SilverFast Ai 6 does not work with 8000ED accurately

[uwen]

Having baught a Nikon 8000ED with SilverFast Ai 6.0, Windows 2000) last week. I have to say I'm very pleased with its performance. Scanning slides gives great results after IT8 calibration. Much better than the original Nikon software Nikon Scan 3.x. which is more or less an amateur software ? not for professional use.
Unfortunately, SilferFast Ai 6.0 is useless for a user who scans 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, and 6x9 film stripes on a Nikon 8000ED (and I would like to do only this). I've already contacted the Nikon tech support regarding this issue, but they pointed on SilverFast to solve the problem. I have talked to your tech support aswell and they pointed on Nikon. Si the customer in between will get shot.
I cannot believe that people who test the software prior its release could have missed the fact that there is no adjustment for the film strip offset. How do they expect people to center an image so that a full frame is scanned and not just a portion of it. The scanner does not know where an actual frame starts or ends, spaces between frames vary greatly (known fact for medium format film) and there has to be a way for the user to adjust for this. Nikon Scan software has this feature, the SilverFast manual shows a button that controls this, but unfortunately the button does not exist in Ai 6.0.
Could you please let me know asap when the problem might be addressed and corrected because without this feature the scanner and your software is nearly useless for me and I will have to return it.

[LSI_Support]

Dear uwen,
unfortunately SilverFast software does NOT support the "film strip offset adjustment" in the LS8000 scanner.
As SilverFast DOES NOT control the image sizes with the film holder FH-869s, the software depends on the "fix-coded" dimensions of a given format. You are right in reality spaces and sizes vary, and therefore Nikon implemented that "adjustment tool" in their software. However, SilverFast is not able to use this tool, as again SilverFast's capabilities depend on information exchange with some device drivers that are written by Nikon and SilverFast gets all its information through these drivers. For an unknown reason, these drivers do NOT allow SilverFast to use the scanner's "film strip offset adjustment".
Of course, LaserSoft Imaging would like to change this, but this is only possible with Nikon's help and feedback - which LaserSoft Imaging is waiting for.

[Poul]

Having baught a Nikon 8000ED with SilverFast Ai 6.0, Windows 2000) last week. I have to say I'm very pleased with its performance. Scanning slides gives great results after IT8 calibration. Much better than the original Nikon software Nikon Scan 3.x. which is more or less an amateur software ? not for professional use.
Unfortunately, SilferFast Ai 6.0 is useless for a user who scans 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, and 6x9 film stripes on a Nikon 8000ED (and I would like to do only this). I've already contacted the Nikon tech support regarding this issue, but they pointed on SilverFast to solve the problem. I have talked to your tech support aswell and they pointed on Nikon. Si the customer in between will get shot.
I cannot believe that people who test the software prior its release could have missed the fact that there is no adjustment for the film strip offset. How do they expect people to center an image so that a full frame is scanned and not just a portion of it. The scanner does not know where an actual frame starts or ends, spaces between frames vary greatly (known fact for medium format film) and there has to be a way for the user to adjust for this. Nikon Scan software has this feature, the SilverFast manual shows a button that controls this, but unfortunately the button does not exist in Ai 6.0.
Could you please let me know asap when the problem might be addressed and corrected because without this feature the scanner and your software is nearly useless for me and I will have to return it.

[Poul]

Sorry, I failed first time using the userforum. Now I try again.

I know the problem with SF and Nikon 8000ED very well. Herning Central Library in Denmark bought the Nikon 8000 ED in december 2001. Before I have a Nikon LS2000 and start with SilverFast V.4
There are also at great problems scanning negatives with FH 835 S. In the preview the negativ are not converted to positive. When I switch to times between Positive and Negative it's 7 out of 10 times OK, but when I take the holder out and inset it with new strips, the problem is there again.
The danish distributor have tryed very hard and mailed an phoned several times with Engelhardt. But the problems is not solved.
As Uwen wrote is NikonScan 3.x more og less amateure software, and I like SF very, very much. Therefore I havel ived with the problems for to years, but I still hope the severel problems with the Nikon driver kan be solved one day!
I do'nt like to sell the Nikon 8000ED and tell the costumer, that he can't use SilverFast.
I also use SF 6.x with my PFU DL2400Pro (before I have a Agfa DuoScan XL) and here are no problems.
I believe so much in LaserSoft Imaging, that the library last week bougt SF HDR.

