LaserSoft Imaging

I have just installed AI and attempted to scan in some slides that are on the dark side. I am using Photoshop 6.01 with Windows 98 and Silverfast AI 5.5. I was using NikonScan 3.1 plugin to Photoshop which allows an analog adjustment to the hardware to brighten or darken the original scan. I have tried, what I thought, would work with AI with no change. I have tried both a user defined image type with maximum brightness and changed the Autopip Middlefactor. No change in the preview and the actual scan is darker, by far, than the original slide. I cannot get the preview to change no matter what I try. Is the preview fixed? Is there a way to set the hardware brightness control on the LS-2000 with Silverfast?

_________________
Greg

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: gregu206 on 2002-01-10 22:33 ]</font>

Dear Greg,
First off, rest assured that Silverfast is the best scanning software available for your images.
From your post, I can see that you have not yet read your documentation, or set up/configured Silverfast to work with your scanner and Photoshop.
You are acting just like the rest of us who purchased Silverfast and expected it to improve your scans instantly...
Well, there is a learning curve and you will have to read... (hopefully all of the manual and all of the tutorials you can find.)
Way before you finish though you will start getting better scans than you ever did before and be able to get great scans off of images that you would have tossed in the trash before.
Hang in there. Read more. And keep coming back.

_________________
Junebug Clark / detroit
http://www.MooreClark.com

ps. I'm using a Nikon LS2000, SF 5.51 r3, Photoshop 6.01, on a Mac. I've been using SF for abour two years. You've made the right decision going with Silverfast. Remember the first time you used Photoshop. Daunting right? Then in a week you could do anything. A month later you were an expert. Two months after that you decided to re-do everything you had worked on to date because you now knew all of the shortcuts the experts use to make great images.
The SF experence is just like Photoshop's. The more you improve your Silverfast skills the more you will discover techniques available to push your scans to a professional level and have room to grow.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Junebug on 2002-01-11 21:36 ]</font>

On 2002-01-10 22:29, gregu206 wrote:
I have just installed AI and attempted to scan in some slides that are on the dark side. I am using Photoshop 6.01 with Windows 98 and Silverfast AI 5.5. I was using NikonScan 3.1 plugin to Photoshop which allows an analog adjustment to the hardware to brighten or darken the original scan. I have tried, what I thought, would work with AI with no change. I have tried both a user defined image type with maximum brightness and changed the Autopip Middlefactor. No change in the preview and the actual scan is darker, by far, than the original slide. I cannot get the preview to change no matter what I try. Is the preview fixed? Is there a way to set the hardware brightness control on the LS-2000 with Silverfast?

_________________
Greg

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: gregu206 on 2002-01-10 22:33 ]</font>

Greg,

Press the button labelled "Option" and a dialog with four tabs will appear. One of the tabs is labelled "Special". Npw you should see a button labelled "Lamp Brightness" or similar. That is the SilverFast equivilent of "Analog Gain".

Hopefuly this will overcome you dark image problem.

Ian

PS - do as Junebug says - read the manual - ideally in the bar over a Jack Daniels on him

Thanks for all your replies. I never did find it referenced in the manual or documentation. However, I did accidently ran accross the lamp brightness. I am on a big learning curve and it only took about 8 hours today to print out 3 wedding photos. They are indoor dark shots with a reddish cast, thanks to a flash failure. I have not given up and will continue to learn. Next I need to learn how to scan into photoshop using higher than 24 bit color from the LS-2000. Thanks again.

greg,


have a read thru the tutorials at:


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

Some will apply and some will not.

Oh my gosh...

You sure have picked a great project to start learning Silverfast.

From your message these "dark images" were underexposed when your flash didn't go off and they are "reddish" because the existing tungsten light started to take over.

The scan being darker than origianal can be caused by your Silverfast options/preferences not being setup properly. And rather than using the hardware lightness control. The situation you are in calls for using "Histogram" and "Color Balance" controls.

If you weren't in such a jam, I'd recommend start by scanning your favorite/good transparency. Make sure you can get that scan, monitor output, and print output to match first.

Otherwise Ian's right. If I were there with you right now I'd be pouring us both an Uncle Jack and grabbing the Silverfast Manual.

Yours truly,

Jb.

ps to Ian... If you have a fast internet connection, the volume up on your computer and fifteen minutes.. I just put up an experimental page on my site. It's a TV interview about our photography. It turned out pretty nice, but trying to compress it for the internet has been a challenge... Here's the link.

http://homepage.mac.com/mooreclark/iMovieTheater1.html

Junebug,

my internet connection is 56K modem, but the heck ....... I downloaded the video and found it very intersting. i thought you and your partner archiving your fathers material was wonderful idea. I trust a book in the making.

Thanks for giving us access

Ian

As a matter of fact, I have printed out some of Ian's tutorials and trying to learn. I was able to get the dark photos to a level that they can printed and viewed (not excellent quality, but oh well). If you are curious, check out my website to see what photos I normally work with. I have scanned around 8,000 slides so far and in the process of building a stock photography business (another way to justify a hobby).
http://www.aeroimage.com

Thanks again,
Greg

Changing the analog gain makes sense to me. Why is this not a good idea. I am trying to address the same issue of overly dark scans on the Nikon 4000 ED. IT8 calibration works wonders for correcting the color spectrum but not the brightness. I did not expect this, as I thought that brightness would also be corrected. No?

Dave

Follow up to my own post. I've compared several scans with the RGB "Lightness" setting increased from zero to 6. This seems to more fully use the full 14 bit per channel dynamic range of this scanner. Very minor level or contrast adjustments in Photoshop then fully optimize the images. This makes sense to me, but I don't know much formally. Is there a down side to this compared to adjusting levels in Silverfast Ai, as suggested earlier in this thread?

Also, it appears that "Analog Gain", ""Brightness" and "Lightness" in Nikon Scan 3, SFAi 5.5 for Nikon LS 2000, and SFAi 5.5 for Nikon 4000 ED are equivalent tools. Like a previous poster, I also looked around for quite awhile before realizing this. A common nomenclature is one mark of a really well designed product.

Just a suggestion, however. I think SFAi is great, and I can't imagine scanning without the calibration functions it provides.

Dave