Offsets and scanning on PrimeFilm XA
PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:31 pm
I have never experienced a more frustrating scanning experience than using the PFXA and silverfast, and my scanning days go back to the original Nikon coolscans, which had awful software.
If I load an individual film strip by hand and use the scanner buttons to center the frame, then scan, I get a decent result. However, the batch scanning of simple strips seems impossible. Silverfast/PFXA combo cannot find film frames at all. If I use the overview, I will get one or two frames centered OK but several that are cut off. (The distance between frames is consistent on the film, so I have no idea why the software/scanner can't just maintain the proper offset.)
Trying to use the offset adjust is confusing and seems to make things worse. If I choose a frame and choose adjust offset, I get a hand icon -- but where do you put it? I try putting it on the proper edge of the film (next the black bar that is the frame space) and it moves the film, doing a separate prescan, but it moves the film further out of the proper registration.
Can anyone explain step by step how this tool is supposed to work? I am trying to evaluate whether this scanner can actually batch strips, and if it can't, I'm going to return it. I want to give the scanner/software the benefit of the doubt, but having spent hours trying to get a couple dozen scans, I don't see how I could actually use this thing over time. (I am no scanning novice, having scanned thousands of frames over my years as a photog, on half a dozen different systems.)
If I load an individual film strip by hand and use the scanner buttons to center the frame, then scan, I get a decent result. However, the batch scanning of simple strips seems impossible. Silverfast/PFXA combo cannot find film frames at all. If I use the overview, I will get one or two frames centered OK but several that are cut off. (The distance between frames is consistent on the film, so I have no idea why the software/scanner can't just maintain the proper offset.)
Trying to use the offset adjust is confusing and seems to make things worse. If I choose a frame and choose adjust offset, I get a hand icon -- but where do you put it? I try putting it on the proper edge of the film (next the black bar that is the frame space) and it moves the film, doing a separate prescan, but it moves the film further out of the proper registration.
Can anyone explain step by step how this tool is supposed to work? I am trying to evaluate whether this scanner can actually batch strips, and if it can't, I'm going to return it. I want to give the scanner/software the benefit of the doubt, but having spent hours trying to get a couple dozen scans, I don't see how I could actually use this thing over time. (I am no scanning novice, having scanned thousands of frames over my years as a photog, on half a dozen different systems.)