New to scanning

[Scott Kathe]

Hi,

I've read a lot on this site regarding scanning but so far I haven't found what I'm looking for. I just got a refurbed Epson 4990 with Silverfast SE to scan 6x6 and 4x5 FP4+ for now, chromes in the future. I learned photography with a manual Nikon FM2n and chromes because I wanted to make all the decisions and not have any automation.

I'd like to do the same with scanning but I can't figure out how to do anything in 'manual' with Silverfast SE. Even if I did know where to find the manual settings and how to use tham I'm not sure what to do other than set the white point, black point and midpoint. (Ted Harris-if you are out there are you offering your scanning class anytime soon?)

I'd like to upgrade to Ai, but should I do this asap and learn to scan with Ai or learn how to scan with SE then upgrade, or should I just go for Ai Studio? Right now my output is an Epson C86 with the MIS EZ inkset, maybe the 220 is in my future so I can try BO printing 8 1/2x11 and/or a 2200 so I can print 13" wide with the 4x5 scans.

I have a lot of learning to do, any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Scott

[Ted Harris]

Scott,

Our next scanning workshop is Friday January 26th through Sunday January 29th at Midwest Photo in Columbus, OH. You can get all the info by clicking on the link on the firt page of their website www.mpex.com.

You really should upgrade to Ai for manual work and that is the pnly way to go ... you can also use the Epson software manually. Send me a pm or an email and I'd be happy to chat with you to get you started and love to have you at the next workshop ... we have two seats left. I'll be working in the studio scanning and printing most of the day so we can chat anytime.

[Brian Ellis]

If you're really serious about this I'd probably go ahead with the upgrade to Ai and order the book "SilverFast The Official Guide" by Taz Tally from Amazon (AFAIK it's still available). It isn't easy reading and takes some time and effort to work through but it at least it gives you sufficient information about all the various controls to know what they're designed to do and how to use them, which IMHO the little instruction booklet that comes with AE or Ai doesn't do. I also attended Ted and Michael's scanning workshop and found it very useful, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants some hands on learning with two people who really know what they're doing.