Customer Reviews

Pacific Image Electronics PF3650U Scanner, Primefilm 35MM

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is a great machine, and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a need to scan a relatively small number of slides and negatives. I'd have rated it five stars save for a single problem with the directions.

The one problem that I have with this product is the installation directions. They did not work for me when I followed them to the letter on my Win98SE machine. While all indications were "GO", neither one of my twain-complaint software programs - Paint Shop Pro 7 and the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 included in the box with the scanner - would recognize the existence of the Pacific Image 3650u scanner, though both programs recognized my other two scanners. Frustration led me to request a refund!

But, I made one last try, and inadvertently, contrary to the directions, had the 3650u powered up during installation of the Cyber-X update I downloaded from Pacific Image's website. That did the trick! After a reboot all of the software recognized the 3650u scanner. After that, it was smooth sailing, exactly as advertised.

We purchased the scanner with expectations of converting our old slides. The scanner was difficult to start up, even following the directions did not work and we had to improvise, but we started the process an hr1 1/2 later. The software it came with is not user friendly. It is difficult to get the results you want. We tried scanning several ways and about 1 out of three slides would have a black line through them. The scanner also has a flaw that it has an open window where dust falls into and the dust comes through on the slides. I had to use a cotton swab to clean it several times throughout the scanning. The scanning time is also about 5-7 minutes for one slide, on it's highest resolution, which is really the only somewhat acceptable picture. After trying several hundred scans I am taking it back. My husband and I are both tech savy and this scanner is just a frustration.

The first step in scanning either film or slides is to select the type of film used. NONE of the films in my library are included on the selection lists. The small print on the last page of the manual also says that it does not scan Kodachrome slides well. About 90% of my film library is Kodachrome 64 slides. It WON'T handle any film with an ASA of less than 100 or any very high speed films (some of mine are 800 and 1600 speed). When I say it won't handle them - technically, it can, but it takes at least an hour to fudge with the settings to get the scan to turn out like the original picture. This one's going back.

Giving this piece of junk a 1 star is a compliment. The first one I recieved had a big yellow blur down the side when you scanned. I sent it back and got a second unit. It did not have the blur but after a few slides the scanning element would jam and not retract. At the same time the software would freeze. The only solution to unfreeze it was to reboot. Enough is enough. No chance for a third strike. Stay away from this one.

I bought this with the intend to digitizing a large collection of slides and negatives. After struggling with the scanner for most of a day, I gave up on getting decent images. The product ads and literature say 3600 dpi, and one can set 3600 dpi, but the scans (as read by Photoshop) never exceeded 1800 dpi, and a very poor 1800 dpi at that. All images were noisy with very little dynamic range and extremely poor color balance. Even Photoshop, which has been able to greatly improve scans from an inexpensive Canon sheet scanner, could not resurrect the terrible images produced by this scanner. The best scans were not even close to the inexpensive prints produced by a bulk print producer. The slide scans were much worse than the view of the slides held up to the light, let alone projected by a Kodak Carosel. It is possible that I received a defective unit (I can't imagine that anyone would find the results acceptable), but after many hours struggling with marginal software and poor results, I decided to return the unit instead of trying another one from the same manufacturer.

I bought it to scan slides and it doesn't do it. Oh, it scans them, sloooowly, but the result is a blob of color; not the image. The help manual is horrible; the Scanning Slides and Film chapter doesn't mention slides at all. Perhaps it works for the inventor who likely knows all the secrets of tweaking it but the manual doesn't explain anything at all about slides. This machine, at least for slides which is what I unfortunately bought it or, don't do the job.

The scanner seems to work well but it is very slow and tedious to work with. The quality of the slides, once scanned, are OK but certainly not exceptional. I will continue to use the product but it has a lot of room for improvement on the next model.

I've had two of these. The first one failed after about ten scans. I returned it. The second one failed about as fast, however, since I had not used it much and it was outside the warranty the only option was a factory repair (too expensive compared to just buying a new one) or to buy a replacement part based on the factory diagnosis of the problem for about $40 and fix it myself. Based upon my experience with the quality of the parts in these scanners, this did not seem to be a good alternative as the part could not be returned and was without any guarantees at all. Based on my limited experience, it appears to me that the scanner fails if it just sits unused for a period of time.

The item will not work with a MacPro. The instructions are ludicrious...I've found longer and more instructive directions in a Joe Paloka Jaw Breaker insert. Very poor design. It is at once too large to use as a paper weight, and yet not heavy enough to keep a corpse on the bottom of a river. It's going back. For God's Sake, don't bother!

I am very happy with this scanner. It is not fast. Not for commercial use. But if you keep feeding slides as they scan you will eventually get your collection done. The ICE technology is marvelous. I tested it on my most damaged slide. (It had previously been unmounted, creased from bending, and badly scratched...hundreds of scratches.) The ICE took out all but one scratch that was easy to edit out manually.