Pacific Image Electronics PrimeFilm 7250PRO3 Scanner

"The major advantage of this scanner is the ability to batch-scan a whole roll of 35mm film. Unfortunately the scanner cannot reliably align all frames correctly so you cannot use the batch function without supervising it."

"I've never had so much trouble with a scanner. In the past I have used a Nikon coolscan 4000, Pakon F-12, Microtek Scanmaker 4, and an Epson 4490 and currently the Epson M-700.I purchased this unit as a stopgap, until I receive a high speed scanner from another mfr.Connected via firewire, the drivers won't recognize it, if the Epson M-700 is turned on.It took about 20 minutes of canned air and lens tissue to get the dirt out of it. My first test roll came out so full of scratches, that I was tempted to just send it back. Even using a Kinetronics /Noritsu electrostatic film cleaner, the film still collects dust from inside the unit. This is particular to this machine: the lab is clean, and the other scanners do not have this problem. It's not possible to open the unit for cleaning.The stock film profiles are fairly close for the Kodak films, but the Fuji 200 and 400 profiles are useless. Haven't tried any others, yet. If you change the film preset to a different emulsion (on a Mac), you have to go back and uncheck the first film type, otherwise both new and old are active.The ICE works, but is not productive at over an hour wait for a roll of 24. It was faster to retouch in Photoshop.Scans at 1500 dpi take about a minute per frame. There are certain preferences that will be held from roll to roll, however some others have to be reset for every roll.Would I buy another? No.



Expertise: 20 years photolab production"

"Went through two units that both exhibited the same type problem - streaks of vertical red/purple lines running through the scan. Returned the first unit to receive the second one that appeared to be a refurbished unit that had the same problem. Very slow, multi-scanning periodically produced "ghosted" images that were displaced from one to the other. Very frustrating and not worth it."

"We have been archiving negatives for a museum. The software that comes in the box is junk. Just call for an upgrade. When we called the stuff in the box was five versions behind.

It works, but sometimes it does some strange stuff."

"This scanner has the potential of being a really great scanner. However, the software has been a problem for many of the buyers. The company has been informed by many people and, after all these years in knowing of the problem, the company has proven it has no intention of fixing it! At one time, they put out what was supposed to be an upgrade for Vista - it didn't work either. Knowing this, I have developed an attitude that, in the future, I shall never buy any product made by this company."

"Works well with Cyberview. Has trouble with iSRD and Multiscans in SilverFast version 6.5.5r5. SilverFast is working on the issue and is attempting to fix the problem."

"This is the old Kodak slide scanner which was state of the art in 2002.. excellent scanner for Kodachromes is the main selling point.

Software interface is poor, turn off all adjustments and make the in PS.

DR is limited and noise is visible in black areas.

Terrible clattering sound during operation, apparently is normal.

Way too expensive for an old design. Needs upgrad to LED lighting."

"This scanner is exactly what I was looking for--a scanner that will scan in rolls of negatives and slides (one at a time). After trying it for two weeks, I have concluded that the hardware is excellent and very capable, but you will need other than the OEM software package (CyberView) to fully exploit the capabilities. The biggest problem with CyberView is that it is completely unstable--it crashes all the time (I'm using Vista Home Premium). Furthermore, while I could get an excellent scan from slides, I could not with 100 ISO negatives. I did contact the manufacturer--they were attentive and took in my list of problems with their software, but they have not fixed anything (but I hear there is a new software release coming out "soon"). After trying both VueScan and SilverFast, I found that the scanner produces excellent images from both slides and negatives, so plan on buying one of these packages at a cost of $50-100 (depending on which version you want). Both of the products are 100% stable and fully exploit the hardware capabilities of this scanner."

"Bad news first: a) It's not 7200dpi hardware b) Optic is not super sharp c) Forget bundled software

Great news: a) Roll scan works as charm b) ICE3 is saver c) Colors are quite accurate

I had a two dozens or so 35 negative films stored as rolls in non temperature controlled environment for 15!!! years most of them are in really bad shape, scratches, dust, curling etc. So, I gave 7250Pro3 a shot. OMG! I was impressed. it really puled off almost all of them. Even worst scratches get cleaned up to acceptable levels. Little ones, dust specks are GONE! Very few places where I had to use manual labor to clean up. Mostly small correction of contrast and levels. One big plus of little bit soft optics - all film's grain get mitigated and looks

actually nicer. So, I was so happy with all these scans.

On other end, if take Ektar 100 and shots by Zeiss Plannar - it's where you start a see limits of scanner. Minolta Dual IV beats PrimeFilm in term of sharpness. Color reproduction is good, different but good.

If I would not have anotehr film scanner I would be quite happy about PrimFilm. In general I think if you shot mostly ISO400 and use zooms (even $1K+ ones), you would find this scanner a great. Me? by scanning all my historical negatives from students years it's already paid for itself. For current scans, I will stick with Minolta. Also, get VueScan - it's not so great just better then PrimeFilm's bundled software."

"This is the second PrimeFilm scanner I have owned. I purchased the first one many years ago and it worked like a charm. Now that we have a Mac, I wanted to upgrade to a new scanner that would work with our Mac. I thought that purchasing a PrimeFilm scanner again would be a good idea based on our previous experience --- boy was I wrong!



We are trying to scan 1000's of old family slides. The scanner arrived and unfortunately I had to wait a little while to set it up. When I got it set up and installed, the machine would not connect to the computer. After working with their customer support - they told me that the fire-wire versions had some problems and I needed to return the unit to them.



The replacement scanner arrived a week later. The set up went just fine - but then when I inserted the first slide to scan (a pre 1970 slide), the interface buttons in the software would not work. Again, I contacted the PrimeFilm customer support and they replied "if your toolbar is grayed out after inserting a slide you may need to in fact press and hold the slide so the sensors detect it making the menu option illuminate, some slides are thinner than others causing this situation". Are you kidding me?? I have to hold the slide in the machine? No way. I was sure I was not understanding their answer . . . So I again sent another email to customer support. Again they replied "Then for that slide and ones of similar thicknesses you will need to keep your finger on it to keep it pushed against the sensor to be able to scan. Some customer's add tape to their slide mounts to make them thicker to alleviate this problem, which is about all that can be done, since the design of this product requires media detection to operate properly."



I just don't see this as a practical solution to scanning slides. By the way, if you happen to take your finger off the slide while scanning . . .the interface crashes and you have to restart your computer.



This is the WORST scanner . . . especially if you are trying to scan older slides."