Silverfast Multi-Exposure

[Doug Dolde]

Apparently this is a new feature which scans at several exposures then uses HDR to produce a higher dynamic range scan.

Has anyone tried it and found it to be effective?

http://www.silverfast.com/highlights/multi-exposure/en.html

[Kirk Gittings]

Yes, It delivers a higher dynamic range, with particularly good shadow separation, depth, and minimal noise.
Having said that, the software is still better than our scanners. On the V750 (as did the 4990, 4870, 3200 etc.) it is still hard to get two passes that are close enough in size to get good registration throughout the aligned and pasted scans. With the 4990 it seemed more like the scan length dimension varied too much for the software to realign. With the 750 I get areas within the image that are out of alignment. Odd. I still think it is because of cheap step motors.

As in the past I have had to resort to doing a full prescan to warm up the scanner and negative properly and then immediately do the real scan. Not a big problem, just set them up as a batch, but it doubles the time to do a good scan.

[Eric James]

The blurb in Doug's link reads like pretentious marketing drivel. “What would Ansel Adams Drive, blah-de-blah." Why is this referred to as HDR? Wouldn’t enhanced dynamic range scanning or HighER Dynamic Range Scanning be more appropriate. I don't doubt that the software provides improved scans (if one can overcome the registration issue that Kirk has discussed), but it seems as though they are taking liberties with accepted nomenclature for the sake of getting their customers to pay for another upgrade.

[Kirk Gittings]

Eric,

It doesn't strike me as any more hyperbolic than all the other sales pitches out there for software upgrades like CS3 for instance. Though I have to admit the AA reference is really pushing it.

In this case the upgrade is worth every penny. Too bad we don't have scanners that can take full advantage of it. I am still waiting for a sub $2,000 (or even sub $3) that has a decent step motor in it and is focusable. I don't think that is asking too much.

[nicol_verheem]

Too bad we don't have scanners that can take full advantage of it. I am still waiting for a sub $2,000 (or even sub $3) that has a decent step motor in it and is focusable. I don't think that is asking too much.

Not too much in a $2000 scanner, especially since the decent stepper motor would *cost* about $3.

I have the ME upgrade on the Cannon 9950, and it does work wonders for noisy dark areas. At a small price in bright area's sharpness in my limited experience.

nlv

[George Kara]

The most recent version of ME includes only 2 passes. This double scan makes a significant difference and is not only marketing hype. Evidently there were having lots of problems with over 2x passes and abandoned this approach. The shadow detail of the scan is greatly improved on my epson 8000ed. No such luck for the Eversmart II.

[David Luttmann]

Eric,

It doesn't strike me as any more hyperbolic than all the other sales pitches out there for software upgrades like CS3 for instance. Though I have to admit the AA reference is really pushing it.

In this case the upgrade is worth every penny. Too bad we don't have scanners that can take full advantage of it. I am still waiting for a sub $2,000 (or even sub $3) that has a decent step motor in it and is focusable. I don't think that is asking too much.

Kirk,

I just picked up a V700 to use for 4x5 scanning.....got sick and tired of stitching 2 scans together on my 343. I was thinking of purchasing the upgraded software for multi-pass scanning. Are you saying it may not be worth it because of alignment problems. I don't want to blow the cash to find out it was a waste.

Thanks,

[Jan Nieuwenhuysen]

I use the 6.5.0 r5 version of Silverfast Studio AI with my Epson V750 scanner and am very pleased with the performance of the new Multi Sample feature. It saves me a lot of time and gives better results than with the use of multi-sampling (8 and 16x previously used). Same low amount of noise, better shadow definition. I have not experienced the problems Kirk mentions. The only real gripe I have with the 6.5 version is that new all-over-the-place frame gadget, it's a good idea that does not work, with my scanner at least.

FYI I use the MS function with wet scanning of 4x5, 500-550 MB output file size. Like I said, works like a charm.
Upgrading/installing the software was the usual Silverfast nightmare of course.

[Kirk Gittings]

As I have discussed in the past, there are problems on the accuracy (repeatability) of the step motors on all of these sub $1000 flatbed scanners, which affects the usefullness of multipass usefullness.

By doing a warmup scan, maintaining constant room temperature, wet mounting on one of Doug's trays etc. I can make it work, but sometimes I have to do it a couple of times to get a good one.