DPL users/owners of Howtek/Aztek scanners

[Dean Wilmot]

Dean,

With the 4500 you should be able to scan a 4X5 color negative or transparency at 4000 spi. File size would be slightly less than 2G, assuming RGB and 16 bit, much less if gray scale.
Sandy

Great thanks Sandy . What Mac system do you use for photoshop ?

[Dean Wilmot]

Thanks also TG very helpful

[Christopher Barrett]

I have Silverfast and DPL for my 4500. I do really prefer DPL for negs due to the CMS methodology that TG mentioned. Also note, since the aging Silverfast route is 32 bit, your outputs will be limited to 2gb. That should be fine for 4x5 and smaller, but requires scanning larger formats in pieces should you want max resolution. I've scanned 4x10s at 4k spi, which actually produces ridiculously large files. Kind of fun being able to print that big, tho.

CB

[sanking]

Great thanks Sandy . What Mac system do you use for photoshop ?

I use a late 2012 12 core Mac Pro running High Sierra. It is maxed out with 128 GB of RAM, a SSD start-up and three 8-TB hard drives. I have a subscription servce with PS so curently using CC 2019.

Sandy

[nbagno]

Hey Dean. I'm usually quiet on this forum, but this is one of the few topics I've dug into to some depth. I'm running my Aztek Premiere drum scanner on my 2013 Mac Pro using a SCSI to USB adapter and running DPL 8.1 in a Windows 10 Pro virtual machine using Parallels Desktop, which I pay for on a subscription model for the regular updates to keep it playing nice with my Mac OS. And then since I moved from an Aztek monitor with custom profiling I had to profile my NEC monitor and put that profile into the color management settings in DPL so everything looked the same when I move the files from DPL to Photoshop.

It's an expensive setup to swallow, especially after just purchasing your drum scanner (I know I found it to be that!), but I will say that (1) I've found DPL substantially easier and more accurate to use than Silverfast, which I use with my flatbed scanner, (2) the scanning software takes up such little overhead on a modern computer that I don't even bat an eye at working in Photoshop or any other program at full steam even when the scanner is going, (3) I didn't really settle into a good scanning practice until I'd bought and put all of these pieces in place, I basically failed to make good on my investment in the scanner until I did that and (4) DPL lets you set your levels/curves for your scan file and then load those values (white and black points, etc.) through what they term a user-generated CMS file into the analog/digital converter of the drum scanner, so that you get a scan file with less combing and more gradations of tone; this is especially crucial when working with negatives which start from an extremely compressed tonal range that you're then dragging out to sit at 0 to 255 (really 10-12 and 246-248 to prevent clipping and ensure tones that will print).

I can imagine working in Silverfast if I shot mostly transparencies, where the tonality is more spread out and I wasn't having to push and pull the image to such extremes to set the tones correctly. But since I only shoot negatives and, as a result, make a CMS for every negative I scan, I can't imagine working in another piece of software. The scans I get from DPL are so beautifully subtle in tonality and I know I'm getting that only because Aztek's software has the proprietary access to the analogue/digital converter.

So all that to say: yes, you can on a Mac

Speaking of CMS, I’m still new to my Howtek having come over from and ICG. I’m running DPL 8 and tried to understand how to make a CMS file by viewing the built in Astek video on the subject. Not getting anywhere, my CMS scan looks like crap compared to using auto adjustment. I wish there were another learning resource for using DPL and especially making a good CMS


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[sanking]

The 2 GB file size limit in output with 32 bit Silverfast is definitely a limitation with some of my 5X7 and larger film, especially color.

There were several versions of Silverfast that were produced for the Howtek drum scanners, the last one being SilverFast Ai 6.6, which had an HDR option. In scanning with HDR enabled the software allows the user to read and process RAW data directly from the scanner, with no adjustments in software, to save as a 16 bit TIFF file. I usually scan with HDR and then open the saved file in PS with Camera RAW for image manipulation, much as I do with digital cameras where I shoot only in RAW. My assumption is that the processing capabilities of CC 2019 through Camera RAW are vastly more powerful than any color or tonal management available in the scanner software.



Sandy

[Dean Wilmot]

The 2 GB file size limit in output with 32 bit Silverfast is definitely a limitation with some of my 5X7 and larger film, especially color.

There were several versions of Silverfast that were produced for the Howtek drum scanners, the last one being SilverFast Ai 6.6, which had an HDR option. In scanning with HDR enabled the software allows the user to read and process a RAW data file directly from the scanners, with no adjustments in the software, to save as a 16 bit TIFF file. I always scan with HDR and then open the saved file with Camera RAW for image manipulation, much as I do with digital cameras where I shoot only in RAW. My assumption is that the processing capabilities of CC 2019 through Camera RAW are vastly more powerful than any color or tonal management available in the scanner software.


Thanks Sandy, so if I scan in HDR and open in camera raw does that then mean I could use capture one software for any image adjustments??

Also in relation to a Mac setup would would you suggest as a minimum? The local
Mac dealer I have is suggesting I go with a 27-inch iMac 4.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Retina 5K display with 32gb ram that I can also use with my Eizo cx241 monitor.
Sandy

[sanking]

Thanks Sandy, so if I scan in HDR and open in camera raw does that then mean I could use capture one software for any image adjustments??

Also in relation to a Mac setup would would you suggest as a minimum? The local
Mac dealer I have is suggesting I go with a 27-inch iMac 4.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Retina 5K display with 32gb ram that I can also use with my Eizo cx241 monitor.

HI Dean,

Not sure about your first question as I don 't use Capture One. However, the HDR file produced by Silverfast is a .tiff file and should open in many applications.

27" iMAC with 4.2 GHZ i7 Intel with 32 gb Ram and Eizo monitor sounds good for image processing.

Attached is a link to an article about HDR scanning. https://www.filmscanner.info/en/SilverFast_HDR.html
Gives some idea about the concept, and versions of the software that can be used.

Sandy

[tgwilkinson]

Thanks Sandy, so if I scan in HDR and open in camera raw does that then mean I could use capture one software for any image adjustments??

Also in relation to a Mac setup would would you suggest as a minimum? The local
Mac dealer I have is suggesting I go with a 27-inch iMac 4.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Retina 5K display with 32gb ram that I can also use with my Eizo cx241 monitor.

I would recommend going with 64 GB of RAM if you can. The 2 GB scan files I get from scanning 4x5s at 4000dpi just tear through history states in Photoshop. I felt a definite uptick in productivity when I upgraded and could stop worrying about running out of undo steps like I had been.

I also scan in Silverfast’s HDR/RAW mode with my flatbed scanner. Scanning a RAW there made me faster at scanning because I didn’t need to finesse the colors before clicking scan and I like it as an archival format. But I found processing the RAW image turned out better in Silverfast if I started there before I took the image through Camera Raw and into Photoshop. But, again, I’m working with negatives and the reversal process can be a bit funky.

[Dean Wilmot]

Hi sandy, as I’ll too be scanning a lot B&w 4x5 negs any tips here and in the reversal process? Btw re the computers I’ve been reading that the Mac Pro 5,1 models are good as can upgrade and expand where the 6,1 models don’t have this advantage? . Not sure if 5,1 is a viable option as it’s older Mac technology now esp compared to the new iMacs. The new 2019 Mac Pros are going to be ridiculously expensive so not really an option?. Also with the 2gig scan files coming off the scanner what would be the Max image size one could print to?? The giant files sizes are really determining what Mac to buy although I only plan to do basic curves and retouching as want to shoot as much in camera as possible, thus do I really need a medium to high spec Mac?.