Slow scans, inefficient system resource usage with Silverfast 8.0.1r13 DEMO and V700

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Also some PCs have legacy hardware architecture that make it imposible to go beyond memory limitations. There is some operating software and hardware that this is not an issue. Windows 7 with a full 64bit PC mother board breaks this barrier.

Mine falls into the latter category - I know, I built it myself.

There is a point of diminished return on quality with resolution and color with the Epson scanner. Experience will teach you this over many thousands of scans and 5 Epson scanners v500, v600, v700... v750 < times 2 ... wore the first one out. How big and what depth depends on what you are going to use the output for.

I understand the situation I'm describing is a rather extreme circumstance - only to be used for certain reasons. But it is something I would like the ability to do, something that I CAN do with 6.6 (minus the 48bit output because I never upgraded the bundled SE version before Silverfast transitioned to version 8) or Epson Scan on the same exact hardware/OS, and something I consider a requirement that must be met in order to purchase a version 8 upgrade.

As far as the silverfast GUI SergeiR and Bill, I'd rather not to turn this into a negative thread disparaging the software - I don't intend to be unnecessarily negative about the software when I'm trying to get their help. The only reason I'm putting myself through all of this is because I do think 8 is an improvement overall.
And anyway, I wouldn't say the Vuescan GUI is anything to write home about either.

I think I may just see if I can get them to sell me a license for 6.6 AI Studio. It is no longer available on their website as far as I can tell.

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SergeiR, since you seem to be the only other one with Silverfast 8, do you think you could try scanning with similar settings as me and take a close look at the system resource usage while it is running? I would be very curious to know if the underlying behavior is the same on your system i.e. writing to disk during scan, silverfast process not utilizing more than ~400MB RAM, CPU running as only a single thread during "processing." I think it would be very useful for me as well as the Lasersoft support technician I am emailing with to know whether others experience the same symptoms.

[SergeiR]

Aye, i can try. I think i got some 6x9s in colour. Just tell me exact settings you want to try.

[LSIGregoire]

LSIGregoire:
Is there a log-file or something that I could send to you that would be helpful in diagnosing the issue?

Yes, there is --> C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\LaserSoft Imaging\SilverFast 8

Please mail it as an attachment to support<at>silverfast.de and write "Att: Largeformat forum post" in the subject line - that will put directly into my mailbox. Thanks for that.
When trying to reproduce your scanning times I scanned a 6x7 cm slide in 48-bit HDR mode @4800dpi (for time comparisons) into a Tiff. No rotation, no Multi-Exposure; no iSRD, no SSD disks :-). My machine is a "regular" Win7even/64bit PC from our testing lab.
My measured times were around 12 minutes. The actual scanning times were around 5 minutes and the rest is for processing and saving.

Your LogFile should provide us with helpful information to get to the root of this problem. You will hear back from me shortly after I received the LogFile.

Kind regards,

LSI Support

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Aye, i can try. I think i got some 6x9s in colour. Just tell me exact settings you want to try.

Image dimensions are 2.75 x 2.24
4800dpi
48bit (not 48bit HDR)
tif output

NegaFix:
Fuji, Pro, 160 S 6x6
CCR
Exposure 0.0
(in the expert options, "expansion" the Auto box is unchecked before expanding the scan frame outside of the image area - I scan with some black border around the actual image).

AutoCCR:
Portrait mode

Histogram:
all sliders at 0 or 255, as appropriate, except the mid-point slider at +9

Gradation:
Midtone +9 (same as in histogram above)
Constrast: -10

I also have 4 neutral points set with the pipette tool.

I did rotate the image so it was correctly oriented - i'm not sure what combination of rotation/flip it is though.

No iSRD, no USM, no AACO, no Multi-exposure, no Descreening.

I'm attaching a pdf of the scan settings created by silverfast with the "info" button.

Perhaps you could look in your LogFile as well for lines similar to these:
26.07.2012 00:21:53.796 sfDebug: Memory mapping limit: 512 MBytes
26.07.2012 00:21:53.796 sfDebug: Used RAM limit for mapping: 3072 MBytes
26.07.2012 00:23:57.693 sfDebug: CsfPreviewManager::processScanFrame : Message decided to use low mem mode as Image seems BIG

IMO, those three right there are the culprits responsible for all the behavior I'm experiencing.

Thank you for your help - I really appreciate it very much.