PrimeFilm Scanner 3650Pro

List Price: $604.90

Features:

• 3,600 x 3,600 dpi optical resolution, 48-bit color output
• Automatically loads and batch-scans 35mm roll films and filmstrips
• Digital ICE, Digital ROC, and Digital GEM tools
• Also includes Adobe Photoshop Elements
• IEEE 1394 FireWire and USB 2.0 interfaces, PC and Mac compatible

Customer Reviews:

Reasonable price, GREAT scans! [Posted on 2004-10-03]
This is the big brother/newer model of the PrimeFilm 3600; please see my review of PrimeFilm 3600 for starters -- same included software, same physical housing.
The incorporation of Digital ICE3 into a basically very good scanner has turned this into a spectacular film and slide scanner!
Speed: With all Digital ICE3 turned off, the 3650 is somewhat faster than the 3600 (which I think of as "slow") -- making the 3650 "average" in speed (subjectively). With DICE3 turned on, it is about the same speed as the 3600 due to the increased processing required.
Scan Quality: Outstanding! Using the DICE3 has made scanning my 30 year old negatives painless, and my newer negatives effortless. Most discount photofinishers these days use machines that tend to scratch negatives; what used to be a painstaking process to remove the scratches and dust is now done by the scanner -- very effectively! Only complaint: the settings for Digital ROC (color correction) and GEM (grain removal) are a subjective 1-100 with no hint at what the numbers mean other than the default settings. Experimentation is necessary, although defaults seem to work well.
This scanner has NONE of the power and startup "eccentricities" of my 3600, making it a pleasure to use at all times.
I'd still like to see SilverFast Ai bundled, but that would boost the cost significantly. Cyberview X, the included software, is nice, but doesn't allow RAW saves - which is a prerequisite for archiving negative scans, especially with an infrared channel that can boost the file to 64-bit (16-bit each for RGB and infrared). It does, however, make the scanning of a 36-frame negative roll very easy and almost fully automated. I recommend VUESCAN (www.hamrick.com) for a full-featured, extremely customizable scanning program at a reasonable price.
Overall, you won't do better on a film scanner than the 3650 - even the most uninformed novice can use it to scan scores of negatives and slides without any technical knowledge, and come out with fantastic scans!

Best Bang For The Buck - Scan Quality Is Great [Posted on 2006-09-19]
I bought this scanner primarily because it was less than half the cost of comparable Nikon or Konica-Minolta models, and because it featured Digital Ice3, Digital ROC and Digital GEM.

The scanner features true optical 3600 x 3600 ppi scans, and produces files of 103 meg! It has a DMAX of 3.6, and it really pulls the luminance information out of transparancies and negatives.

There is a world of difference between scanning with Digital ICE3 and scanning without it. The ability of Digital ICE3 to remove scratches and dust spots is truly incredible. Some of my slides and negs are 35 years old, and many of them have collected dust over the years. I had read about the problem of dust on film, but only after you see what it does to your images do you understand just how big of a problem it can be. Also, most of my negatives had minute scratches in them, and the ICE3 erased virtually all of them. Don't buy a scanner without ICE, ROC and GEM. You will be very sorry if you do.

There are two deficiencies that should be disclosed. First, the scans are S-L-O-W. The prescan (which must be done prior to doing a full scan) takes about one minute per image. Then the full scan takes about 5 minutes. Doing a 24-exposure roll of negs takes over two hours.

I would ordinarily be upset with those long scan times, but that is what comes with the low price. Once scanned, the images are top-notch. As a comparison, the now-discontinued Kodak Photo CD (NOT the "Picture CD") scanned at a resolution of 2048 x 3072. The PF3650Pro3 scans at true optical resolution of 3600 x 3600 ppi. Not bad for an item that I bought for only $350.00!

Secondly, the scanning software that accompanies the unit has got what has to be the world's worst documentation! I did not know that the scanner defaults were to turn ICE, ROC and GEM "off." Also the scanner resolution defaults to 1800, not the 3600 that it is capable of. These settings can be changed in the Scan/Preferences menu, but it took me days before I realized this.

Also, the software has settings that automatically set Auto Exposure and Auto Gamma, but these are turned off by default. When I tried my first scans, they were absolutely AWFUL, and I initially feared that I had made a bad buying decision. I continued experimenting with the settings, and I came across the ideal ones by trial and error. The manual could have saved me days of experimenting, had it simply explained this. As I had never operated a film scanner previously, I really did need the support from a well-written manual, and I was disappointed in the quality of the documentation.

If you buy this scanner and want to set it for highest quality, do the following:

1: Go to SCAN/PREFERENCE and you will be given a tabbed dialog box, where you can reset the defaults.

