Good price, great performance
Written: Oct 06 '02
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Pros: high resolution, reasonably priced, medium format scanner
Cons: film holders
The Bottom Line: For the user looking for a high-resolution medium-format or 35mm film scanner, the Polaroid is a great choice that should last for a long time.
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| xlugxmiop's Full Review: Polaroid SprintScan 120 Film Scanner (35 mm) |
A really good question these days is "why use a film scanner? aren't digital cameras cool?"
For a lot of uses a digital camera is the way to go, but there are still a significant number of drawbacks. Some of the supposed advantages (such as instant preview) aren't really there unless you carry around a laptop with you. Storage is expensive, and while JPEG compression helps it's not a good choice if you plan on making enlargements. And 35mm digital cameras with interchangeable lenses are $2000+ right now, a huge amount of money to spend on something that'll be resold or tossed out in a few years.
Probably the single biggest drawback is in resolution. While high-resolution digital filmbacks are available, they cost $15k+ and aren't terribly portable (unless you like hauling around a laptop and other equipment). Obviously if you never plan on making enlargements this isn't a problem, but for those of us that like to produce photos for mounting on the walls it's a concern.
Finally, there's the whole attitude of the industry. The current view is that digital cameras are throwaway devices after 2-3 years--since the camera companies can't make much money off of selling storage, they figure they can entice customers to keep buying the latest model by offering minor upgrades each year. I think this is a horrible approach, but I'm sure it's profitable.
So for those of us in the "in-between" market (we're not shooting enough film to justify spending $20k on a decent digital camera, and the $600 digital cameras just won't do the job) there are film scanners.
There's a lot of technical info about the scanner at Polaroid's website that I won't bother to go into. The thing worth mentioning is that it's a 4000dpi scanner. (This translates to about "45 megapixels" for a 645 negative, which blown up to 26x20" would print out to about 300dpi; compare this to the current "5 megapixel" digital camera which would be about 75 dpi at the same enlargement level.)
I mostly scan slide film (Ektrachrome, Velvia, RSX II) and B&W negatives with it, and the results have been extremely satisfactory. No problems with noise or lack of detail, with consistent color rendering and excellent overall image quality.
The film holders aren't so great. They're not awful but they can be bard to use at first, and they don't always hold the film as flat as I'd like. Also, it's too easy to get the end of a MF negative stuck in the end of the holder, and I worry about the 35mm holder scratching up the negatives (they're slid around in the holder to line them up with the frame areas).
It's not terribly fast. I haven't formally timed it, but at maximum resolution it can take 3-5 minutes to do a complete scan of a 645 negative. This hasn't turned out to be a problem in practice however, as I scan each film strip at 500dpi which I then use as a "proof sheet". Obviously if you have a huge number of negatives to scan at maximum resolution it's a problem, but the speed is similar to the other high-resolution scanners on the market.
It's also a bit loud, but again this isn't a big problem for most of us.
It doesn't come with the infrared scanning feature found on Nikon's film scanners. I personally see that as a plus, as I wouldn't use the IR filter even if it were available--it degrades image quality, and I think it's far preferable to take better care of my slides and negatives than to rely on something that will cause softer images. But this obviously depends on the intended uses and expectations--some people need to scan a lot of questionable negatives very quickly so having the IR feature would be a real benefit.
Was it worth the price? Absolutely. The only things I have a real problem with are the film holders, but I can live with them. It's a great scanner, and I have a feeling I'll be using it for quite a while.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2500
Interface: SCSI
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Epinions.com ID:
xlugxmiop
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Member: Xlug Xmiop
Location: Berkeley, CA
Reviews written: 50
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
Eep, opp, oop, ah-ah!
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