Silverfast Newsletter

[Kirk Gittings]

If you get the Silverfast Newsletter you will find a quote from me in the current one.

"User Comment:
The new multisampling feature in SF Studio appears in my testing to be a real breakthrough. ..

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 former SF AI 6. You would get much less noise with grayscale scans with SF AI 6.

Kirk Gittings

Read here how SilverFast's phenomenal Multi-Sampling is working:
http://www.silverfast.com/show/silverfast-multisampling/en.html "

You should know that I have no relationship with SF. I simply buy and use and prefer their product for scanning. That quote refered to my initial tests with the Studio upgrade on an Epson 4990. I am currently testing the software on a Microtek 1800f. The quote was pulled from a posting I made on their forum which if you read the fine print, they have the right to use as they see fit.

Currently, I would modify the above statement by saying that 8 passes is usually sufficient and that with economy scanners like the Epson 4990 you need to do a dummy batch scan (1 pass) before the real 8 pass scan to heat up the negative so that it doesn't expand beyond the softwares ability to align the passes. Also with the 4990 I save the blue channel and convert it to grayscale, with the 1800f I save the green.

[John Flavell]

Kirk, send them a contract for consulting fees for future entries.
Does your website explain how to do this kind of scanning? I'm thinking of buying a 4990 and I hate to think it's going to be more complicated than I can handle.

[Harley Goldman]

Kirk,

Have you made any prints from the 1800f that provide a direct comparision with the 4990? I am most curious to hear your conclusions on the differences between the two scanners, i.e. is it worth plunking down the dough for the 1800f if you already own the 4870 (me) or the 4990.

[Scott Davis]

Out of curiosity, since I already have the 2450, will the Studio upgrade yield benefits for me as well, or should I just bite the bullet and get the 4990? I know the 4990 will give me better scans than the 2450, but there's about a $300 price difference between buying Studio by itself and buying the 4990 with it. Are the improvements in the 4990 enough to justify the extra expense?

[Ed Richards]

You do not have to buy studio to get the multi-scanning - it is in the low end SE Plus version as well.

[Scott Davis]

Kirk has made some other remarks here or on APUG (I forget where) about other features in Ai that sound rather compelling as well, like the sharpening feature.

[Wilbur Wong]

Congrats for the notoriety. Just curious, did you have any forewarning. I understand their claim to use format postings at will.

[Kirk Gittings]

No warning. A friend of mine first pointed it out to me when they first used it on their website. I have been in contact with them since this morning. Now they are talking about dveloping some kind of testing relationship.

[Bruce Batchelor]

I put the Studio upgrade on the Ai version running on a Microtek i900 [XP running with 1gb ram] and the results (after one day) are 1) that it does what Silverfast and Kirk say; 2) it seems to run faster in all modes 3) for routine scans the automatic adjustment function is so good it leaves me wondering...uuuhhhh, is there anything else to do here or do we just press "scan?" I found the installation and serialization instructions rather quirky; you have to back out your old serial number before you get to insert the new one.