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Author Topic: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)  (Read 4171 times)

syncrasy

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I use Silverfast Ai Studio with my Nikon 5000ED scanner for scanning Kodachrome slides. A couple of weeks ago I used the iSRD feature successfully for 50+ slides (manually/singly fed, not with the batch adapter), but suddenly I started getting the "Error from NikonFS" error. The error occured only when using iSRD during the actual scan (iSRD previews work fine). This was with Silverfast Ai Studio 8.8.0 rev 11. Updating to 8.8.0 rev 12 did not resolve the problem. Uninstalling Silverfast and reverting back to version 8.8.0 rev 6 got me working again for several days (200+ more scans) but then the "Error from NikonFS" error returned (only when using iSRD). Uninstalling and reinstalling Silverfast did not eliminate the problem. So now I am unable to finish my project that requires iSRD.

I have reported the error to Silverfast via the Help system, but have not yet heard back.

Any ideas on what's causing the problem? (Hardware? Software?) Any ideas on how to fix it?
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degrub

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2018, 11:11:42 am »

Does that version have the ability to save as an HDR + i file and then run iSRD later ?
This would take the scanner or communication out of the troubleshooting.

What OS is it running under ?
If i remember correctly, with version 8, Silverfast shifted to its own driver and dropped the Nikon.
Version 6.5 was the last to allow the use the Kodak iSRD equivalent.
Any issues running the same scans without i channel ?
Is the scanner and mac/pc plugged into a power conditioner and/or UPS ?
USB connection tight ? Try another cable ? Different mac/pc usb port ?


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Mark D Segal

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2018, 11:15:02 am »

LaserSoft Imaging should be able to readily detect whether there is an issue with the latest dot releases of the application or it is something to do with your computing environment - I would just be a bit patient and wait to hear back from them.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

degrub

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2018, 11:43:43 am »

Just for troubleshooting to see if it is the scanner or a driver issue, you can download a trial copy of vuescan and see if the infrared channel creates issues.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2018, 12:03:50 pm »

I have the same scanner and latest version of SilverFast 8 Ai Studio, so I tested a random slide for iSRD and everything worked fine - from the Prescan through iSRD filter activation through the final scan. My computing environment is a Mac with 24GB RAM and 24 virtual cores, OSX version El Capitan. I can surmise from this that there is nothing generically amiss with the latest version of SilverFast in respect of iSRD, at least for this computing environment.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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degrub

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2018, 12:20:09 pm »

He was indicating a cumulative issue (50+,200+) and only with use of the infrared channel at full scan, so could be heat, loose cable, driver buffer leak, power, or some other problem in his system or scanner. Unless this is a known issue (the error msg is rather vague), isolation of the part that is having trouble will likely be difficult unless consistently repeatable.
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syncrasy

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2018, 12:21:13 pm »

degrub,

I'm using Mac OS 10.11.6 (El Capitan) with 24GB RAM. No issues with using Silverfast without iSRD; only iSRD generates the error. I did try reseating the USB cable on both ends (no difference), but I have not tried replacing the cable. Devices are not plugged into a power conditioner or UPS, just a standard surge protector. As far as I know, there is no ability to run iSRD later unless you purchase Lasersoft's $100+ iSRD standalone tool (which I'm not inclined to do).

Good idea to try Vuescan. I tried two test scans with Infrared Clean turned on (Light and Medium). No problems! So that would appear to rule out the Nikon scanner as the cause of the error. I had the impression that Vuescan’s quality wasn’t as good as Silverfast, but these tests aren’t bad, so Vuescan might be my fallback solution if I can’t fix the Silverfast error.

Mark,

I hope you are right about Lasersoft support. I have had only negative/unproductive experiences with Lasersoft support, particularly with Silverfast 8. Also, Lasersoft's forums are strictly managed/filtered (my troubleshooting questions are always disallowed/deleted), so that's why I posted here (in case other users have encountered the same issue). The fact that I'm now getting the error on three different "r" revisions (6, 11, 12) spanning over several years makes me less optimistic that Laserfast will offer a solution. We'll see.

Thanks for running your test. As I said, I had no problems either for the first 50 slides or so, but then the error just popped up suddenly. I suspect some Silverfast file is becoming corrupted over a period of time, but that’s just a guess. I wonder if the uninstaller is missing some files that are corrupted, leaving the problem in place when I think I’m starting with a fresh install.



EDIT: I just tried Silverfast again (after my successful Vuescan test) and got the same error. This would suggest that there isn't a hardware overheating or loose wire problem with the Nikon.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2018, 12:30:17 pm by syncrasy »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2018, 01:36:36 pm »

Have you tested Vuescan as intensively as you were using SilverFast? If degrub's suggestion were correct that there is a physical problem between the scanner and the computer that only shows up after a lot of work when components are heated up, you would have to run Vuescan for the same 50 times or more that you ran SF8 in order to check for electro-mechanical issues.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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syncrasy

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2018, 01:47:38 pm »

Have you tested Vuescan as intensively as you were using SilverFast? If degrub's suggestion were correct that there is a physical problem between the scanner and the computer that only shows up after a lot of work when components are heated up, you would have to run Vuescan for the same 50 times or more that you ran SF8 in order to check for electro-mechanical issues.

I'm having a hard time concluding that there's an electro-mechanical issue given my testing sequence, all within an hour:

  • Silverfast 8: error
  • VueScan: success
  • Silverfast 8: error
  • VueScan: success

Could SF8 be more sensitive to electro-mechnical issues and VueScan more forgiving?
« Last Edit: July 01, 2018, 01:51:10 pm by syncrasy »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2018, 04:48:43 pm »


Could SF8 be more sensitive to electro-mechnical issues and VueScan more forgiving?

