leica dream Posted October 11, 2023 Share #1 Posted October 11, 2023 Advertisement (gone after registration) Now I have got the first film through my R3 processed I am researching scan software for my Epson V700 Photo scanner. OK, the lab has scanned, and I have the standard Epson software but I just want to try getting best scans myself for future films. I have downloaded Silverfast9 to my iMAC but I have a question. Even though I live just 13 miles from a major UK city the internet is not good so I receive mine by radio to an aerial on the roof - but even that fails sometimes. I had such a failure last evening and was surprised that Silverfast would not let me proceed without logging on to their site. I had assumed that with the downloaded software I could use the system off-line, but it seems not. Maybe this is because I am still in the initial free trial stage. Is this normal for Silverfast, because off-line work would be much more acceptable, or should I be looking for another packsge which does allow off-line working? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 11, 2023 Posted October 11, 2023 Hi leica dream, Take a look here Silverfast. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Steve Ricoh Posted October 11, 2023 Share #2 Posted October 11, 2023 Silverfast works well once you ascend the learning curve. Mine came with a Plustek and apart from the (optional) updates, processing is off line. I have no experience with Vuescan, but basically the same conditions, other than Silverfast is licensed to a particular scanner, whereas Vuescan is not. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted October 11, 2023 Share #3 Posted October 11, 2023 (edited) You will get better scans with Epson Scan, you wasted your money with Silverfast. When you are scanning you need a very basic scan, nothing special, a low contrast scan that doesn’t have any clipping. Then create the final image in the much more sophisticated Lightroom or Photoshop, and far, far easier doing it that way than trying to master the absurd intricacies of Silverfast. Epson Scan is also very good for doing your low res digital contact sheets. Edited October 11, 2023 by 250swb 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianman Posted October 11, 2023 Share #4 Posted October 11, 2023 Both Silverfast and Vuescan are disastrous products. In terms of support, UI, updates,… everything. I would strongly recommend following Steve’s advice and do a good but basic scan. There are tutorials on YouTube for this. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frame-it Posted October 11, 2023 Share #5 Posted October 11, 2023 3 hours ago, ianman said: Both Silverfast and Vuescan are disastrous products. In terms of support, UI, updates,… everything. I would strongly recommend following Steve’s advice and do a good but basic scan. There are tutorials on YouTube for this. but the new silverfast update is apparently really good Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin B Posted October 12, 2023 Share #6 Posted October 12, 2023 I am still using SilverFast 8, and the biggest obstacle with this software is its update process especially when using two versions on the same PC which came with two different scanners. I am not going to put money down to upgrade to the new version 9 either. SilverFast has two good things IMO - the dust deletion in scanned photos and NegaFix to calibrate contrast with existing films. The software is not very good when it comes to color negative scanning with correct color calibration - it really sucks here, sometimes giving yellow banding if the negative is not fully flat. You are better off not to balance any colors with this software and instead use white, grey, and black point dropper tool in Photoshop. I also have EpsonScan but shine away of using it for negative scanning since the scans come out much too contrasty for my taste. It is a very good tool for document scanning though - here I use my V850 all the time with EpsonScan. The EpsonScan software has not been updated for quite some time and has limited processing options for negatives. Third option is NegativeLabPro software which uses photos of negatives taken with a digital camera. I have no experience with this product, but it seems many prefer it now over other scanner software. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leica dream Posted October 13, 2023 Author Share #7 Posted October 13, 2023 Advertisement (gone after registration) Thank you all, as ever, for your input. I have scanned a few negatives with Silverfast and then the same with Epsonscan software. Then I compared images against one another, Lab scan, Epson and Silverfast. The result for my taste is that I cannot better the Lab scan (AG Photographic, Birmingham, UK), so for the time being I shall avoid the home scan hassle and rely on Lab scanning. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted October 13, 2023 Share #8 Posted October 13, 2023 40 minutes ago, leica dream said: Thank you all, as ever, for your input. I have scanned a few negatives with Silverfast and then the same with Epsonscan software. Then I compared images against one another, Lab scan, Epson and Silverfast. The result for my taste is that I cannot better the Lab scan (AG Photographic, Birmingham, UK), so for the time being I shall avoid the home scan hassle and rely on Lab scanning. That is because your lab scans won’t be using an Epson V700. The next step up for 35mm scans will be a Plustek scanner, the stage higher than that is to use a modern digital camera to copy your negatives. You didn’t start from the wrong place with your Epson V700, just a few years too late. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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