Canon 9950F+Silverfast?

[Marko Trebusak]

I'm about to buy a scanner for 5x4, and I narrowed my selection to either Epson 4990 or Canon 9950F, both with dedicated Silverfast AI software. Since some folks from this forum had problems with this scanner, but those reports are at least half a year old, I would like to ask:

How many of you guys/gals bought Canon 9950 F recently and had problems with it?
Had anybody tested Canon 9950F with Silverfast and how does it compare to Epson 4990?

Thank you in advance Marko

[Brian Ellis]

When I looked at the Canon 9950 I don't recall seeing Silverfast bundled with it. Did I overlook it or has it been added recently? You might want to double check this. Also, I assume you know but just to be sure, Silverfast Ai is only bundled with the Pro version of the Epson 4990. The Pro version costs about $150 more than the non-Pro version. Silverfast SE is bundled with the non-Pro version. Upgrading from SE to Ai costs another $100 or so. Also, the instruction manual for Silverfast is basically useless IMHO. In order to learn how to fully utilize the program's various features I had to buy a book called "Silverfast - The Official Guide" from Amazon for another $30.
And finally, if I want a multi-pass feature with Silverfast I have to upgrade yet again, this time from Ai to Studio for another $50 or so. Vuescan includes a multi-pass feature in the basic program, which costs $50 or so total.

[Marko Trebusak]

Brian, thank you for your taught. Yes I know that Silverfast is more like "Rip-offFast" :-). I'll also download trial version of Vuescan to see what it's capable of.

Marko

[Prashant]

Hi Marko,
from what I have heard the service of Silverfast is 'bad' to put it mildly. Whereas Ed is a nice guy (Vuescan) and it will work for all the future scanners.