- Plustek OpticFilm 8300i Ai Film Scanner - Converts 35mm Film & Slide into Digital, Bundle SilverFast Ai Studio 9 + QuickScan Plus, Include Advanced IT8 Calibration Target (3 Slide)

This is a great scanner. I can’t remember how much time the setup took, but it was less than an hour. I use a 2019 MacBook Pro and a PC. Connecting to my MacBook was a minor challenge. Using a USB converter didn’t work, but plugging it into my Anker USB hub worked perfectly. Using the hub also gave me a more convenient place to plug in my Time Machine disk. I’ve used a lot of scanners over the years, HP, Brother, Epson, Nikon, Kodak, and now a PlusTech film and slide scanner. The Kodak photo scanner mentioned is the one on Amazon that has a sheet feeder. It’s a piece of junk, so don’t waste your time. It jams all the time if you put more than two photos in the feeder. I replaced the Kodak with the PlusTech ePhoto scanner and it works great. It doesn’t have a sheet feeder, but you can scan over 100 pictures an hour at 300 dpi. I really like both PlusTek scanners so far, perhaps more than the Nikon scanner I had 25 years ago. I still haven’t compared images scanned on the PlusTek to those scanned on the Nikon, but I expect the PlusTek images to be better. I’m currently using an Epson Perfection V600 flatbed scanner as well. It works great and plays really well with the Epson software, VueScan, and SilverFast, which it comes with. It can be converted into a film and slide scanner using the included adapters. Adapters are available for many film sizes and type. There’s even an attachment for the old disk camera film! I used it to scan a bunch of 120 film and the scans look great. I haven’t gotten around to comparing the Epson 120 scans to scans from the Nikon medium format scanner. I haven’t gotten around concerns about getting the film laying flat with the film adapters. One thing I’d be remiss to not mention is scanner software in general. In my experience, just about every scanner program is “buggier” than other software and it’s something I’ve come to expect. The software sometimes freezes up when saving the image file at the end. This scanner doesn't bug out nearly as much as others. I’m also trying out the Pacific Image PowerFilm. That scanner is a lot buggier and frequently freezes after batch scanning a strip of film. The multi strip feeder works great with one strip of film, but it too has difficulties scanning multiple strips. It’ll get returned if this isn’t remedied.

There seems to be a large gap between the cheap film digitizers and the commercial grade film scanners. This is one of the few options out there that gives fantastic results for under $1,000. I'm well within the "amateur photographer" range, so this is really a bit overkill for my needs. Not complaining at all, I am very happy with what it can do. The scratch-fix works well, but it isn't a miracle worker. There is only so much it can do to save the image. If the scratch is severe, it will come through and there's no fixing that. The speed of the machine is great at about 30 seconds per image at 3600dpi. When cranked all the way up to 7200dpi, the scan takes about 3 min. Image qquality is fantastic. You can see the film grain quite clearly when zoomed in, even on the lower 3600dpi setting. The biggest drawback is SilverFast9. It's a hassle to get up and running, and has quite a learning curve. I've never used darkroom or photoshop, so the features on here are well beyond my pay grade. But with perseverance, you can get a preset that you like and keep it there. Alternatively, you can use Plustek's proprietary scan software Quickscan Plus. This offers hassle-free scanning for those less computer savvy. I love the detents for feeding the film through the scanner, and the flaps that keep the dust out when the feeder is out of the machine. Though I keep it zipped up in the protective case when not in use, just to keep it dust-free. Overall, it's a great device for amateurs trying to digitize 35mm photos and professionals who can get the most out of the complicated software. I know, it's a bitter pill to spend $600 on a scanner that only does one format. But the one format it does, it does very well.

I don't normally like to write reviews, but I'm going to make an exception for this Plustek OptikFilm 8300i scanner. I started taking slide photos about 45 years ago when I was a bit younger and traveling the world working in the oil and gas exploration industry. It was nearly 15 years or so before digital cameras became common place and eventually those were replaced by smart phones with cameras that can zoom in to the moon through a cloud layer, or so it seems. In any event - whipping out the slide projector and finding a blank white wall at the cocktail party kinda went out of favor and I needed to find a way to digitize my analog life in pictures before smart phones, so I can compile some TikTocks or YouTubes and go viral before I croak. After a bit of online research I ponied up the dough to get this scanner because my attempt to fabricate a cheap rig with calipers, rubber bands, and bamboo chopsticks -quite frankly - did not work as well as I had hoped. For my needs and to my surprise, I have been able to easily convert over a thousand slides so far to my digital archive with very acceptable results, and had no problem installing and using the supplied software. I would recommend maybe perusing the help section or pdf manual as the software seems very in depth, but if you are like me you should be fine just winging it. I'm going to wait until I finish the last couple thousand or so slides I still have to process before choosing which files I wish to spend much time trying to improve upon. I did try to do some film negatives just to see how that worked - it is a bit of a pain to get the strips into the film holder but depending on the condition of the film strips the digital files are quite good and can be manipulated in the software very easily. Most of my print pictures after 40-50 years of sitting in shoe boxes in the top of a closet are a bit dull - but scanning the negatives with this scanner makes them look as good as new. One thing I will say - even though the documentation mentions (sales jargon) that there is a lot of AI embedded into this system - you still need to do a lot of manual processing and loading / unloading and naming and copying and adjusting - takes some time. Nothing automatic about this system, so you can't just sit a box of slides down next to the unit and tell Siri to make jpegs out of them while you go have a beer. No one click button to push for a finished product I'm afraid. Anyway - overall I am pleased with the purchase and the results so far have surpassed my expectations, I am sure there is a whole lot more I can learn to get better quality scans out of the software but for now I am very well satisfied with this unit. Hope it doesn't break anytime soon.

International delivery quick and smooth. Device is new and received in good condition. Scanner works well and meets expectations.

It is unnecessary to order film and slide holders separately. They come as part of the overall bundle. AND the power pin supplied is incompatible with the Australian standard and it is necessary to purchase an adaptor. Yet to set up the unit. Have just purchased the adaptor.

Dopo avere scansionato circa 2000 diapo e un centinaio di pellicole posso dirmi completamente soddisfatto della qualità di questo scanner. Il software allegato è già ultra performante in modalità "guidata" e la scansione a infrarossi davvero molto efficiente.

Actuellement c'est ce qu'il y a de mieux pour numériser les diapositives.

A very good piece of equipment. Highly recommended for top end amateurs and Professionals.