Pacific Image Electronics PrimeFilm 1800 AFL Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by:

Mark Stephan
( Intermediate)

Review Date
October 18, 2005

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 1 of 18

Price Paid: $100.00 from eBay

Summary:

Fantastic scanner at a fantastic price! Everything works as advertised by Pacific Images.

Strengths:

Worked right out of the box, read the manual, installed the software and began scanning my slides and then began feeding color negative film for batch scanning and it worked like a charm!

Weaknesses:

None considering the price. If I got the same results with a $500 scanner then I would gripe. For the money you get a high quality scan but you do need to spend some time in Photoshop Elements which is supplied with the scanner to remove dust and scratches. Not bad considering that this is a basic no frills scanner that doesn't feature GEM or Digital Ice for automated corrections.

Similar Products Used:

None. First dedicated film scanner.

Customer Service:

None needed so far.

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Rating
Reviewed by: Brian
(Professional)

Review Date
October 22, 2003

Overall Rating
1 of 5

Value Rating
1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 2 of 18

Price Paid: $316.00 from B&H

Summary:

I will keep it simple, I am on my 5th scanner. I have written a formal letter of complaint to the company and received an extended warrenty. I am certain the scanner will fail soon as the previous four scanners have failed. DO NOT BUY THIS SCANNER!

Strengths:

NONE

Weaknesses:

EVERYTHING

Similar Products Used:

Pakor & Kodak Film Scanners

Customer Service:

One helpfull person in the entire company, the rest do not know anything and are unwilling to help you...but they will sit there and let you yell at them!

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Rating
Reviewed by: peei Veei
(Intermediate)

Review Date
August 19, 2003

Overall Rating
2 of 5

Value Rating
2 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5,
5 votes

Review 3 of 18

Price Paid: $27999.00 from fry's

Summary:

Duh...I am such a bonehead thinking this would scan un-developed film.....I mean look at the box...they even include among other things....a picture of a roll of undeveloped film??why?.....anyhoo, I did have bunches of sheets of negatives to convert so I can burn them to cd for archiving...so here goes...been using 98se for years as it is well tested and stable...don't try to use this thing thru a usb hub tho....it won't work properly...go it working well and, yes it's kinda tough to get curved film thru it....but it's so kool cause you can run it unattended...you get sorta large tiff files (around 25meg...)so watch the HD space....opened the twain driver into Photoshop 7.0...x-cellent quality, but you gotta "work" with these files to clean em up....not to shabby for the money...

Strengths:

Load you sheet of negatives...and leave...

Weaknesses:

hey... I want something that scans "un"developed film rolls

Similar Products Used:

One touch flatbed w/ negative scan attachment......blah quality tho....

Customer Service:

didn't need 'em.....

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Rating
Reviewed by: Jon Hartung
(Intermediate)

Review Date
July 19, 2003

Overall Rating
3 of 5

Value Rating
4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Review 4 of 18

Price Paid: $190.00

Summary:

This software gets universally bad reviews, but I decided to try it anyway given its cheap price. I use it as a slide scanner rather than negative scanner. After finally figuring out how to save negatives to a desktop file rather than using the file management program that goes with it, I have no problem and am pleased with the results. I save to the desktop and then use Photoshop Elements to edit the pictures, and things work fine. I suspect the software loads the file management software into the start menu, which causes the problem. Once I dumped it from start and go directly to "Cyberview Agent", which seems to be the real operating software for the scanner, I have had no problems.

Strengths:

Good film scanning for the price.

Weaknesses:

The extra software that comes with it. Forget it. Save to another file and use Photoshop or similar for your edits.

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Rating
Reviewed by: Tim Thorley
(Intermediate)

Review Date
July 1, 2003

Overall Rating
1 of 5

Value Rating
1 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5,
2 votes

Review 5 of 18

Price Paid: $130.00 from Jessops

Summary:

I bought this scanner because it was on sale from the usual price of £200. On initial examination it appears to be well built and I fully expected to be very pleased with my purchase. I have now had this infuriating piece of junk for 8 months and have successfully scanned 1 (that's ONE!) film. The driver will NOT install properly on any system I have tried (about 6 in all) be they AMD or Intel, win98, ME or XP. I have emailed the manufacturers tech support and Jessops who all give the impression that this should work easily and it must be me. Having just found this site I see that it isn't me at all, its the d*** scanner so I'm thinking of taking it back! Even the shop I bought it from couldn't make it work.

Strengths:

The one film I did get it to scan I thought was pretty good, certainly the best you'll get for £130. If anyone actually knows how to get it working could they let me know. Ta!

Weaknesses:

If this is the best you can get ...don't bother. I have wasted too much of my life trying to make it work

Customer Service:

What service, denial that there is a problem is as poor as it can get. If the manufacturer ever produce a driver that works it will brobably be great. Until then forget it.

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