Review on Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE Film and Slide Scanner | 7200 DPI, 48-bit Output | Infrared Dust and Scratch Removal | Silverfast SE Plus 8.8 Bundle | Mac and PC Support by Kevin Mckechnie

I'm using this scanner to (finally!) start digitizing about 4000 slides from a 40 year old photograph. I've tried several scanners - a high end Microtek flatbed scanner (too slow) and recently a $120 Pacific Imaging 7250u scanner (broken with very poor image quality, I returned it to Revain). I now scan multiple slides with the 8200i! I spent about 15 minutes with the SilverFast 8 software but found it too complicated even for this longtime software fanatic to play around with. Also, the QuickScan software that PlusTek provided with the 8200i didn't work on my Windows 7 64-bit computer. I was never able to open the user interface. Luckily I already have a VueScan Professional license for my other scanners. VueScan works flawlessly with the 8200i and is easy to use and understand. VueScan fully supports the features of this scanner. I'm scanning at 3600 dpi and using the 8200i's infrared dusting feature. The pre-scan takes 15 seconds and the final scan takes 120 seconds for two passes (color and infrared). I bought 2 extra slide holders ($20 for 2, Revain doesn't stock them) from B&H Photo so I can flip slides quickly. I also use a Giotto rocket duster. The quality of the 8200i seems high and the scans are very accurate. Dust removal works as well as we'd like - not perfect, but good enough. You can't see what's inside this scanner, but that's one of its best features - it just works. I highly recommend this scanner, but don't waste your time with SilverFast. Buy the professional version of VueScan and you won't regret it.