Pacific Image Elect PrimeFilm 7200U 35mm Slide/Film Scanner

I do not know why people do not like this scanner....I have scanned well over 150 35mm mounted slides...it scans great....make the settings in the software to take advantage of Magic Touch and Autocolor...set the auto exposure, auto contrast and auto color....and BOOM!!!! you have a good scanner for the person sitting at home with lots of slides to convert....I am scanning at 2400 dpi and can do roughly 20 to 25 slides per hour.....it really is easy once you set it up....Is it PROFESSIONAL quality?? Heck if I know....I am not a pro...I am just a home user who has ~1000 slides I need to scan.....it is doing a good enough job for me.....I have done some 7200 dpi scans...it takes about 4.5 minutes and seems to do a good job......I have already paid for the scanner vs what it would cost me to have it done "professionally" and I am not sure anyone who will be looking at these 40 year old slides will be able to tell the difference.......if this unit makes ith through all my slides than dies....I am $1000's ahead vs having it done......This unit works for me and I would buy it again....

Overall a good scanner for the money but the "documentation" is terrible and the software is even worse.First, I'm not exactly sure what I have here. Unlike the item pictured, there are no labels on the device. The serial label underneath says made in Taiwan and 7200. Pacific Image doesn't even list a 7200U, only a 7200.As several other reviewers have noted, you have to scan the slides 'shiny side' down (NOT UP). In fact the Amazon reviews were more useful than the documentation.The Cyberview CD provided wouldn't read on my PC so I downloaded the most recent version from Pacific Image. I spent several hours trying to use it but it's just terrible. It doesn't remove dust or scratches and pixilates some images very badly.I finally spent $80 and bought VueScan64. I was up and running in 10 minutes. The exact same slides now scanned perfectly. A 35 mm slide (25 ASA Kodachrome) of some fish laying on newspaper was sharp enough to read the date on the paper when blown up.Yes it takes over a minute per slide but I use the time while it's scanning to update the metadata on the previous jpeg.I would have given 4 or 5 stars for the scanner except for the terrible software and the fact I had to spend an extra $80 for VueScan.Update - Scanner worked perfectly for two weeks then started putting a horizontal blue line across random slides. Scan the same slide twice and one would be perfect and one with a line. It was progressively getting worse so I returned the scanner to Amazon for a prompt refund. I was happy with the results when it worked. I haven't decided if I'll try another one or look further.Update 2 - I just returned my third Pacific Image Scanner. This 7200 was DOA. It wouldn't complete a single scan and the sensors were obviously out of alignment since the colors don't line up correctly (look at the wall joints below the temple in the sample). I really need a scanner but Pacific Image is a joke. At least Amazon stands behind everything they sell.

Scanner did produce great scans initially but after about an hour of use began to produce consistent banding across the scans. After working with the scanner for a couple of days I could not find a way to resolve the banding and returned it to Amazon. I went with this scanner because it was cheaper than some of the Plustek scanners and although I'd heard about the banding decided to give it a shot and see. Should have just gone with a reputable brand like Plustek for a bit more money.

Only did a couple of scans, and it seems to work just fine.

INITIAL REVIEW: I've had this one for a few days and the following problems have cropped up. (1) Not a big thing, but the Amazon info is wrong in description of unit - it is NOT a 7200U (which has a flip up lid that handles film differently, it does not scan at 7200 x 7200 as stated in the text below the headline (which does say 7200 x 3600). (2) Th unit I was shipped, from Beach Camera, does not have any logos on the top of the unit as shown on Amazon; this makes me wonder if it is illegally imported. (3) With the firmware and software supplied (CyberViewx5 v. 5.11) the scanned color negatives did not produce an inverted JPG image - just a negative image - while the B&W scans produced an inverted/positive image. I downloaded the latest firmware and Cyberview X5 software (v 5.1645) from Pacific Images and installed them. (3) The unit now produces positive jpg images from color negatives, positive images from B&W negatives, and positive images from slides, BUT THEY ARE ALL BACKWARDS, that is, flipped horizontally. And, yes, I have loaded the media per the manual instructions (shiny side up, emulsion down).I have sent an email to Pacific Images (US) asking them to help me get this unit working correctly and will followup this review according to their response and my success (I really would like it to work). The unit does look capable of producing good quality JPEGS, although the TIFF images, at least those made in a couple slide tests, seem to have some kind of posterization going on in the mid-tones (I am viewing/editing the results in PS). The software, CyberView X5, does not remember your selected preferences for configuring/archiving scans for the different media (and there are a lot of them). They are lost when you restart the software and when you click to switch media. Anytime you start Cyberview or change media you must reselect all your preferences (and default options). It is easy to forget to do and then your scans get mis-processed, and the resulting files are mis-named and mis-archived. Yikes! I have read somewhere that VueScan software works with this product and I may give it a try.FOLLOWUP: The unit I received is indeed from Pacific Image; they do not know why the logos are missing ("but I will point this out to QA"). The Cyberview software (v. 5.11) on the CD shipped with the unit is meant for the 7200U model which scans from the bottom side of the film. I discovered that the 7200 scans from the top, so the supplied instructions, which direct you to place the film "shiny side up", are flat-out incorrect for the 7200. It turns out that the latest v. 5.1645 software does work for the 7200 (and isn't going to work with the 7200U - although it seems no one at PI is aware of this fact), but was producing backward images because I was still loading the film shiny side up per the manual. After I loaded the film emulsion up, everything worked OK, and the image quality of the jpegs improved (because it was not scanning through the film substrate). Getting this unit to work correctly and produce the quality images it IS capable of took more effort on my part than should be necessary: wrong software, wrong instructions, confusing website support, half a dozen emails, etc.I am upgrading my review to three stars because the unit itself is of good quality and produces good quality images. I can't go any higher because of its documentation and software problems which will stymy many people and result in less than optimum images. It was only through days of dogged determination that got this product working right. If you decide to buy this product, be prepared for a bumpy road to success - at least until Pacific Images's engineers and marketing folks figure out what it is they are selling.