I have one. I used it to scan my last 3 or 4 PUG submissions. Bought it to
use with my laptop while working out of town.
My general impressions:
1. You basically get what you pay for, maybe a little less in this case.
2. I have a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual, and while I have not scanned the same
image back to back, I think the scans on the Minolta, which is 2820 dpi I
think, look better than with the PrimeFilm. I think they even look better
when scanned at only 800 dpi (yes 800 not 1800). I'm subjectively referring
to the sharpness, crispness, in-focus quality of the image after scanning.
3. The following has occurred repeatedly: After in use for about 20
minutes, the finished scan arrives in my Image Editor (Corel PhotoPaint 7 on
my laptop), as a set of posterized colorblocks. You know how it seems a lot
of musicians have copied the Beatles Let it Be album cover but in weird
colors? That's what the scans look like. Turning the scanner off/on
corrects the problem.
4. I attempted to scan a slide for the last PUG that I ultimately gave up
on (I don't have my Minolta out of the box after moving yet). The image was
of the side of a boat with a door and portholes, lit by the setting sun.
The entire image was a coppery orange metallic color. When scanned, the
door and only the door was interpreted as being a blue color. In terms of
old Crayola crayons, it was Cornflower blue. I took the slide out and
looked again. It was definitely orange on the slide. I tried 3 or 4 more
times. Everytime, the door, and only the door was blue in the resulting
digitized image. I gave up, deciding I would scan it some other time with
the Minolta.
5. The scanning software itself is less than perfect. The preview window
often contains artifacts or does not show the image just scanned. Sometimes
this can be corrected by going spastic with the mouse and then the image
shows up.
6. The physical positioning of the slide or negative in the scanner is not
very positive. By that I mean you slide it in, and there's nothing that
really tells you that you have it positioned correctly, You can probably
move the film between 1/8 to 1/4 inch, lock it down and scan. Sometimes I
have had it positioned to far in or even slightly crooked, and then had to
reposition it and scan again.
All this being said, it was better than no scanner at all. It is very light
and compact. I don't think it compares in quality to film scanners twice
it's price.
Tom C.
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