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Vuescan - Thoughts?


eyedeebee

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Once you have got through the learning curve, it's the best scanning software out there.

 

Updated weekly, with new features and tweaks, it will operate virtually any scanner. So, if you buy a new one, your software still works.

 

At £40, it's a steal for the Pro version.

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Guest Bernd Banken
I keep hearing about or seeing references to Vuescan. Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions on the benefits (or otherwise)? What advantages does it have over e.g. bundled Epson software?

 

Thanks

 

a killer feature is scanning in RAW and the possibility to continue in Adobe Lightroom for your keepers only.....

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Depends on your scanner. Seems people who really love it are using Nikon scanners so it might say something about the interface of teh bundled software. You download Vuescan free, so you can trial most of the features, (not including vuescan RAW) and when you pay the access codes allow you to remove the water mark. I could not get it to work as well as teh native program with my scanner, and it was less convenient to use.

 

ps The bloke running the show gets a big thumbs up.

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I did a comparison of Silverfast and Vuescan. The Silverfast scans were much better overall and were also sharper. I use a Polaroid 4000 Plus and the Polaroid software was probably as good as Vuescan and much quicker to use. For ultimate quality, I think you have to go for Silverfast.

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Andy,

 

Maybe we should make a Sticky of this thread - it comes up often enough and we usual end up typing the same answers.

 

I find it good because:-

 

1) It's cross platform so if you ever switch platforms you'll have one less headache.

 

2) The interface may not be beautiful but it's a damn sight better than some manufacturers' proprietary apps. Minolta package anyone? :(

 

3) As Steve says, it'll do all your scanners. For me that means my flatbed and my film scanners are dealt with by one app.

 

4) Because it will work with most scanners ever made if you upgrade your scanner you won't have a new package to learn.

 

5) Upgrades for life.

 

6) More people on this forum are using it than would be using any one manufacturers' app. Therefore there is a wealth of advice to draw on.

 

7) It works.

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Minolta package anyone? :(

 

As far as the silverfast trial versions for my 5400ii the minolta software streeted silverfast by a long shot. I have no idea what is in the the full thousand dollar versions of silverfast and I would like the full scanning printing package but....

That aside, I think a scanner can only achieve what the hardware permits, it is just the aftermarket software takes you some way down the path of post processing, and perhaps that provides some with direction.

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I can only compare Vuescan with the Nikon software bundles with the Coolscan scanners. First I used mainly Vuescan because I thougt the feature to measure the film basis and subtract it from the image was a killer. However, with some time I do not see any differences in the results of Vuescan the the Nikon bundle which imho is excellent. Actually I am only using the Nikon software because it suits better to my workflow. But, as said, the results are imho pretty much the same.

 

BR

Marcus

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I won a Professional Vuescan software in the 'Amateur Photographer' magazine. Mr Hamrick e-mailed me with some codes and I found out how to get it . I have an Epson Perfection 1650 flatbed scanner which was given to me; I use it for 35mm film and tried it for medium format- the biggest it would scan is a 6x4.5 cm format (16-0n) When I tried it with my Pentax 6x7 a box comes up saying " Cannot find film, please reposition and try again" - well, I shouted at the scanner that the film was RIGHT UNDER THE LIGHT- why can't you b----y find it ! Now I tried it with Vuescan and it WORKS with 6x7, 6x9 6x6 format no trouble, but the few times I have used it for 35mm there has been some strange lines down the scan. It is very involved if you use the 'Advanced Features'.

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I use the professional version of VueScan with a Canon LiDE 50 and with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED.

 

The update service is excellent and the user interface works very well and fast after some getting used to it. I admit it is not the most elegant interface ever seen on a Mac... but efficient.

 

My main scanning task is Ilford XP2 negatives in 4000 dpi to work with the pictures in Photoshop.

 

I tried Silverfast and the Nikon software. VueScan is by far the fastest software, because I do not have to adjust anything in Photoshop except for cropping the image and perhaps applying a curve to suite my taste and the image subject. No more adjusting levels. I save my XP2 negatives in 16bit greyscale tiff files. The only thing I have to do is start the software, put a film stripe of 6 negatives into the scanner and click one (!) button :D

 

IMHO, $79.95 is excellent value for money!

