problem with scanning in SilverFast

[Robert-Peter Westphal]

Hello,

I've got a Reflecta DigitDia 5000 ( which is to my knowledge a PowerScan 5000 in the US) with a software package containing SilverFast AI 6.6 for scanning my slides. Although these slides have just memorial value, I would like to have a decent quality for creation of photobooks and perhaps some small poster for relative presents.

So, I started with SF, calibrated the scanner with the IT8 target slide, created a profile and started to scan. For import I used the profile created wit the IT8 target, for output Adobe RGB.
I setup the scanner to 2400Dpi, 8Bit color depth and TIF. The results look really weird, the colors are completely off and very very  oversaturated, and much too dark.
Although I have to scan estimated 10.000 slides, and I want to use batchmode, I tried to scan one or two slides in individual mode and tried to fix the issues after the prescan, but I failed.

When I use the cheap app CyberView X which also came with the scanner, the results look much better : The colors are also a little off, but the saturation and the brightness is much better so it can be maintained in Lightroom.

So, my questions is, am I doing anything wrong with Silverfast ? I watched 'from camera to print' and Michael was also using the same version of SilverFast with much better results.

Any help or hint is much appreciated !

Best regards Robert

[Mark D Segal]

Impossible to respond to this without complete information on all your settings in SilverFast and other cooperating software.

[Garnick]

I agree totally with Mark on this, we need a more in depth description of your settings in Silverfast in order to offer some advice.  However, for reasons to be stated later I will defer from offering any advice on this subject, since Mark is more qualified in that area.  Silverfast is a rather deep scanning software and takes some time to get a handle on.  I've been using it for more than 10 years and I still don't use all of the available settings and possibilities, only the ones that pertain to the job at hand.  I've heard Silverfast described as the scanning software we love to hate and hate to love at the same time.  I will admit that when I first started using Silverfast it was a bit of a struggle, since the interface was not as slick and/or intuitive as it has become today.  The fact that you do have many more settings available means that you can set up the scanner for the best output from any given original.  I do a lot of reflective scanning and reproduction of artwork, and I would typically remove the piece from the scanner once I have the preview and compare what I'm seeing on my calibrated NEC display with the original piece.  From that point on I make the necessary small adjustments to provide a scan that's as close as possible to the original.  Then of course it's off to Photoshop or Lightroom to do the final adjustments and testing before the final print, usually on fine art paper.  I do realize that some of what I have just written will not mean a lot to you and your particular situation, but it does cover some of the necessary steps that have to be taken in order to achieve a proper first scan, be it reflective or transparency.

And by the way, if you check the Lasersoft site you will find an excellent e-book on Silverfast written by Mark Segal.  It's a very comprehensive addition to the information on the site and definitely worth the cost.  Even though the most recent edition references Silverfast 8, it will certainly be a good start for the version you have.  However, if you do choose to continue with Silverfast I would strongly suggest an upgrade to v.8.  Hope this helps Robert.

Gary     

[Alan Klein]

Unless Silverfast is doing something to the scan speed, scanner lighting, etc, its just another editing program that's taking the straight scan results and editing it. Why learn another software that edits.   Since you're only doing a small quantity, scan flat and do all your changes in Lightroom.

[Mark D Segal]

Unless Silverfast is doing something to the scan speed, scanner lighting, etc, its just another editing program that's taking the straight scan results and editing it. Why learn another software that edits.   Since you're only doing a small quantity, scan flat and do all your changes in Lightroom.

It's not quite so simple. There is a range of functions best performed in the scanner software and others are optional as you mention. In particular, the first place to look for issues is in the colour management settings and gamma value used in the scanning software. Getting these quite wrong can make satisfactory post-scan editing difficult to achieve, or much more so than necessary at the least.

[Robert-Peter Westphal]

Hello,

thank you for all your answers - I've found the problem :

I've switched on ACR ( automated color recovery ) and this function seems to destroy the scans in case the colors are ok and shouldn't be recovered.

Best regards

Robert