PrimeFilm scanner, 35mm slides, time and quality question

Considering the PrimeFilm scanner, probably the 1800i, to work with
years of accumulated 35mm slides in the family.
Will owners of the machine please tell me

a) if you're satisifed with it
b) how many slides can you reasonably scan in an hour?

We aren't talking about any editing, just scanning in at the highest
res.

Thanks! Chris

On 2006-10-31 20:00:09 -0500, said:

Considering the PrimeFilm scanner, probably the 1800i, to work with
years of accumulated 35mm slides in the family.
Will owners of the machine please tell me

a) if you're satisifed with it
b) how many slides can you reasonably scan in an hour?

We aren't talking about any editing, just scanning in at the highest
res.

Thanks! Chris

Beyond sucks would just about sum it up. 1800 dpi is not good enough.
It is slow. It is not color accurate. It is only sometimes in focus,
and NEVER iwth mounted slides. Anything else you want? Oh yes, it does
not have digital ice or any color correction software, and the software
it DOES have is minimal. Yes, beyond sucks is the operative term for
this dog. I have one and never use it anymore.
--
Michael | "He's dead, Jim."

"Michael Weinstein" wrote in message
news:2006103120270716807-notreallymeNOSPAM@ixnetcomcom...
On 2006-10-31 20:00:09 -0500, said:

Considering the PrimeFilm scanner, probably the 1800i, to work with
years of accumulated 35mm slides in the family.
Will owners of the machine please tell me

a) if you're satisifed with it
b) how many slides can you reasonably scan in an hour?

We aren't talking about any editing, just scanning in at the highest
res.

Thanks! Chris

Beyond sucks would just about sum it up. 1800 dpi is not good enough. It
is slow. It is not color accurate. It is only sometimes in focus, and
NEVER iwth mounted slides. Anything else you want? Oh yes, it does not
have digital ice or any color correction software, and the software it
DOES have is minimal. Yes, beyond sucks is the operative term for this
dog. I have one and never use it anymore.
--
In general, the higher the scan resolution, the more time it takes....I can
scan a slide at less than 2000 dpi in about 2 minutes, but if I try to scan
one at the 5400 max resolution of my scanner, I can go upstairs to my
kitchen and make a sandwich and it will still be scanning when I get back. -
It did help to get more volatile storage in my computer, however....I have
750 megs of ram now, and that helped a lot. It also helps if you scan to a
different hard disk than the one you keep the software on. Also, even after
you've scanned the image into your machine, if it's 30 or more megabytes in
size, it will take forever to do anything with it.....A simple color
correction change, or contrast change may take several minutes. - If you are
going to use your computer for this kind of stuff, my advice is to go out
and buy the fastest, biggest machine you can afford. The time you save will
pay it off in the long run.....

"Michael Weinstein" wrote in message
said:
Considering the PrimeFilm scanner, probably the 1800i, Will owners of
the machine please tell me
a) if you're satisifed with it
Beyond sucks would just about sum it up.

Never heard of this scanner so I looked it up on Amazon.

The reviews are a gas, there are two sorts:

o Variations of 'beyond sucks' giving it 1 star because
that's as low as the rating scale goes

o Ludicrous glowing reviews posted by PacificImages
employees posing as customers all giving it 5 stars

Worth reading for the laughs.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.nolindan.com/da/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com

wrote in message
oups.com...
Considering the PrimeFilm scanner, probably the 1800i, to work with
years of accumulated 35mm slides in the family.
Will owners of the machine please tell me

a) if you're satisifed with it
b) how many slides can you reasonably scan in an hour?



I have the Prime PF 3650 Pro3, which is a 3600 dpi scanner with digital
ICE3, and the fact that your model does not have ICE3 is reason enough for
recommending against it. When I turn off ICE3 in my scanner, the dust spots
and film scratches are too much to bear.

With all the bells and whistles turned on, my scans run about 5 minutes per
frame. The really good thing about the 3650 is that it accepts full rolls
of film, rather than having to insert 5 or 6 frames at a time. I just
insert the entire roll of film, set up the frames I want scanned (usually
all of them), and come back in 2 hours when the scans are all done. You
cannot do that with the 1800i.

If you are looking at the 1800i because of price considerations, my advice
is to forget it, and go for the 3560, which can be had on Amazon at prices
between $335 and $390, depending upon which of their affiliates is selling
one.

There is also a new PrimeFilm model, whose model number does not come
immediately to mind, that is even faster, and is marketed as one that could
be used in a mini-lab. It goes for about $550.00.

While I think that the Nikon models have a margin of superiority, I
purchased the PrimeFilm as what I felt was the best combination of price and
performance. As I do not typically print beyond 8 x 10, the 3600 ppi
resolution is adequate for my purposes. In fact, the original Kodak Photo
CD scanned at a resolution of 3072 x 2048, and it had a DMAX of something
like 2.5, versus the PrimeFilm 3650 optical resolution of 3600 x 3600 and
DMAX of 3.6. So I would suggest that you at least have a look at the 3600
and forget the 1800i.