Scan/output resolution - Vuescan vs. Silverfast

[ThisIsGregers]

Hi out there,

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday.

I just tried out Silverfast and am a bit confused about the resolution settings.
In Vuescan, I set the optical scanning resolution AND the DPI for the output file. Normally I go with the highest scanning resolution with the output set to 300 DPI.
Scanning a medium format (6x6) with my Minolta Dimage Multi Pro, Vuescan gives me a file of roughly 7000x7000 pixels/140 MB.

In Silverfast, it seems like I can only choose the output resolution, not the optical scan resolution. The output file is roughly the same in size as the one from Vuescan.

What's the difference between setting both variables in Vuescan vs. "only" the output DPI in Silverfast?

Thanks very much in advance,

Gregers

[Mark D Segal]

I don't use Vuescan regularly enough to give you an authoritative comparison between the two applications in respect of resolution settings. As for SilverFast, the Scan Dimensions Panel, especially with the Expert Options open (Ai 8 Studio version), gives you complete control over the relationship between input resolution, output resolution and image size, including the ability to adjust all three coherently. There may be free resources on how to use this fully populated set of features from one of the videos accompanying the application or downloadable from the SilverFast Website or the compact application guide, also available there. For more comprehensive and detailed instruction on using these features, if you subscribe to Lynda.com you can find a video tutorial on SilverFast 8 authored by Taz Tally, or you may obtain my book on SilverFast 8 from the SilverFast website, where Chapter 5 explains all this in considerable detail.

[Fernando García]

As for Vuescan the important thing is to set the proper scan resolution in the Input tab.
Printed dpi in the Output tab doesn't make any difference at all, it's just a tag and you can change that at any moment in Photoshop or any editing software.
The number of pixels of the resulting scan is determined by the scan resolution.