I use SF6.0r44 running Windows XP Servicepack 1.

[uwen]

Hi Poul,
I am afraid that Lasersoft does not take very much care of her SF version for the 8000ED. I run into other problem with it with this scanner and the answer from Lasersoft was more than disappointing. I heard the same from different other people who use the 8000ED and SF. Monday I will talk to some more.
That is realy not understandabel because the 8000ED is a very expensive scanner for professional use.

[pedroboni]

I solved the problem of misaligned frames by simply uninstalling the Nikon Scan software. Try it, I'm confident it will work for you as well.

[uwen]

Hi pedroboni,
no that do not solve the problem. When I started to work with the scanner I had only installed SilverFast and the problem was there. Then I installed Nikon Scan and tried it out. I saw that in Nikon Scan you can adjust the frame and talked to Nikon. The answer was very frustrating. They told me to use their software and not SilverFast. I uninstalled Nikon Scan but the Problem ist still there. Furthermore the answer from SilverFast was very frustrating as well. They only told me that Nikon ist blame because they do not give all interface information to SilverFast. I expect from SilferFast that they take more care of the demands of the customers to improve their software for professional use. Especially for such expensive scanners like the Nikon 8000ED.
Regards
Uwe

[pedroboni]

Hi Uwe,
sorry to hear that it did not work out as expected. I as well talked several times to Nikon Switzerland who after my first call experienced the same problem (before this they were unaware of it!) However the fact that I'm now using the SilverFast software (latest version) with my Nikon 8000ED scanner without any problem with 6x4.5 and 6x6 shots makes me believe that there is a kind of installation problem (sequence of installation?). The only problem that I occasionally have is some kind of knocking sounds out of the scanner when I immediately scan the last frame of a film strip. The attitude of LaserSoft Imaging as well as of Nikon is definitely not acceptable. To just accuse the other party for the non-functionning of the software does not help the user in any way. So for the time being I can only suggest the following solutions:
1. Nikon Corporation refrain from selling their scanners with SilverFast software as long as it is not working properly.
2. LaserSoft Imaging refrain from selling their SilverFast software for the Nikon 8000ED scanner as long as this problem is not solved. This scanner is primarly a medium format scanner and if the software does not work flawlessly then it is in fact USELESS. Considering the fact how long this problem is already discussed in 2 forums I fail to understand the way LaserSoft Imaging is treating this known problem.
3. On the user side, you may try to find the solution, just as me, by the trial and error method of the installation sequence. Quite frustating.
4. On the user side, you may try some other software such as v**s**n of Hamrick Software. Low cost but very efficient.
Don't misunderstand me, I judge SilverFast as an excellent software but the support is poor. I'm definitely not an expert in scanning nor in digital photography but I sometimes wonder about the knowledge of the guys employed by LaserSoft.
I definitely would have preferred to guide you to a simple solution but obviously I'm not able to do this. But I would expect that LaserSoft Imaging is able to do this and not just accuse Nikon Corporation of lacking assistance, may it be justified or not.
Good luck and all the best
Peter

[pedroboni]

Hi Uwe,
I had to find out in the meantime that not all the information I posted yesterday was correct. As a fact I did not have the latest Windows version (which is 6.0.2r09 Photoshop Plugin) but I had 6.0.1r44. Furthermore I did not scan any medium format film strips in the last few weeks until this afternoon. And there I had to find out that I again had the problem of misaligned frames. Didn't understand anything anymore until I remembered that a few weeks ago I installed a new SilverFast revision (r44). So I uninstalled SilverFast r44 (but had to do it manually as otherwise r44 always reappeared again) and then reinstalled r28 and can now scan medium format film strips without any problems as before again. Possibly somebody of LaserSoft Imaging is reading our postings and can shed some light on this erratic behavior of their software. I do not know if there is any possibility to download an older version (such as 6.0.1r28 which works well for me) but for time being I do not have the time to check if the very latest version (6.0.2r09) corrects this problem. So I will keep my 6.0.1r 28 version. Just out of curiosity I would like to know with which version you are experiencing this problem.
Best regards,
Peter

[LSI_Muenier]

I have requested information from Nikon Development about this problem. It may depend on the version of the low level scanner drivers.

