win8.1 with an i7 processor and 32gbs of memory. Plenty powerful for this scanning system. For three days now I have been trying to get this scanner to work. I would load the OpticFilm drivers from the hardware CD and then load the SilverFast software. SilverFast would never find the scanner! So, I found upgrades for both PlustTek drivers and SilverFast, loaded them and even that would not work. So here is the final process that did work. - I attached the scanner and turned it on (the later part was not noted in the instructions!) - I loaded the UPDATED scanner drivers and NOT what was on the provided CD - Rebooted the laptop - Went into the Registry (regedit on the command line) and had to enter the scanner serial number for the first find on OpticFilm 8200i (this seems to be the big problem!) - Rebooted the laptop - Loaded the SilverFast software from the provided CD as this contains the license authentication information - I opened SilverFast and noted it still did not find the scanner - Rebooted the laptop - Loaded the UPDATED SilverFast - Opened SilverFast and now it finally found the scanner!!!! It asked me for the license number and wanted to validate it against the original CD so had to put that back in the CD player. From here I finally could access the software. I have scanned a couple of slides and they are FANTASTIC! I am only giving this 4 stars because of the hassle in getting the software to load. I so did not want to pack this scanner up and send it back. I have been a technical person for 30 years. All the reviews talked bad SilverFast customer service so I knew that is somewhere I wouldn't be going. This seems to be a great scanner and only takes about 3-5 minutes for a 3800 dpi scan with dust correction. Listen to the videos and take notes as this is a somewhat complex software that I do not find as intuitive to use as the developer of the software does. But as with any software, you eventually learn how to use it. I hope this review helps someone who experienced the same problems I did.

Lets start with the fact I am a novice so I expected some difficulty learning something new, secondly I purchased the scanner just for negatives, slides and positives are are even more difficult to scan, with that in mind here are my observations. First the scanner itself is hard to load the negatives, it is impossible not to touch the negatives. Gloves can be worn but even then the initial quality is poor. The scanner is slow and you must copy each individual negative separately. My slide scanner can load fifty slides and you can basically set and and forget. This scanner is way too expensive to be so difficult and time consuming. The worst part of all is the software. I do not know who developed it but they should be assigned to a different task, like packing boxes. The software has trouble loading on Windows 10, imagine that Windows 10 has been around how long and the software has not yet caught up with it. The software is not one bit intuitive, they use terms which are new to me and different from the other scanners I own. So far I have only been able to manage one negative at a time and the settings from what I can tell have to be reset every time. With lots of negatives to copy this is a royal pain. My slide scanner allows me to remove finger prints, dust, scratches, and other minor defects from storage with the push of one button and it stays in that position for all the scans I make during that session. But not this software or scanner each negative is a whole new experience. Maybe that is good if I really want to enhance a negative, what I want is equipment which will allow me to digitize my negatives before they deteriorate any further. What you end up with is a scanner that is slow, completely manual, results in negatives being scratched finger prints and dust just to load and the the software at least for me is essentially worthless. I am returning this terrible equipment.

The scanner itself works great. The software however is a huge pain. It takes quite a while to learn how it all works and I imagine could be quite difficult to figure out for someone that is less knowledgeable about photo editing software. This however is not the problem. The problem is that with the 9.0.2 update to SilverFast, scanning will often break. You can tell when this happens by photos coming out dark, out of focus, and with one or more bright white horizontal lines that weren’t in the prescan preview. At first I thought it was the scanner so I exchanged it but the replacement did the same thing. Because of this I narrowed it down to the update as it did not do this before the update. The problem can be temporarily fixed, sometimes by changing the bounding box, sometimes by changing the scan resolution, sometimes by doing a full reset of the software settings (which by the way requires you to redo your whole workflow setup). The fix is never permanent and usually the problem crops up again after a few scans. When it takes 5+ minutes to scan at 3600dpi and up this can become VERY time consuming on top of an already time consuming process. I’ve tried contacting SilverFast support and they haven’t been remotely helpful. I’ve also tried contacting Plustek support but just get an error every time I try to submit a support request. TL;DR this is a powerful and high quality scanning tool with difficult to use software that broke during the most recent update. I will try to update this review if they fix this in a future update.

Like: It works. And works very well. Yes, it takes time, but so would an equivalent 8x10. The scratch and dirt removal does an amazing job but not a 100% job. On very dirty or scratched slides, it may only be around 50% - but I can understand that considering you are running out of areas to fill in with. The areas it leaves alone is usually (not always) around edges or detailed areas - also understandable. Dislike: Because if the emulsion, you cannot reliably use the scratch and dirt removal on Kodachrome. There are other methods to work with but they are not nearly as efficient. Dislike: Silverfast: Very cool software but not intuitive. As has been reported, it has a very steep learning curve. I would recommend playing around with it to learn the intricacies before committing to scanning in a bunch of slides that you may have to rescan.

I'm in the process of scanning a huge archive of negatives and here are my thoughts: - I'm docking it two stars because the supplied negative holder really needs some work. The way they are positioned in the scanner, the top part of the negative gets cut off more frequently than the bottom. Also, if you want to have a "full frame" scan, you need to spend about two hours with a Dremel tool shaving down the edges of the negative holder like I did. I'm not sure why Plustek did it this way where they block out the edges of a negative. They don't need to do this since Silverfast and Photoshop both have a great function called "crop". Worse yet, I've noticed that different cameras don't position the frame in the exact same spot on the negative. Because of this, the spacing between the negative frames isn't consistent with the Plustek negative holder, hence an excessive amount of the left or right side of the photo is unnecessarily cropped out. I can't just advance the negative holder to the next frame and hit "scan", I have to take it out, re-adjust the negative so the left and right sides are lined up, then put the whole works back in. - The Silverfast software is ok. The user interface for it can be confusing in that there are several ways to do the same task, hence you can't be 100% sure of what you are doing at times. There are also some obvious UI bugs that will hopefully get worked out in future releases. (eg, the DPI slider doesn't match up to the presets or what you type in) - Jumping through all of these hoops, I'm happy with the results. If they would just make a better negative holder this would be a really excellent scanner.