 

In case you are interested in trying out my settings, you can download them here:

http://www.rabu.de/photo/XP2-ini.zip

(Nikon 5000ED, XP2, exposed at 250 ASA / 25° DIN)

 

Best regards,

Stefan.

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Stefan- I am interested in trying your settings, but the link was dead. Can you try again? Thanks...Peter

 

Hi Peter,

 

Sorry to hear about your problem. The link is alive and kicking - perhaps a uppercase / lowercase character problem?

 

For your convenience, I uploaded the file again with an all-lowercase filename:

 

http://www.rabu.de/photo/xp2ini.zip

 

Hope it helps :)

 

If not - please let me know which browser you are using.

 

Best regards,

Stefan.

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Hi Stefan- I think I see what's happening. A file ending in XP2.ini is downloading. Perhaps it's a format (zip) that my Mac doesn't recognize and can't expand. Double clicking yields a message to this effect. Thanks again...Peter

 

Hi Peter,

 

Sorry to hear that.

The file is generated and compressed to a ZIP (-> Archive) with a Mac and should be no problem to download - tried it on a different Mac a minute ago and had no problem myself.

To make things more simple for you, I'll post the content of the file in a separate post on this thread.

 

Just copy the text and past it into TextEdit. Then convert it to plain text (Shift-Apple-T) and save it as "XP2.ini" on your desktop (Shift-Apple-S, Apple-D, then enter "XP2.ini" as file name). Should be loadable in VueScan.

 

In case that does not work, please send me an email and I will reply with the file attached:

stefan@rabu.de

 

Hope it helps :)

 

Good luck & Best regards,

Stefan.

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[VueScan]

[Prefs]

StartupTip=0

WindowXOffset=8

WindowYOffset=22

WindowXSize=1341

WindowYSize=783

TopPanel=0

AbortMode=0

GuidedMode=0

Options=1

GraphType=3

ExternalViewer=0

[Crop-LiDE50-Flatbed]

CropSize=0

XSize=3735

YSize=3702

[Color-LiDE50-Flatbed]

ColorBalance=0

[Output]

JPEGFileName=@Antwerpen.jpg

DefaultFolder=/Volumes/speedy/scan

TIFFFileType=2

JPEGFile=0

RawFileName=scan0001+.dng

RawDNGFormat=1

TIFFFile=1

TIFFCompression=1

[input-LS-5000-35mmSlide]

Media=3

Focus=275

ScanResolution=2

RGBExposure=3400

InfraredExposure=2107

[Crop-LS-5000-35mmSlide]

XSize=3763

YSize=5576

XOffset=112

YOffset=125

CropSize=0

AutoOffset=0

[Color-LS-5000-35mmSlide]

WhitePointRed=338

WhitePointGreen=338

WhitePointBlue=340

FilmBaseColorRed=998

FilmBaseColorGreen=998

FilmBaseColorBlue=998

[Filter-LS-5000-35mmSlide]

InfraredClean=1

NegativeVendor=4

OutputColorSpace=1

MonitorColorSpace=1

[input-LS-5000]

Mode=1

[input-LS-5000-35mmFilm]

Rotation=1

Focus=325

InfraredExposure=2327

Quality=3

ScanResolution=2

AutoFocus=3

AutoEject=2

LockExposure=1

LockFilmBaseColor=1

BatchList=1-4

RGBExposure=1302

PreviewExposure=1302

[Crop-LS-5000-35mmFilm]

XSize=3944

YSize=5956

CropSize=1

AutoOffset=0

Buffer=20000

[Filter-LS-5000-35mmFilm]

InfraredClean=1

[Color-LS-5000-35mmFilm]

FilmBaseColorRed=181

FilmBaseColorGreen=483

FilmBaseColorBlue=968

WhitePointRed=401

WhitePointGreen=401

WhitePointBlue=402

CurveLow=400

Brightness=800

BlackPoint=100

WhitePoint=100

[Output-LS-5000-35mmFilm]

PrintedSize=13

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