LaserSoft Imaging

Hi Everyone,
I am a total newbie here, and have a few questions regarding upgrading, and Silverfast products.

I am not a professional and will be using Silverfast to digitize family photos, mostly from 35mm negatives. I will be using an Epson 4990 photo scanner, which came with the Silverfast SE ver 6.2 version.

My question is this, which version of Silverfast would you recommend to upgrade to? I can upgrade to SE 6.5 cheap. Beyond that, both the SE Plus with Multi Exposure and Ai version are about the same price. So I guess for the non professional is the 'multi exposure' worth the cost?

Regarding the It8 calibration targets. I just want to make sure I understand this correctly. These are 'sheets' that you lay on the scanner and press the calibration button, and the colors calibrate automatically, right? I assume reflective targets are for scanning photos, and transparency are for scanning negatives. If this is correct then I wonder which target I should get. For instance, is the 35mm Transparency Fuji for $110 USD any better than the 35mm transparency by Kodak for $50?

Finally, is the Silverfast manual for sale in the store the one written by Taz Tally or is this a printed version of the pdf manual available for free as a download on this site?

Many, many thanks in advance for taking the time to answer any of these questions!

Cheers!

For Negatives, there is not an IT8 calibration target. IT8 calibration is only for slides or prints. The fuji target is for that specific type of slide film since it does not match up well to the E6 type films. Kodachrome has its own specific target as well.

Silverfast provides Negafix for the negative inversion as part of the software.
Use that.

THe best way to decide if you need to upgrade to Ai or SE+ is to download the demo version (everything works except IT8 calibration) and work with it to see if you really need the extra features or control. For many folks, SE is just fine.

The manual on sale is the Taz's.

The regular manual is downloadable and included with the software.

Wow, that was great information! Thank you for the quick reply.

FYI... I just received the manual today, and it is not the one by Taz. It is the printed out version of the free download.
:cry:
It was very confusing for me, because if you go to this link and click the BUY button it seems like you are buying Taz Tallys guide.
http://www.silverfast.com/show/sf-offic ... de/en.html

So, I guess my next question, for anyone that is able to compare the two, is 'What's the difference between the manuals?' If Taz Tally's is significantly better I may just have to find another way to get it.

Thanks for listening.

i just walked through that and you are correct it is misleading in my opinion. Looks like the web page is messed up. The picture should be on the other side.

Talk with the sales office in Florida and explain what happened. You will probably have to pay shipping back, but USPS is not too bad. SF should make good on this one , i think, as the web page image is for the wrong book. If the US office doesn't, then take it to the moderator for the website .

Check out Borders and Barnes and Noble - sometimes they have a copy in the store or will special order it and you can refuse it if you don't like it ( check their policy first).

Taz's book provides a more guided approach to using SF than the regular manual.

If you want to learn scanning basics - start here

www.scantips.com

For SF guidance, Ian's tutorials are here

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/sf5_contents.htm

For specific guidance on adjusting images -

Katrin Eismann Photoshop Restoration and retouching - you can probably find a copy in the library or used book store . She is up to version 3

Margules - any of his Professional Photoshop versions (up to 6 i think) ou can probably find a copy in the library or used book store. He is good at teaching you to see the image.

Bruce Frazer "Real world photoshop"

and for general technical information and techniques

www.luminous-landscape.com

If you cannot find the books PM me and maybe we can work something out for one of my old versions

Once again, thanks for a very informative reply!

Does Taz Tally's Silverfast book cover the most recent version of SF? It is not available through Amazon.

Also,

I bought the Kodak IT8 calibration slide. I was under the impression that the Calibration slide is more a way of assuring that the scanner is seeing RED as RED and not the wat a specific film sees red so a Kodak IT8 slide should be as accurate as a Juji slide no matter what film type is being scanned.

Taz's book IS azailable as a .PDF for $20+ at :

http://www.ereadable.com/scripts/browse ... source=P25

Anyone used this vendor before?

Anyone read this book?

Hello
Have been trying to get the right settings in Silverfast Ai using an Epson V750 Pro for scanning 5x7 inch antique glass plates. All I get is black as There are no film settings that I know about for the glass Plates.
Thank you in advance.
John