Digital BW, The Print

Hi David,

>You say that the SilverFast software is basically worthless for scanning 
>color and B&W negs !! why is that and why
does the software have such a good reputation if that is the case?

In my experience, Silverfast produces way too much contrast when scanning 
negatives--whether using NegFix or not. I've tried ALL the profiles provided 
and have yet to find one that even comes close to what I want to see in my 
final scans. As a matter of fact, I've found that the Epson driver delivered 
with the scanner does better with negatives; though, still, not what I 
want/need. IMO, Vuescan does a much better job with B&W.

I think the reason Silverfast has such a good reputation probably revolves 
around a couple of things: 1) most professionals and probably a high 
percentage of amateurs scan mostly transparency film (it seems that most 
scanning hardware and software is targeted to this film type), and 2) 
Silverfast software is used by busy professional and labs where time is very 
valuable. Silverfast offers a LOT of control within the scanning software 
itself. Therefore, PS simply becomes an application for very minor touch-ups 
and printing...most of the work--gamma, color correction, etc--is done 
during the scan.

My goal during the scan phase is simply to deliver the most data I can to PS 
without clipping the end points. I don't need lots of contrast, I don't need 
to establish the black/white points at this time, I don't need to sharpen, 
etc. I just want the best image to begin with (in 16-bit grayscale, of 
course) so I can comfortably work on it in PS.

>PS: could someone give me the link to the SilverFast web site??

www.silverfast.com

Hope this helps.

Alan Huntley