Plustek OpticFilm 7300 A17-BBM31-C 48bit CCD Single Pass 7200 x 7200 dpi Hardware Resolution Scanner - Retail

Reviewed By: ItEndsWithTens on 12/12/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Very high quality for the price, great slide holder, useful slide viewer, can grab lots of detail from shadows with the right software.

I got this on sale here at NewEgg, but even at full MSRP this is a deal to beat. A full, useful 3600dpi for less than a small fortune is hard to find, but here we are.

The slide holder is very effective, I only recommend you take a moment after inserting one to flip the holder over and square up the frame with the opening so you don't have to straighten scans after the fact. That viewer window on top of the unit is great, although the blue of the cold cathode shifts your color a bit (not in your scans, though, don't worry).

The bundled software leaves something to be desired, but the scanner's API apparently lets developers control the exposure time of the CCD. VueScan, for example, can do this, and I've gotten some great scans from old slides of my father's; ISO 400 pushed to 1600 in a cave, I can pull detail invisible to the naked eye.

Cons: Can't reach 7200dpi, poor negative holder, Silverfast.

I don't know if the Nyquist limit is to blame, but scanning at 7200dpi doesn't produce any more detail than 3600dpi. The lens I'm using isn't high end by any means, so the photos I'm scanning may not have detail of such high frequency in them, but the scruffy little strands of cardboard around the edges of slide mounts should become more clearly defined as the dpi goes up; this holds true up to 3600, beyond that I just get bigger files (and serious chroma aliasing at 7200).

The negative holder is a pain to close. I have to delicately place the film strip in and snap it closed as quickly as I can or else the film wants to jump up and out of the mount. Manageable, but frustrating. The metal nub the film holders seat on has also weakened, and it's become harder to center frames well.

And Silverfast? I've heard people complain about it before, now I understand. Lets you work well enough, but grab a copy of VueScan if you can.

Other Thoughts: I have a series of scans up on Flickr, under the same account name I'm using here, "ItEndsWithTens" (no links allowed in NewEgg reviews). Check the "Film" set to find them. The histograms were adjusted, and some negatives were further color corrected to match the prints, but none have been sharpened, and I didn't do any grain reduction, so you should get some idea of the scanner's abilities.

I'm sorry to hear about everyone's Mac problems, and it's a serious problem that deserves to be addressed, but I can only judge the product by my personal experience; I got exactly what I expected, so I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase.

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Mac Compatibility is Marginal

Reviewed By: Jamesk on 12/3/2009

Tech Level: average - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Smaller than a flatbed scanner, multi-scan capability, easy to crop and frame images, slide previewer on top is handy, well designed slide holder

Cons: Poor documentation, most of the accompanying software is not Mac compatible, slow, poorly designed film (negative) holder, the Mac user interface is VERY unMac-like

Other Thoughts: Although the product description indicates this unit is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers, it is not. The OpticFilm 7300 will only function when connected to a Mac using the SilverFast software. All of the accompanying Plustek software is Windows compatible ONLY. Because of this, the "IntelliScan" and "QuickScan" features (operated by the two buttons on the unit front) are non-operable when using a Mac. The SilverFast software comes with no documentation and is clearly designed for use by professional photographers. Video tutorials are included, but are so larded with technical terms and explanations that they are almost unintelligible to the casual user, even if you can overlook the odd English syntax which has been badly translated from German. If you use a Mac, aren't a professional and are looking for a simple way to convert slides and film to digital images, you will find the OpticFilm 7300 very frustrating. Connected to a Mac -- Nothing is simple!

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Good product, bad customer service!!!

Reviewed By: Upset Customer on 9/16/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Good product, but had to buy a power cord from a popular electronic store because one was not shipped with it.

Cons: Product was shipped without a power cord. Packaging was not conceled to keep the product private.

Other Thoughts: Good deal on this product...so I thought. When the product was shipped to me it looked like someone grabbed it off the shelf slapped a shipping label and sent it out. The box was not sealed and when I received the product, it had no power cord. After waiting more than a month for customer service to get back to me, I called to follow up. They wanted to have me contact the manufacture directly to solve the problem.

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