Noise/Grain

[Justin]

I have been reading the section about multisampling, that it reduces noise in dark areas. But I'm wondering does it reduce noise in all areas? I have SE basic with an Epson 4990 and get a lot of noise/grain mostly in the sky (with negs iso 100/200/400). I just wanted to know before I upgrade to Plus or AI. (WHY is it that the website says upgrade for $30, but when you click on the $30 it says $70+?? ) and why is noise also stronger in different programs, when I look at images in photoshop the noise is considerably less than say Camediamaster which came with my Olympus digital compact.

Cheers

[RAG]

Hello Justin,

Before you do anything else, have you tried the "Gain" setting? You may find it reduces noise to a more acceptable level for you if you haven't already given it a try.

As a fellow 4990 user that already has SilverFast AI Studio I can tell you that multi-sampling helps in the shadows, but if the image does not have heavy shadows I get quality scans without using multi-sampling. It is one of those things you have to experiment with, so you might want to download the trial version and do some first hand testing.

[Justin]

I have tried the different settings and have found it's a compromise between noise and sharpness. I am going to scan all my negs in the best I can, and stick to transparencies in the future which hardly have any problem with noise. Thanks again Justin