LaserSoft Imaging

Chris,

1. On Silverfast Frame tab: What is the Q-factor and what should it be set to? I read 1.3 or 1.4 somewhere, but don't know what it means.

THE Q-FACTOR COMES FROM THE PRINTING WORLD, AND IS USED WHEN GOING TO PRESS. FOR EXAMPLE, A PRESS WITH 150 DPI (OR LPI) USUALLY HAS A Q-FACTOR OF 2, WHICH MEANS YOU NEED A 300DPI SCAN BECAUSE HALF OF THAT QUALITY IS LOST TO THINGS LIKE INK ABSORPTION, PLATE TRANSFER, ETC. ACCORDING TO IAN LYON'S WITH WHOM I AGREE 99% OF THE TIME, YOU SHOULD SET IT AT 1, AND USE THE DPI SLIDER TO DETERMINE THE OUTPUT, OTHERWISE YOU RISK IMAGE QUALITY.

2. How can I determine the lpi of my monitor?

THE LPI/DPI (IT'S BASICALLY THE SAME THING) OF YOUR MONITOR IS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 72 AND 110 DPI, DEPENDING ON THE QUALITY OF ITS DESIGN. YOU NEED NOT CONCERN YOURSELF WITH THAT, THOUGH, BECAUSE IT'S IRELLEVANT IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS.

3. On Options/General : Gamma Gradation & Q-factor again?? Also on this tab, my color model was set to CMY. Based on a passed message, I set it to RGB.

GAMMA GRADATION IS USED FOR 48-BIT HDR SCANS, SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. THE COLOR MODEL SETTING I BELIEVE IS USED TO SET WHICH COLOR MODEL IS SHOWN ON THE HISTOGRAMS/CURVES IN THE VARIOUS ADJUSTMENTS DIALOG, SO IT SHOULDN'T MATTER MUCH.

I really need to find a class to take on all this *********??

IT SEEMS LIKE IT WHEN YOU FIRST LEARN SILVERFAST, BUT IT'S REALLY AWESOME WHEN YOU FINALLY GET IT, AND YOU'RE ABLE TO GET AMAZING SCANS WITH VERY LITTLE WORK!

I'D RECOMMEND DOWNLOADING THE LATEST MANUAL FIRST:

http://www.lasersoft-imaging.com/downlo ... Ai55_E.pdf

Also, check out Ian Lyon's Tutorials:

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/

And, since most of these are concerned with film, maybe I'll get off my butt and work on putting up some more tutorials related to scanning prints and such.

We just purchased an Epson Expression 1680.

Do you think I will be able to get good reproductions of color prints, once I figure out this Silverfast?

Should we get Photoshop 5.0? Do you know anything about software from Monaco EZ that will help with color management for LE?

Thanks for all your help

Chris Dvorak

On 2001-12-27 23:34, dvack92 wrote:
We just purchased an Epson Expression 1680.

Do you think I will be able to get good reproductions of color prints, once I figure out this Silverfast?

Should we get Photoshop 5.0? Do you know anything about software from Monaco EZ that will help with color management for LE?

Thanks for all your help

Chris Dvorak

Chris,

Photoshop is now at version 6.01 and is going through Beta testing for the next release later this year.

Color management software from most vendors tends NOT to be Photoshop specific. Generally speaking only a very few vendors even require that you have Photoshop. Color managment is not soley in Photoshops domain, but Adobe seem to have figured it out better than most.

I think that you have a lot of questions (not a bad thing) and would benefit from reading a few Photoshop specific books. Real World Photoshop 6 by Bruce Fraser and David Blatner springs to mind as does Photoshop Artistry 6 by Barry Haynes and Wendy Crumpler. In the meantime you could also have a look at the material by somevery accomplished graphics folk at http://www.creativepro.com Bruce Fraser has raft of CM releted material on that site that covers everything from scanning to printing with just about all there is in between. Have a look at Andrew Rodney's site at http://www.digitaldog.net


Ian



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2001-12-28 00:12 ]</font>

OH my Deskjet 1220C does have postscript capability. I have two printer settings; 1 for the postscript and 1 for regular.

Do you know anyone who would know about postscript printers? :(