boilerdoc Posted September 7, 2011 Share #1 Posted September 7, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Silverfast or Vuescan? Nikon no longer supports their Coolscans with a Windows 7 driver. Grrrrr! For those of us who scan our film, does anyone have a preference between these two products (or any other one)? Thanks! Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 7, 2011 Posted September 7, 2011 Hi boilerdoc, Take a look here Nikon Coolscan and Windows 7. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jacarape Posted September 7, 2011 Share #2 Posted September 7, 2011 doc, why fight history? I have posted this a few times, and there will be more then a few that agree- Buy a beater XP box for a few hundred bucks, build a little scanning station and forget it. Go bare bones, no internet connection, no SW updates, no AV needed (as long as your other PC is kept clean). About the only thing you'll need is a transport from the scanner to a PC with whatever PP solution you use. And forget it forever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppyman Posted September 8, 2011 Share #3 Posted September 8, 2011 My suggestion is to try out Vuescan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted September 8, 2011 Share #4 Posted September 8, 2011 If you have Windows 7 Professional (I think you can upgrade to it if not) you can run your machine as a Virtual XP PC and old drivers should work. Windows Virtual PC: Home Page Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFNewcomer Posted September 8, 2011 Share #5 Posted September 8, 2011 An interesting idea to try running Nikon Scan via a virtual machine and could well work, although I've not got any personal experience of doing this. I didn't really think of this route when I realised that Nikon had dumped the program when the Mac OS moved on and had left me high and dry with my Coolscan 5000 ED. I opted for VueScan and have been happy with it so far. I haven't had the need to run my SF210 slide feeder so far since the switch, so I don't know how the combo works with VueScan, although the literature indicates that VueScan supports batch scanning; as always though, you need to see it working in practice before you believe it. By the way, there's a new book out on VueScan called the VueScan Bible by Sascha Steinhoff (20 USD at amazon). Could be useful if you want to supplement the program's own help material. I've got his Scanning Negatives and Slides and it's not bad, although not great. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamadam Posted September 8, 2011 Share #6 Posted September 8, 2011 I'm still using Nikon Coolscan V with Windows 7 64bit, Last time I installed it using the Demo version of Vuescan, and then installed it, and it worked. This time, I did it a bit different, I think I did it like how some of these people did: Nikon coolscan V ED driver for windows vista 64-bit Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
boilerdoc Posted September 11, 2011 Author Share #7 Posted September 11, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Some great ideas here. The Old XP system would be virus free for sure and wouldn't be affected by future Windows upgrades. I hear that Vuescan is the way to go over Silverfast. Lot of people seem to really hate SF!!! Thanks, Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted September 11, 2011 Share #8 Posted September 11, 2011 In my experience, Vuescan is the best scanning software around, properly supported and updated and extremely versatile. Both Nikon Scan and SF are inferior, in my experience with both a Coolscan V and an Epson v700 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted July 5, 2012 Share #9 Posted July 5, 2012 At the end of 2007 I purchased a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED. I think it's a very good scanner and I've been pleased with the purchase. However, there were many threads similar to this one at the time I purchased my scanner. For that reason, I continued using Windows XP on my computer to avoid the incompatibility issues between (at that time) Windows Vista and Nikon Scan. Based on the reading I've done, I'm inclined to believe the same incompatibility issues remain with versions of Windows subsequent to Vista. Nevertheless, with the inevitable passage of time, I'll probably need to upgrade my computer fairly soon and - most probably - will be running Windows 8 going forward. Since my Coolscan remains in excellent condition but is no longer supported by Nikon, I've resurrected this thread to see if anybody has any different advice today about the available options for operating this scanner in a current Windows environment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted July 5, 2012 Share #10 Posted July 5, 2012 I use several programs that won't run on Windows 7. The answer for me was to add the "XP Mode" option to Windows 7 Professional. This installs a complete version of XP that runs as a virtual PC so doesn't see Win7 on the system at all. It has worked great with all I've tried on it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted July 5, 2012 Share #11 Posted July 5, 2012 Vuescan is the answer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewis44 Posted July 6, 2012 Share #12 Posted July 6, 2012 I'm using Nikon Scan 4 (4.03) for Vista on my Windows 7 Computer. Nikon does not support it, but it works fine. I have used the V, 4000 & 5000 with it. It works for me w/o using the compatibility mode, but it is suggested you do that if it doesn't work. Give it a try Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted July 6, 2012 Share #13 Posted July 6, 2012 TomB, Andy, Randy: Thank you all for taking the time to post a comment in connection with my inquiry. Your views are representative of those I found elsewhere. Randy -- thank you in particular for letting me know about Nikon Scan 4.03 -- I previously was unaware that Nikon had updated v. 4.02 (which is the version I have) to 4.03 so it would work with Vista in 32 bit mode, and now has tested 4.03 to confirm that it works with Windows 7. That's good information to know. While I suppose I could find a way to make Nikon Scan work with Windows 8 using either of the suggestions made by TomB or Randy, I've reached a stage in life where working through software compatibility issues holds little appeal for me. When younger I reveled in challenges like that -- now, such challenges are just a burden. I'd much rather spend that time standing in a cold stream with a fly rod in my hand. I expect when all the dust settles, I'll pursue the Vuescan approach advocated by Andy. $80 seems a small price to pay for ease of use and increased functionality. Thanks guys. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewis44 Posted July 6, 2012 Share #14 Posted July 6, 2012 Robert, Your Welcome. I use Vuescan as well. I find I prefer the output I get with Slides using the Nikon Software and Negative film with Vuescan. You can use both and find what you like as they do give different results. The nice thing with Vuescan is that it works with all scanners, so you don't have a learning curve if you switch. Also Ed Hamrick keeps on top of bugs & fixes when they show up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted July 6, 2012 Share #15 Posted July 6, 2012 I find I prefer the output I get with Slides using the Nikon Software and Negative film with Vuescan. Randy, A very good point, and worthy of some serious consideration. Most of what I scan is old family slides. Thanks for the follow-up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanG Posted July 6, 2012 Share #16 Posted July 6, 2012 You can always set up a computer to do dual boot up in order to keep an older operating system going. I didn't care for Silverfast. It is very awkward. And Intel Macs should be able to boot to Windows XP if you have no other Mac choice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewittehd Posted July 6, 2012 Share #17 Posted July 6, 2012 The question is not necessarily Vuescan vs Nikon Scan, but to get the Coolscan working under Windows7. There is a problem with the Firewire implementation, so you will have to work around that. Google for Win7 and Firewire and you will find a fix. I think I used following Getting your Nikon Coolscan to work on W7 x64 - Windows 7 Forums and it works like a charm. Good luck, Jean Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewis44 Posted July 6, 2012 Share #18 Posted July 6, 2012 For W7-x32 I've had no issues at all, including firewire for the 4000 using v4.03, but for x64 this looks like a good workaround Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted July 8, 2012 Share #19 Posted July 8, 2012 For scanning software, VueScan is very hard to surpass. I operate a Nikon 5000 and 8000 plus an Epson 700, all concurrently under Win 7 and VueScan. As for Win 7 and Firewire, should not be a problem. My aging Coolscan 8000 (firewire) is working faultlessly under Win 7 using VueScan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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