Plustek OpticFilm 8100 Review
The Plustek OpticFilm 8100 ($349) is Plustek's least expensive dedicated film and slide scanner. It's also the only one without hardware-based dust and scratch removal, offering a less robust, but still welcome, software-only version instead. Unfortunately, the lack of this feature is somewhat inconsistent with the professional-level, hard-to-master scan utility the 8100($349.00 at Amazon) comes with. Those two factors together keep the scanner from being a terrific fit either for casual photographers, who want easy scanning, or professionals and serious amateurs, who insist on the best scans possible.
If you're willing to put in the effort to learn the software, as well as the effort to manually adjust the settings for every scan, the 8100 can deliver reasonably high-quality results with most originals. As you might expect, its scan quality is significantly better than you'll get with less expensive models, like the VuPoint Solutions Digital Film and Slide Converter FC-C520-VPD,...
The Plustek OpticFilm 8100 film scanner delivers reasonably high-quality scans, but it lacks hardware-based dust and scratch removal and requires some effort to get good scans.
Rated at 7,200 pixels-per-inch (ppi) optical resolution; Comes with SilverFast SE Plus 8, a sophisticated scan utility
Scans only one slide or frame of film at a time; Little to no automation in software; No hardware-based dust and scratch removal