The universal rule in photography is that the less you enlarge, the better the result (a rule which will hold until the laws of physics are significantly rewritten to change the nature of light and allow perfect lenses and until films are capable of infinite resolution). Provided you don't enlarge too much, the results are acceptable. This applies with scanners as well as enlargers. I've used Epson flatbeds for film scanning for many years. I can't recall the first model I used, but if there was a 3200 it was probably that. I've moved up as they released newer models, and now have a V850. For 5x4 this meets my needs, and A2/20x16" prints are fine. But this is only the same degree of enlargement as a 6"x4" print from 35mm. Puts things into perspective, saying that, doesn't it?
The smaller the film size, the more resolution you need to extract the best from the smaller negative. As I said above somewhere, A3 prints from 6x7 are fine using the Epson, but 35mm is borderline. We do have an old Nikon Coolscan 2 SCSI film scanner, but whether due to my own ineptitude or the difficulty of scanning Kodachrome (it was bought to scan slides many, many years ago) it failed to impress. The Epson delivered better results for me. Anyway, Plustek were at the Photography Show, and wewre offering to do sample scans to demonstrate how their equipment performed with potential customers' own negatives. I went along to the stand armed with a negative and the best I could manage from the Epson loaded on a tablet to make a side by side comparison. The Plustek 120 produced better resolution; not a lot, but enough to make a visible difference. So, I'm not saying that it's great, just that it makes a slightly better job of scanning 6x7 (and by extension, 35mm) than the Epson flatbeds. For the degree of enlargement needed with 5x4, the Epson is fine; but the Plustek does give a little extra headroom with smaller negatives. I did put up the scans from Epson and Plustek on OneDrive for AshleyC to examine, but I've since removed them, and the Epson scan was hard to find originally.
I wasn't overly bothered about being able to improve on my scans with 5x4, because the print size I can get is fine; and, let's face it, if I decide I want a larger print I can always pay for a scan on a drum scanner, or, if my tastes change and I want everything at A -1 (or whatever twice A0 is) I can buy a camera using larger film and still use the Epson.
Anyway, apologies for the ramble. I don't know if the Plustek is as great as the price suggests, not having anything else to compare it with as a film scanner. It's better than than the Coolscan 2 (in my hands) and an improvement on the V700 (which is what the comparison scan was made on). As such, it gives a better result with 6x7. Is it worth it? Depends on how you view "worth it". For me, I lack the space for some of the drum scanners I know others here use, and the slight improvement is still an improvement.
)... But I suspect your standards are significantly different!
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