That would be strange. I'm back to my initial recommendation of waiting to see what LSI support responds with. You should probably supply them with this additional experience as it could help them diagnose the problem.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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degrub

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2018, 07:30:37 pm »

used to see issues with the Nikon WIN API that LaserSoft was forced to use back on version 6 and before. Wiping and reinstalling, at least on Win machines was sometimes the only way to get it to work again. And you had to be careful which was installed first - NikonScan or Silverfast. i thought they had written their own drivers since they dropped the ICE routines with the migration to version 8.

BTW, my impression of the strict enforcement of help requests in the forum by removing any post that resembled one was because few were using the help ticket system and they were having fits since they did not intend to forums to become tech support and could not track issues to resolution. And then were a few folks that ranted in forum posts. i think that was one of the last straws.
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ned

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I used to run several Leafscan 45 scanners. There were two ways to run them, Silverfast or the official plugin for photoshop. There was a specific scenario where the photoshop plugin worked, and Silverfast failed every time. Does not surprise me that Silverfast doesn’t work where Vuescan does.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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saiguy

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2018, 09:00:12 pm »

My experience. Firstly if you have more than one SF8 versions for more that one scanner you have to update all of them at the same time. Now the server knows I have Nikon LS9000 and also Epson 11k scanner. When you go to update one of them it will download both. Additionally I have to update HRD Studio manually. They seem to share some folders and absent across the board updates I would get a lot of crashes some long time back.

I scan in SF8 to HDRi. Have no problems. Open and develop the files in HDR Studio. Have no problems except it may be after 20+ files I may have to do a restart of HDR. If I see any funny business I just do a restart of HDR Suite. Seems to hold all of that in memory??

I had SF8 Ai. Wanted HDR Studio. Talked to Kitten in sales and could get HDR Studio added fo $50USD. This was a few years ago.

I'm using Mac platform, latest.
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syncrasy

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2018, 11:42:09 am »

UPDATE...

At the suggestion of Lasersoft support (after some back and forth), I used Silverfast 8's Software Reset option (in the Service Dialogue section of the startup screen). This deleted all preference files. I am now able to scan with iSRD without the error. So the problem was likely a corrupted preference file. We'll see how long this lasts, but now I know how to resolve the issue should it recur.

On a related note, I've been playing with Vuescan's infrared scans of Kodachrome slides to see how they compare to SF8. It's interesting to see how they remove dust/fungus/spots differently, and create different types of artifacts. In all cases, SF8's iSRD tool has a peculiar habit of flattening/squaring off the rounded corners of the cardboard slide mount opening, whereas Vuescan does not. My initial impression is that SF removes small spots and streaks better while Vuescan removes dark fungus blotches better. But it also appears that the two programs focus on the slide differently (different parts of the slide are more in/out of focus), so the focus plane might be a factor.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2018, 11:50:38 am by syncrasy »
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degrub

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2018, 11:50:09 am »

in the Nikon 5000, with mounted slides, there is a distinct curvature of the film, often near the edges. The Nikon has a very small DOF to work with. The software tries to find a good focus point. It is frequently different each time due to the curvature. You can try manually focusing on the main area of interest in the film to see if that helps the defect remediation. Unless you take the film out and put it in a glass holder film flatness will always be an issue.
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syncrasy

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #15 on: July 03, 2018, 12:33:31 pm »

in the Nikon 5000, with mounted slides, there is a distinct curvature of the film, often near the edges. The Nikon has a very small DOF to work with. The software tries to find a good focus point. It is frequently different each time due to the curvature. You can try manually focusing on the main area of interest in the film to see if that helps the defect remediation. Unless you take the film out and put it in a glass holder film flatness will always be an issue.

Right, but does an infrared/iSRD tool change the handling of focus by the software?
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degrub

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #16 on: July 03, 2018, 01:00:07 pm »

I believe that is set by contrast focusing near a point that the pre-scan finds or is manually set.  All of the following scan operations are based on that focal distance. I doubt there is compensation for the slight focus shift for the R,G,B, and IR led characteristic wavelength. I would expect that the shift is within the dof of the optics, but i could be wrong as i last looked at it when they first were available.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #17 on: July 03, 2018, 01:49:33 pm »

Focus the scanner before using iSRD. With the Nikon 5000 SF8 allows you to manually manage the focusing if you think the Auto-Focus isn't optimising sharpness.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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syncrasy

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #18 on: July 03, 2018, 02:15:28 pm »

Focus the scanner before using iSRD. With the Nikon 5000 SF8 allows you to manually manage the focusing if you think the Auto-Focus isn't optimising sharpness.

I believe SF8 Auto-Focus is working appropriately. But to confirm... If I'm using Auto focus and have iSRD enabled, I assume SF8 runs the auto focus routine before applying the iSRD routine as a matter of course. Or do I have to disable/enable the iSRD tool each time I scan a different slide?
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Silverfast scanning software "Error from NikonFS" (Nikon 5000ED)
« Reply #19 on: July 03, 2018, 03:15:55 pm »

I can't run through this routine just now to be sure of the sequence because my copy of SilverFast developed a bug - it won't prescan slides in this scanner - I just a mess of horizontal lines looking like a piece of loosely woven cloth. I tried it with Vuescan and it works fine, so the scanner is OK - something with SilverFast today. No time to mess with it just now. Sorry. But my recollection is that the Auto Focus refocuses each slide either when you put the slide in the scanner or you do a Prescan. Then you do all your edits including iSRD.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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