Set Prescan Resolution to 300 dpi
Set Color Depth to 16 Bit (the factory default is 8-bit)
Check box: "Use Default Scan Resloution" and set the resolution at 3600.

Click the tab named "Advanced Setting"

Select BOTH Auto Exposure and Auto Gamma--this will make a HUGE improvement in scan quality!

Click Auto Prescan Setting
Select "None" for "Auto Prescan"

Click ROC/GEM
Select BOTH Enable ROC and Enable GEM

ROC will restore faded colors and GEM will clean up the film grain without softening your image itself. You should use unsharp masking in your editing software to tweak the final image sharpness. I was very satisfied with the way that GEM got rid of film grain. The results were excellent.

Then click OK, and you're ready to scan!

You may decide to go with lower settings, but I assume that you bought this scanner to get the maximum resolution and image quality from your film, so the settings I've suggested will get just that. File size will be over 100 meg.

When you do the PRESCAN, you can save a lot of time by turning Digital ICE "OFF." It will not matter in the prescan. In fact, you will be able to view all of the scratches and dust spots that will be eradicated in the final scan. You should turn it ON before you do the final scan. Digital ICE3 will add over 2 minutes to the scan time, but it will save you an hour or more in not having to manually edit the scratches and blotches in your editing software.

The negative scanning function did an excellent job of getting rid of the orange mask applied to the film. I've gotten Picture CD scans from Kodak that didn't do nearly as good a job in getting rid of the orange masking. But, again, be sure to turn on the Auto Exposure and Auto Gamma. That is key to having the scanner make all the adjustments for you.

When the scanner is first turned on it performs all the necessary calibrations automatically. When negatives are inserted, the scanner automatically determines the DMAX, sets the exposure and auto-focuses. You just sit back and let it perform all the individual adjustments for you. If you are scanning a strip of negatives, the scanner will automatically advance to the next frame after each scan, and it will do a quick calibration step to ensure an optimal quality scan of the next frame. You need do nothing, and in fact there are no manual overrides that you can tweak. The scans come out beautifully, in perfect focus and exposed individually, so you don't have to adjust for each frame's exposure values.

I have seen online recommendations to use SilverFast scanning software rather than the supplied software, but I have found the scans come out just fine IF I USE THE DEFAULT SETTINGS THAT I DESCRIBED ABOVE. The scanning software is quite good, but the manual is God-awful! If they could only correct that, I'd give this a five-star rating.

You're going to end up with images that are superior to Kodak's Photo CD, and the scanner will soon pay for itself in savings over commercially-scanned images.

I own over a dozen film bodies and 18 prime lenses. This little scanner has just turned ALL of my cameras into "Digital Cameras!"

With regard to the price and delivery, I was extremely pleased. Amazon was not the direct seller of this scanner, instead they offered it on behalf of one of their partners, Computer Brain, located in the Midwest. The price was about 10% less than the discount camera stores in New York, and I went ahead and placed the order based on Amazon's reputation for honesty. Again, I was not disappointed.

Within hours of my ordering, I received an email from Computer Brain, with a FedEx tracking number. Upon clicking on the link I saw from the FedEx site that they had already picked up the scanner and it was in their delivery system. The tracking screen showed the anticipated delivery date, and the scanner arrived right on schedule.

It was very well-packed in an oversized shipping box, with lots of packing material to protect it in transit. The scanner itself was in its original box, and there were no signs that it had ever been opened or tampered with. This was definitely not a demonstrator unit or a refurb. Inside, all of the cables, the manual and the software CDs were all intact and were in their original plastic bags. There were no fingerprints or anything else to suggest that this unit was anything but factory fresh. There were absolutely no signs of damage to the scanner. It worked immediately when I hooked it to my computer and to the electrical outlet.

The shipping charge was nominal, and because the vendor was not located within Pennsylvania, I saved more in state sales tax than I spent on shipping.

In summation, this is a powerhouse and it would have been impossible to buy anything as good as this just a few years ago at the current price. Once you get the software defaults right, you'll be very pleased. Expect long scan times. One minute for the prescan and five minutes for the final scan (if you have Digital ICE3, Digital ROC and Digital GEM turned on). At the low price charged, I can live with the scan times. I'd rather put up with longer scan times than I would with lower image quality. This is not a good choice if one requires very fast scanning times, but we're talking $350.00, not $35,000.00. If you think you can scan all 6,000 of your slides in one or two weekends, you'd better think again.

The transaction was as smooth as could be, with no surprises. That, coupled with the excellent price, made this a very good deal. Thanks, Amazon!

smooth transaction, exact product, nice&easy supplier [Posted on 2007-05-14]
exact product at an affordable price w a smooth transaction

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