I got Silverfast 6.6.2r4a with my V750. I looked into upgrading but the current version is kind of expensive. Is there enough improvement in V8.0 to be worth spending the money?
I got Silverfast 6.6.2r4a with my V750. I looked into upgrading but the current version is kind of expensive. Is there enough improvement in V8.0 to be worth spending the money?
Yeah. I'm familiar with Photoshop. It's the place I buy my film.
No. See http://www.silverfast.com/product/Epson/563/en.htmlIs there enough improvement in V8.0 to be worth spending the money?
- Multi-Sampling is not supported
- ICE not supported
- Printer Calibration is not supported
For a fraction of the upgrade price you'll get the pro version of VueScan, which you can use with any scanner you have or will have.
http://www.hamrick.com
It's lousy that Silverfast doesn't even support these features on the dedicated film scanner Nikon Coolscan LS 9000.
If you want to know more about the quirks of Silverfast and a free upgrade to VueScan Pro for Silverfast users, read this:
http://www.hamrick.com/sil.html
I was well below that figure, something around 150 MB. I have been using version 6.6 for a long time without any trouble.Originally Posted by Scanner01
I have also tried vuescan and prefer silverfast. In my opinion, the user interface up to version 6.6 is not user friendly (something that looks really much better in SF 8), but if you take the time to study the software and the documentation, it is really a powerful application.
About the lack of functionality:
No multi-sampling: At least with the Epson scanners, the new multi-exposure is much better than multi sampling and it takes only two passes.
No ICE: In my tests (your results could be different) the new iSRD produces better results than ICE. Additionally in version 8 you could preview the effect and adjust sensibility. Two advantages of iSRD: a)if you scan using multi-exposure, it will only perform one IR pass. If you use ICE, it will perform two IR passes, and the second is very slow. b) The performance is much much better, ICE takes forever to process after the scan, iSRD is fast.
Printer calibration is not supported: Agree, if you use it (I donīt)
I would have bought the upgrade if it werenīt for the file size issue. So far Silverfast has not answered my questions and my trial expired.
How weird. They charge a fortune for their products but the support is lousy and ignorant.So far Silverfast has not answered my questions and my trial expired.
Just go for the VueScan offer. Ed Hamrick definitely will answer your questions.
No plus 2!!
Not impressed at all.
Wish I had tried Vuescan before buying v8.
I upgraded to SF 8 this week for both scanners (necessary when I upgrade to Lion soon). I find it better than v6.6 I had. The multi-sample was replaced with a different multi-exposure method. It's actually more Apple/Adobe like user interface than before (you can hide it, only quit before). One reason for SF is that each app is specifically for each scanner, both operation and scanning. As for their customer support, it's simple, buy it and you'll get good support.
--Scott--
Scott M. Knowles, MS-Geography
scott@wsrphoto.com
"All things merge into one, and a river flows through it."
- Norman MacLean
I though that being already a customer of version 6.6 interested in buying version 8 counted, but it doesn't seem so.
That wasn't my experience. Hamrick's responses to my email questions were hit and miss. Sometimes he responded, sometimes he didn't. I received excellent customer support from Silverfast except once when I was kept on hold for an inordinate amount of time.
For how many years did you use Silverfast? I see all your criticisms but you haven't told us exactly what experience you actually have with using Silverfast and with their customer service.
I don't care what scanner software anyone buys. If you or anyone else prefers Vuescan to Silverfast that's certainly fine with me. But I do think that when someone persistently dumps on a product as you have here they should at least provide their experience with the product being dumped on. Otherwise it's impossible to judge the validity of their criticisms.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
Brian, I've used SF for a year with a Canon flatbed with transparency lid. It was a nightmare, because SF had a proprietary solution to clean the slides: a very tedious, half manual half automatic task which in most cases failed. Each new slide had to be framed/cropped again starting from scratch. Colors had been off. Couldn't use my Nikon LS 5000 with it - it would have required another expensive licence!). No chance to generate 'templates'. Sent 2 times a mail to the customer support but never received a reply. In Germany they announced V 8 but when I checked I had to download version 6 with an upgrade option later... In addition there is no Linux version. The registration and serial key procedure used to be a nightmare. On my old Windoze system I tried to recover the key after a re-install, but gave up shortly before we had a burglary and our computers had be stolen. Their web site didn't function as it should at that time. I don't know about the problems of the guy who finally purchased my Canon to transfer the license... maybe he is still using the Canon software.
Tilt.
New start.
VueScan: a fraction of the price of SF. Runs with all of my scanners: the Canon for LF transparencies (already sold), Nikon LS 9000, Nikon LS 5000, Canon Lide (document scanner), my one year old HP multi function B 109-n wireless. One license for all scanners.. I downloaded the demo, had questions and got replies in less than 24 hours. That's what I call support - even without having purchased the product.
No problem with the calibration, no problem with slide or negative film, correct colors, ICE working flawlessly, I can output any color profile without hassle, I can re-load the TIFF any time and work on it (no need for PS at this point), countless output formats (among others DNG) or even two different file formats at the same time, OCR built in (with several language options and working like a charm!), ability to save 'templates' or 'ini' files for each calibrated emulsion and film format (24x36, 24x58, 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9, positive, negative, b/w, different scan and output resolutions, single pass, multi pass, etc.), descewing (rotating an image without sacrificing the image size, etc., etc.
Very fast and professional support. I've supplied Ed Hamrick with the files from my Nikon and he re-coded VS to iron the bugs out - usually in less than 48 hours.
What a contrast to a company that is not answering customer requests.
I've been using Epson scan all these years. I've been wanting to install Silverfast when I got my new computer, but I could not find the disk. Last weekend I was cleaning out some boxes in my basement (to make space for a DR) and I saw the scanner box and sure enough my silverfast disk was inside.
I installed it and upgraded to 6.6 and it took a while to get it, but once I did I find it very powerful. Especially the selective color tool, however I have a problem with it that I posted on the Silverfast forum. Being a new member there I am still waiting for approval of my first post.
I was thinking of trying VueScan but after this weekend of scanning with Silverfast I don't think I need to.
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