LaserSoft Imaging

First let me say that I use Silverfast on 2 other scanners (PIE 1800u and Umax 2400) and it works perfectly.

Unfortunately, more than $300 and many hours later, I am very unhappy with AI 5.5 and the Nikon 4000. I've tried all the fixes posted here and all those given me by tech support, and none have helped. I have an otherwise very stable dual P3 win2k system w/1GB RAM.

AI 5.5 w/ the LS 4000 is still very unstable and crashes constantly. On the other hand v**s**n works flawlessy - I just finished scanning 30+ slides with the SF-200 feeder without a hitch.

I'd like to know two things:
(1) Has anyone else experienced this instability? (other internet sources seem to indicate the instability is not uncommon)
(2) How does silverfast plan to address this problem?

I find it difficult to swallow that a $40 program (v**s**n) works flawlessly while a nearly $400 program fails miserably. I would love to use silverfast because of its many features and built in IT-8 calibration, but as of now, I am deeply disappointed.

Thoughts?

Jose

That's exactly what I experienced!
I am using a Dual-Pentium-III System. So I thought this might be the reason.
I told Lasersoft 6 months ago about my problems. They blamed the Photoshop software to be buggy for dualprocessor systems. I am not using Photoshop.

I?ve been trying to get decent results from Silverfast 5.5 on my Nikon LS4000 on my Mac with Photoshop 6 but so far have failed miserably. The Nikon software is no better. Results scanning transparencies are OK but negatives are useless. I?ve tried changing negative types but I still can?t get a decent scan.
I tried the v**s**n 7.5 demo and the results are excellent but not so easy to use.
I?ve given up trying to use the 4000 and have gone back to using my LS2000 with Silverfast 4.2.7r05 which works without any problem.

'd like to know two things:
(1) Has anyone else experienced this instability? (other internet sources seem to indicate the instability is not uncommon)
(2) How does SilverFast plan to address this problem?
--- with fixes to the software and tech support.
Dear Jose, you mentioned above how many scanners you have, but in order to use your entry for efficient feedback/troubleshoot - if this is what you want - you should have mentioned which release version of SilverFast causes you that much problems.
Today - while I answer this note - we have a solid SilverFast 5.5.2 for Windows on our download site. This runs o.k with the LS4000. Did you try this version?

Emyr: you mention general problems with both scan softwares (manufacturer own and SF) on your Mac but o.k. with v**s**n.
this is not much surprizing, because NikonScan ans SF are using the same sources to address the scanner. v**s**n doesn't.
Just as Jose, you don't mention the exact versions of your software releases.
Both Nikon and LaserSoft have updated releases on the web.
Please check for up-to-date releases.