Having trouble with Silverfast

[Doug2008]

I would like to get some help with silverfast and a nikon scanner. I bought a nikon IV ed slide scanner, and silverfast studio. When I got the scanner I made one or two scans in nikon scan and then one or two in silverfast. And I thought they looked great. Then I figured I would really do it right and I calibrated the scanner with the it8 slide. Then I noticed right away that colors didn't seem to look that good. I chalked this up to a learning curve and continued on. I now have scanned about 250 slides and I am noticing some problems. One it seems that I go along and the scans seem to settle down in to a pattern and they all look pretty good till suddenly wham they look terrible and then I can't seem to get the colors to look right. If I hold the manual slide viewer I have up to the window I can see the slide looks great. I can see what the colors are suppose to be. But, I then fiddle around with silverfast, and I can't get the colors to come out right. I honestly wonder if I broke something when I calibrated it. Yesterday I had some slides that I could not seem to get right and I was searching the boards and someone mentioned v**s**n, So I downloaded the program and tried v**s**n and bingo, the colors are an exact representation of what I see in the manual viewer. I tried nikon scan this morning and it too gives the exact right color. My question is I spent 317 dollars on the silverfast because I thought it was the best, but now I can not seem to get the color to come out right. Is there some master reset thing where I could start over again? If any one wants to see the comparison of the two pictures they are here at this url. http://www.unique3phase.com/album/album/v**s**n.html If you look at the color of the dress in the v**s**n picture, that is the exact color that the slide is and the exact color that nikon scan comes up with, but I can not get that color no matter what I do in silverfast. ( The photo with the dollar signs are the v**s**n ones.) It is like silverfast does not have that color in inventory. I also notice that with ICE on fine in silverfast it softens? the image quite a bit. Yet I take out dust in v**s**n and it does not soften or it resharpens before I see it. If any one could please help me here that would be great. I like the silverfast interface and it seems to work efficiently it is just that the colors go off and don't come back. And I do reset the color adustment wheel thing in between scans. I have tried just about every setting. Thanks Doug

[degrub]

start here :

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

delete the prefs file to reset everything.

regards,

BTW, the v**s**n image seems to have a cyan cast. Check the cast removal setting in SF. WHat you are seeing seems to be based on the selection of white point in the image. CLick on the Blk/white tool to identify the points used for the white and black points of the histogram. You can change the cast removal by moving the slider.

Is this a Kodachrome slide by any chance ?

ICE will soften images when used on fine/high mode.

Check your CMS settings versus what Ian suggests in his tutorials.

[Doug2008]

Yes they are kodachrome but I had the same or similar trouble with some slides that were Fuji. I will read the tutorial and keep trying. I still have lots to learn.

[Doug2008]

I think I fixed the problem I was having and I would like anyone to tell me if any of this I did is wrong. I messed around with all the setting looking for something that would 'unlock' the right colors so to speak. These pics are of my options panels in silverfast and if you spot something that is off or ridiculous please tell me. I think something went wrong when I tried to calibrate the scanner in the begining and I think what fixed it is changing the profiles or what ever on the CMS tab page. I just chose those at random but now when I make a scan of the women in the yellow dresses at least the scan comes out looking great and the colors are right on.
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[degrub]

try changing your color model to RGB for one thing.

WHat type of slide did you use for IT8 for the Kodachrome images ? If you used the included slide target from SF those are for E6 positive types, not any of the Kodachromes. You will need a Kodachrome IT8 target from B&H PHoto (lastplace i know if that has them). That would be enough to explain the color issues .

Your color cast settings are pretty aggressive. i usually scan with it off unless i find a need in the preview, and then i use the slider.

Something looks wrong on the CM page, but i don't have time at the moment to go dig mine up. Start by making your settings look like one of Ian's in the totorial.

[Doug2008]

Thanks for the help degrub, yes I used the target it8 slide I got with silverfast. And like I said right out of the box I thought the slide scanner worked really good. But I only did one or two scans and then calibrated it with that slide, so I really can't say what happened. But at least with these settings I am now in the ball park for the color.

[degrub]

Nikon Scan has a Kodachrome setting that invokes among other things a profile for KC emulsions.

The KC emulsion characteristic curves are very different from the E6 (Ecktachrome and similar) characteristic curves. Sheer luck you got it to match up. The cyan cast in the "matched" color image is what made me suspect you were scanning KC and not E6. You will have an easier time using the NS Kodachrome setting with NS or using a KC IT8 target with SF. Either one will work. An E6 IT8 target used with KC will produce odd color shifts as you have found out. Anyway, good luck. Also, watch out for ICE color shifts on the KC. It varies by how well the processing lab developed the slide. If they did a good job, then there will be very little if any silver left in the emulsion and ICE will work well. Otherwise it is hit and miss.

regards,