Digital BW, The Print

I read a review of silverfast ai 6.0 which claims a major advance in 
scanning B&W films as there are a large number of specific profiles 
available.  The author argues that if you experiment with the canned 
profiles you can find one for most medium speed films that virtually 
elimates posterization and provides good shadow detail.  

Now, we are talking about $300 for a Nikon 2000 scanner.  That is a 
lot of money -- does anyone have any experience with Silverfast ai?  
Any opinions as to whether it is worth the price.  The Nikon software 
seems to work reasonably well, but...

Steve

>I read a review of silverfast ai 6.0 which claims a major advance in
>scanning B&W films as there are a large number of specific profiles
>available.  The author argues that if you experiment with the canned
>profiles you can find one for most medium speed films that virtually
>elimates posterization and provides good shadow detail.
>
>Now, we are talking about $300 for a Nikon 2000 scanner.  That is a
>lot of money -- does anyone have any experience with Silverfast ai?
>Any opinions as to whether it is worth the price.  The Nikon software
>seems to work reasonably well, but...
>
>Steve

I've used LaserSoft's Silverfast Ai, Steve, both with my Epson 836XL 
flatbed, which came with Silverfast 4 bundled, and with my Polaroid 
SprintScan 4000 (not Plus), which was also had Silverfast bundled 
with it, and which I wanted partly because it did. Both have been 
upgraded to Silverfast 6 by now. And I'm still frustrated with the 
software but only, as far as I can tell, because it's still so poorly 
documented in English, at least for a "newbie". Even that, I think, 
might not be a problem for someone who reads German and can get it in 
German, which I guess is probably not a problem. But the software is 
expensive, and technical support has recently become expensive. If 
you decide you want it, I'd consider waiting in hopes of getting it 
bundled with a scanner the next time you upgrade. But I don't say 
that because of anything to do with the new B&W film profiles; I've 
only scanned color film.

Tony Sleep has a film-scanner list you might want to consult. A quote 
from his welcoming e-mail:

At 11:12 PM +0100 7/10/02, ListServer@... wrote:
>To join the LIST,
>  email listserver@...
>  with SUBSCRIBE FILMSCANNERS as the message subject or body.
>
>To join the DIGEST,
>  email listserver@...
>  with SUBSCRIBE FILMSCANNERS_DIGEST as the message subject or body.


Sam

Sam McCandless      samcc@...

>And I'm still frustrated with the 
> software but only, as far as I can tell, because it's still so poorly 
> documented in English, at least for a "newbie". > Sam
> 
> Sam McCandless  

The best tutorial for SilverFast:

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/sf5_contents.htm