LaserFast with Nikon SC4000ED-HDR or scanner version?

[ecook]

Long-time serious amateur slide photographer. Considering getting into digital. I hope you tolerate novice questions. I probably won't even use proper terminology.

Am considering Nikon SC4000ED scanner. Articles a few months ago indicated that LaserFast was not available for this scanner.

Am I correct to infer from your web site now that it IS available?

In both scanner versions and HDR?

What are pros and cons of using SilverFast that works directly with the scanner versus HDR version that works with files after they are already scanned?

Don't immediately see information on web site that explains software with calibration targets.

What does software do?

Can targets be used with without software?

If so, with what differences in capabilities?

Thanks for your consideration of such basic questions.

[LSI_Flyvbjerg]

Dear ecook.

Just a correction: the name of our product is SilverFast not LaserFast.

SilverFast for the LS4000 is available for MAC OS9 and MAC OSX and all Windows versions from Win98 and higher.

Also HDR us available for these systems.

The biggest advantage of using HDR is that you can scan your images with the normal scanner module only once in raw format and save them on your harddrive. You now have everything the scanners sees on your harddrive and can quickly make adjustments with HDR (a lot faster than with the scanner module, because the images are read from files and the slow scanner is not used).

Calibration is availbale for both the scanner module and HDR, but this feature (IT8 calibration) has to be purchased separately. If you use the scanner module alone, you will need the IT8 calibration feature for Ai, If you are using HDR, its best to scan in raw format (16-bit) and then use the IT8 calibration in HDR. IT8 calibration enhances the images quality in a way that the scanned images looks as close as possible as the original and thereby eliminates the scanners error in seeing colors.

To use IT8 targets you will need software to create IT8 profiles. You can use third party software to create these profiles and then use the profiles in SilverFast, you can also use SilverFast to create these profiles (IT8 feature has to be purchased). You can use targets that can be purchased by LaserSoft or you can use third party targets as long as you have a reference file that fits to the target.

I hope that helps

Eric Flyvberg