SilverFast and Windows 8 - Plus an Important Observation

[JHzlwd]

Dear Colleagues,

For what it's worth ... I installed SilverFast Ai Studio on Windows 8 the other day with Epson V700 scanner and everything works perfectly. Drivers are the ones for Win 7 (64 bit). Windows 8 is a fine OS but I can find no real advantages over Win 7 for the desktop PC user. It is slightly faster and smaller with some nice-to-have features but nothing compelling (mobile device users will probably find the extensive integration capability useful).

I am new to Silverfast and here is an observation others might want to take note of. If, like me, you desire to have 48 bit scans, versions of Silverfast below "Ai" *cannot* produce processed 48 bit scans but only the HDR 48 bit versions which cannot be made with any of the majority of "Tools" (such as iSRD) active. This is a "bummer" for those needing the greater color bit-depth. I did not discover this until after downloading and paying for "SE Plus" despite having exercised the Demo. To Lasersoft's great credit, they provide an easy path to upgrade while paying *only* the difference in price so I ended up happy. The additional $180 is worth it IMO and will not be missed. Just go for Ai.

A fine product although it takes some getting used to and the documentation could be more detailed. iSRD is most welcome with my extensive archive of Kodachromes, some quite dusty, while Multi-Exposure unlocks a feature of the scanner I had not realized existed.

Best wishes,
JH

[Mark Segal]

If you would like detailed documentation on the use of SilverFast 8 either alone or in combination with Lightroom and Photoshop, you may be interested in evaluating my book. There is free download information about it on this website, and the full book is available for download from this website as well.