[uwen]

Hi Martin,
I am very curious to see what you will find out from Nikon to solve this problem.
Regards Uwe

[Poul]

Hi
Uwe
I can tell you and others with Nikon 8000 ED scanners, that last monday I delivered my scanner an PC to the IT-department of Herning Municipality, where I work as photographer.

A System/Network Administator, MCP,(Microsoft Certified Professional) is now working to solve the problems for me. In the last week there have been several mails between him and Engelhardt.

When there are news about the problems (good or bad), your will hear from mee.

[LSI_Magnussen]

FINALLY:
The film strip offset can now be adjusted from within SilverFast for the LS8000. Expect an updated PC version in two weeks at the latest (watch for the upcoming 602r39). The Mac version will hopefully follow a week later.
Sorry for the long delay, but I hope that the problems with medium format film scanning are now solved.

Regards
Ralf

[xpolar]

Interesting reading. If anyone hasn't updated the firmware (since Jan 2003) for the Nikon 8000 ED, this is worth doing. Seems to crash less frequently.

http://www.nikon-euro.com/nikoneuro2/do ... d_119c.htm

I tend to have problems with exposure values for 6x6 or 35mm.

For example a snowy scene - error message can't measure exposure values

one way round this is to set to batch mode - 1st slide normal average tone - next 5 slides snow scenes. Prescan then scan. It now doesn't crash.

I've had similar problems with individual 6x6, So sometimes i don't bother with the prescan and just hit scan. This usually does the trick.

Giles

[Gregory C]

Interesting reading. If anyone hasn't updated the firmware (since Jan 2003) for the Nikon 8000 ED, this is worth doing. Seems to crash less frequently.

unfortunately, Nikon only states that the update resolves crashes. there are apparently no other improvements with the update. I'm using OS X and have never had scanner-related crashes so I'm probably not going to use this update.

I tend to have problems with exposure values for 6x6 or 35mm.
For example a snowy scene - error message can't measure exposure values.

I had exactly the same problem a couple of days ago. in this case, my film was taken ~5m underwater where the red spectrum was apparently far below the green and blue spectrums. Auto Exposure was not possible with several frames on the film strip. I had to turn it off and use the SilverFast/Options/Special/Lightness feature to manually optimise the LED brightness within the scanner. this worked quite well but required a little time and experimentation.

I'm using the Nikon Super Coolscan 4000ED. I too am having problems with the Film offset tool (which has been available for the 4000ED for a long time but which is also quite buggy). a bug which I have just documented and reported to Lasersoft causes the scanner to load and scan the wrong frame whenever the offset tool is used. each time the offset tool is clicked on the left/right edge of the previewed image, the scanner makes the adjustment but also shifts the strip to the previous/next frame of the film strip. this is a new bug. personally, I hope it's Lasersoft's because they'll be able to solve it quickly. if it's Nikon's, we'll be waiting a long time for a fix.

I am very sure that Lasersoft have always tried to solve the problems we discover. for Nikon users though, Lasersoft's biggest obstacle is that the scanner code comes from Nikon and Nikon seems to care very little for its customers. Nikon MAID software updates are few and far between, even when bugs are identified and confirmed. after documenting and reporting the last Offset Tool bug, we waited almost a year to get the Nikon provided fix.

I did a lot of investigation before buying my Nikon scanner and believed that I had purchased the right scanner. now though in light of Nikon's callous attitude (and the fact that the APS adapter completely breaks down whenever any APS film is loaded more than twice), I would never recommend a Nikon scanner to anyone else. these days, there are other options.

regards
Gregory