How to get the best out of the 3170

[Hates_]

I recently purchased Silverfast and want to know how to get the best out of my 3170 with it. I've spent a really long time fiddling and trying out different things, but I just cannot get my scans to looks anywhere near as sharp or as vibrant as the slides I'm scanning.

Does anyone have any general advice they can lend me? Now that I've just realised that I would have to buy *ANOTHER* copy of silverfast if I get another scanner (Which IMHO is a bit of a rip of), I want to try and get the best out of the scanner before jumping ship and putting everything up on EBay.

[LSI_Sperling]

Dear Hates,
please explain your problem in more detail and which SilverFast version do you use - SE or Ai, do you scan reflective or transparency ( positive or negative ) images and.....

regards

Christoph