Plustek OpticFilm 7600i SE

If you have hundreds of slides and photographic negatives to scan, a dedicated slide scanner is one way to go. (You could also considering using a service to do this, which depending on the number of slides you need to scan, could be less expensive.)

Among slide scanners, the Plustek OpticFilm 7600i, receives mainly positive feedback from reviewers. This scanner is available in two versions: the Ai model , which is bundled with the professional Laser Soft SilverFast Ai Studio software, and the less expensive SE model ( Discontinued) , which comes with SilverFast SE-Plus. As would be expected, the professional version of the software provides more options for editing scanned images. The OpticFilm 7600i SE boasts 7200 dpi resolution, although some reviewers report lower actual resolution in tests. Editors at ScanDig, for example, are able to achieve an effective resolution of about 3250 dpi, which they find "acceptable."

Reviewers all note that scanning with the Plustek OpticFilm 7600i SE is a relatively slow process, because each frame must be manually fed into the machine. Also, as the editors at ScanDig point out, loading slides and filmstrips into the spring-loaded holders can be somewhat challenging. However, Shutterbug.com reviewer David B. Brooks points out that when the SilverFast software processes a pre-scan image, it offers correction and adjustment tools similar to those found in image editors. Being able to do much of the editing work in pre-scan mode is a big time-saver. The Plustek 7600i SE slide scanner also has a dust and scratch removal feature which Brooks says, "works accurately, so just about all of the slide scans were cleaned by SilverFast iSRD, and I had little post-scan editing work to do."

Although the editors at ScanDig are not overly impressed with the 7600i SE, other reviewers have a better experience. Mike Pasini at ImagingResources.com says he used the 7600i SE for several weeks to scan a variety of Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides, plus some color negatives that had been damaged in a flood. Pasini says the automatic defect removal feature on the 7600i SE worked very well, and "the iSRD module did an excellent job of cleaning up the image without losing detail." Pasini does note as a downside that the Plustek scanner can't handle all formats of 35 mm film; for more versatility, he writes, a high-quality and more expensive flatbed scanner like the Epson Perfection V700 Photo (*Est. $540) would be more suitable. Consumers posting reviews of the Plustek 7600i SE on the B&H Photo website are positive, reporting good scan results. They say they are only minimally inconvenienced by the manual feed feature.