Scanners…

No, not that kind…

My Pacific Image PrimeFilm XA arrived a day early and yes, I was up way too late playing with it….of course. I used the Silverfast 8.8 software included, though I did have to download that myself as the included CD didn’t work with my iMac. I do have a CD player, but the running the software off of it simply failed. Mind you, I am running a beta version of Mojave so…mileage may vary.
My very first try at scanning, with the Lanai image that I really like, was a complete success. It’s much better than the medium size scan I had done by the folks who processed my film. I should say this, it’s not their fault mine is better. I didn’t ask them to do a scan at the same quality this scanner can do. In truth, they can probably do a much better one than this machine can…if I pay for it. I didn’t.

And that’s really the deal here. I’m an amateur and I own the negatives. If I really want a great scan I’ll always have the ability to get one done. It’s likely that the negatives, stored properly, will outlast me, so…not a worry. At least not that kind of worry.
As for the price, at about $17 a roll for okay scanning and $400 for the scanner, you can see that by the time I run 25 rolls through it, it’ll have paid for itself. Nice.
That’s actually the one I’m printing (okay, that’s cheap — not super quality and I have cropped it a bit so that it’ll fit, with a border, in my cheap Sally Store 8×10 frame. But I’m happy and, given no animals were hurt during production, that’s what matters. Besides, I’m giving it away as a gift.
Aloha!