Vuescan vs. Silverfast SE/Ai

[Ed Richards]

I use Vuescan but have not tried Silverfast - I got my 9950 before the new bundle. As for Vuescan profiles, there are 8 for Tmax, corresponding to different developer and processing parameters. You need to make sure you have the advanced settings enabled in the color tab to see them. My best scans come from scanning at the max resolution and writing out the unprocessed raw file from the CCD. You then downsample, convert and gama correct it in your editor.

[Kirk Gittings]

"In my experience multiple passes (I trust this is what multiscanning means?)"

Multi-pass is not the same thing as multi-sampling. The intention is the same however, but In my experience multiple passes leads to lack of sharpness. Multi-sampling is a different process more like the downsampling strategy you mentioned but more sophisticated. It appears to work very well with the AI "studio" upgrade.

[Will Strain]

I've used both in various versions and on various scanners. In general, I have preferred vuescan, but with my Epson 3200, I've found that Silverfast is much sharper. I can't for the life of me figure out why, but there is no comparison.

On earlier Epson scanners, and my old Umax, this was not the case...took me completely by surprise. I may have to upgrade to AI.

[mark blackman]

Brian,
I'm just about to update from an Epson 2450 to the 4990. for the former I gave up using the Epson Twain stuff asap and switched to Vuescan. Once Vuescan came out with a RAW mode of output I started using that and doing all tweeks in PS as I never got the built in corrections to work as I wanted (not helped by a lack of profiles for non-kodak film).

I shall try out the bundled Silverfast s/w with the 4990 and compare with Vuescan and let you know how it goes. I intend to use the scanner for 5x4 and 10x8 film, both b&W and colour transparency (Fuji Provia)

[John Hennessy]

I have to agree with Kirk that the new multiscan capability of Siverfast AI is a great improvement over the multipass method. I just downloaded it and tried it on a 4x5 Astia image of mine with dewy grass and gossamers in the foreground. With the old multipass, I had to try several times before the blades of grass and gossamers were evidently as sharp as the film. One failed attempt even produced two blades for every one in the film! But multiscaning, with only one try, produced a file much much better than the best multipass.

Ironically, it was so much better that I regret having to pay extra for it---it should have been there all along. Maybe AI "Studio" (which is what one needs to upgrade to in order to get the multiscan capability) does other things I have not noticed yet. On the other hand, if multiscan software is a programming breakthrough, then Lasersoft deserves whatever the market will bear. Why upgrading the SE version costs so little is a mystery but no serious photographer should be without the AI version anyway just for the scanner profiling aspect if nothing else.

I volunteered for the scan-around testing at http://largeformatphotography.info/scan-comparison/ (and in View Camera) and it will be interesting to see how the Epsons stack up with Silverfast. I believe the Epson 3200 used in tests was used with its own software--which is useless.

[Nature Photo]

Is there a way to incorporate single pass multisampling into Vuescan?

[Kirk Gittings]

The new multisampling feature in SF Studio appears in my testing to be a real breakthrough. Has anyone or does anyone have the time to do a heads up comparison to noise reduction capabilities of the new SF Studio and Viewscan? It would be hard to surpass the noise reduction of SF Studio.

My tests also reveal that with SF Studio you get the most noise reduction in RGB files (noise is virtually eliminated completely) even if you are looking for a grayscale image as the final product. So I am scanning 4x5 b&w negs as 48bit RGB files with 16 sampling passes and then converting them to 16 bit grayscale. The exact opposite was true with SFAI 6. You would get much less noise with grayscale scans with SFAI 6.

[Rob_5209]

Does the Silverfast "multi-sampling" feature make one pass or multiple passes? To qualify as multi-sampling, the scan head must only make one pass, while sampling each scan line multiple times before advancing the scan head to the next line. This method results in no registration errors.

If the scan head makes x number of seperate passes, it's multi-scanning, or multi-pass scanning. As far as I know "multi-sampling" (former) has to be enabled in the scanner's hardware to work and I wasn't aware that the Epson's supported this.

[QT Luong]

Rob, from the Lasersoft explanation, what they call multi-sampling is multi-scanning + automated alignment/registration.

[Ed Richards]

I have been playing with the Silverfast demo for a few days to see if the multi-scanning really works. I have used multi-scanning on Vuescan with a Canon 9950 and the registration is not quite good enough. With the new Silverfast, the registration is usually perfect, even at 16 scans. It is very impressive. One possible bug is that when you start Silverfast it comes up with the last preview. If you are scanning the same negative in more than one session, it is easy to just start the second scan without a new preview. I think if you do the registration does not always work - I have noticed that every few multi-scans I get one with doubled images and I think this is why, but I have not kept notes so I am not sure yet.

The cheapest way in is Silverfast SE, then scan to the HDR choice and do the corrections in your editor. Otherwise I think you need to go to AI to get 16/48 bit and corrections in Silverfast.