I've done a few hundred slides and negatives with this unit and the quality of the scans and the ease of use are really great. The SilverFast software is a nice bonus, but needs simpler documentation to use. First, there is no need to use most of these features if you have a photo editing software you like better, like Photoshop. The editing you can do in post (once scanned) should probably be some in some other software. Just use SilverFast to get the quality scan and do the rest elsewhere, IMO of course.
1 - Set the scan dimensions you want, name (SilverFast automatically increments the name, it will not overwrite), ppi, etc. The Format is a bit odd as it sometimes looks like it is giving you less resolution at a larger size, but it really isn't. My suggestion is to start at 3600ppi, unless you know you will need higher or lower resolution. Of course the speed changes a lot when you change the ppi. You also choose the file format here. I would have liked to see PNG format, but the JPEG quality options make this better than it would normally be. The other options (TIFF, etc) will make very large files, which is ok for a few scans, otherwise it would just be too much data.
2 - Set the proper Transparency/Negative options for what you are scanning. I would suggest setting the Frame to fullscreen. You can crop later.
3 - Turn iSRD and SRDx on, but turn off the 1:1 (Exact Preview). If you want to verify your SRDx settings, you can turn on the 1:1 after Prescan, or leave 1:1 on if you really want to adjust the SRDx settings for each scan. But normally a good setting can be found for all scans ( I set the detection to 1 and Tile Size to 3) and save this step. Also, "Bright Defects" is normally used for negatives and "Dark Defects" is normally set for slides. If you can get rid of 90% of defects without harming the image, consider it close enough. I leave iSRD set to Automatic, and it does a really great job in most cases. NOTE: iSRD can't seem to be used for B&W negatives or crazy things can happen.
4 - Turn all the other options (Densitometer, Picture Settings, NegaFix, and Unsharp Masking) to Auto.
5 - Put the film or slide in the middle position in the scanner, and Push Prescan at the top and wait for the prescan image to show up (30 seconds or so) If this part takes longer than 30 seconds, the magnifying glass is likely set to 100%, which is useful for some things but generally not necessary for the Prescan. Push the magnifying glass to change to full view or turn off 1:1 display on SRDx or iSRD.
6 - Picture Settings and NegaFix can be useful, but *only* in the cases where part of the image is overblown in a spotlight or some area is too bright or too dark. In these cases you can adjust the Midtone, Contrast, Exposure, and Tolerance. This can normally not be fixed afterward, which is why you'd want to do it prior to scanning. Generally SilverFast does a good job with auto brightness and I have only used these other options on a few occasions.
7 - Push the Scan button to do the final scan. If iSRD and SRDx functions are being used, the scan will take about 3 minutes. Otherwise it will take only 30 seconds, but the results will almost always be worse.
It may seem like a lot but once you get going, you see that very few options need changing. It's mostly just the Prescan button, the Scan button, and sometimes the iSRD and SRDx buttons for dust/scratches. The results have been really impressive for both transparencies and negatives.
Note: There is also a Multi-Exposure button that is either on or off. The idea is that it does a second scan (adding to the overall scan time) to get some details that could be lost in the darker background. However, I have seen little to no effect, at least on what I am scanning. YMMV.
UPDATE REGARDING HDR:
SilverFast includes the ability to do some sort of HDR or High Dynamic Range. The idea being, it takes multiple scans in different ways (multiple passes at different brightness levels, hard to explain) to get all available light information and store it all in 1 file. SilverFast calls this HDR RAW or HDRi RAW.
An example would be a dark stage with a spotlight. Without HDR, there would simply be no way to get all the details in the spotlight, and also the details in the dark. If scanning time and disk space are not a concern, this is going to capture the most information from the scan, with 500MB per file.
I'm not really sure the advantage or difference between HDR and HDRi, or why they have both options, maybe to save time/filesize. If you're going the HDR route, I would suggest the 64bit HDRi for color and 32bit HDRi for B&W, which are the maximums. You will then have a file with all information capturable by this scanner.
Then the RAW TIFF files can be taken into Photoshop, and with the HDR Toning feature, you can literally extract the details from both the bright and dark areas, it is really amazing.
However, the other thing you may notice as a downside (other than filesize and scanning time) is that iSRD and SRDx functions are off. Meaning you get all available information from the scans, but that includes the scratches and imperfections as well. These will have to be manually cleaned after scanning, which is not too hard to do with the Photoshop "Healing" tool.
So if the original is in good shape, or has challenging lighting, and time/filesize are not issues, go with HDRi. If the original has lots of challenging damage, or you don't want to spend as much time scanning/cleaning after, go with the 7 steps above.
Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE , 35mm Film & Slide Scanner. 7200 dpi / 48-bit Output. Integrated Infrared Dust/Scratch Removal. B
4 | 782 ratings
Price: 399
Last update: 01-01-2025
About this item
Built-in infrared channel can detect dust and scratches on the surface of the original negatives and slides. It is highly useful for defect removal without retouching the images.
7200 x 7200 dpi (69 Megapixels) for 35mm Negative film and mounted slides. 48-bit input, 24/48-bit output
Up to 3.6 Dynamic Range Enhanced Multi-Exposure Function for improved image quality 64-bit hardware and software support
Powerful software include - bundles with Plustek QuickScan and LaserSoft Imaging Silverfast SE Plus
Support Windows 7/ 8/ 10/11 and Mac OS 10.7 to 14.x , user can download driver from Plustek website
7200 x 7200 dpi (69 Megapixels) for 35mm Negative film and mounted slides. 48-bit input, 24/48-bit output
Up to 3.6 Dynamic Range Enhanced Multi-Exposure Function for improved image quality 64-bit hardware and software support
Powerful software include - bundles with Plustek QuickScan and LaserSoft Imaging Silverfast SE Plus
Support Windows 7/ 8/ 10/11 and Mac OS 10.7 to 14.x , user can download driver from Plustek website
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Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE , 35mm Film & Slide Scanner. 7200 dpi / 48-bit Output. Integrated Infrared Dust/Scratch Removal. Bundle Silverfast SE Plus 9 , Support Mac and PC.
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Top reviews from the United States
King Lerch
Excellent for the money, though a bit slow to scan
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2021
Ignat
An excellent scanner with impressive software
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2014William E. Davis
Very nice scanner for the price, solid, and great output. No worries here.
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2013J. Cambre
Nice until it stopped working
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2023