LaserSoft Imaging

Once again I will try to get a answer from someone at LaserSoft ( I have little hope since I have sent 3 private requests that have been ignored).

For which Nikon scanners does Silverfast output 48 bit files??

Rob,

The answer is NONE of them produce 48bit output. However, I doubt that's what you really meant by your question.


8000/4000/2000 all allow full 14/12 bits per colour channel.

LS30 is 10 bit per colour channel but this is only obtainable if you work round Nikons maid driver (v**s**n is an example).

LS40 = ??? Not used one so can't comment.


Oh, nearly forgot - Ever hear of a Non Disclosure Agreement. LaserSoft are given info by scanner vendors under certain conditions. These conditions might well include the answer to the question you asked.

IanL

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2002-02-27 22:40 ]</font>

What I ask is which Nikon scanner versions of SF 5.5.2 creates a 48-bit output file. I.E if I have SF 5.5.2 for a LS30/LS200/etc which ones provide 48 bit output from SF. The posting on LaserSoft's site says 48 bit output is available on the Nikon scanners but my experience is that that is not correct for all the Nikon scanners, so which ones does this apply to??

And more importantly why is there never a response from LaserSoft personnel?? It is extremely arrogant that LaserSoft provide a method to communicate with them and the they choose to ignore all requests for information.

Rob,

On 2002-02-28 00:26, Rob wrote:
What I ask is which Nikon scanner versions of SF 5.5.2 creates a 48-bit output file. I.E if I have SF 5.5.2 for a LS30/LS200/etc which ones provide 48 bit output from SF. The posting on LaserSoft's site says 48 bit output is available on the Nikon scanners but my experience is that that is not correct for all the Nikon scanners, so which ones does this apply to??

I thought I answered that question - the LS2000 supports the mode and so LaserSoft can provide 48bit file output. This is based upon my experience. With the LS30 Nikon chose to configure the Maid driver so that only 8 from 10 bits per channel can be aquired. So SilverFast "may" not support 48bit file output for the LS30. In version 4 and 5.2 it didn't support 48bit file output. I've not tried it on 5.5x but from your comments it would appear it doesn't .

Now: I also know that the 4000ED and 8000ED are like the LS2000 in allowing 48bit file output and so again SilverFast supports the feature. In my last post I indicated that I didn't know what Nikon allowed as output from the IV ED, but I checked the specifications and it appears that it to can provide 48bit file output. I would assume that if it's available LaserSoft will have included it.

And more importantly why is there never a response from LaserSoft personnel?? It is extremely arrogant that LaserSoft provide a method to communicate with them and the they choose to ignore all requests for information.

Hmm, there are LOTS of posts by LaserSoft personel.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2002-02-28 01:42 ]</font>

Once again, you are making assumptions based on you experience or guess. What I would like to a real response from LaserSoft on what scanner support 48 bit output FROM SF 5.5.2. This information does not exist any on the SilverFast site. What do exist are statements that imply that ALL scanner versions of SF 5.5.2 provide 48 bit output. Either this is blatantly wrong or I have a defective version of SF. I would like official information that clears this up. I think that SF is a good product that is being ruined by poor customer service. I keep going on this issue in the hope someone at LaserSoft will realize they have a problem and will address it.

As to the response that there are lots of post from LaserSoft personnel what you failed to note is there are a number of message on this board where people are asking multiple time for an answer to prior post, private messages or email that they did not get any response from LaserSoft. Also if you categorize the response from LaserSoft the majority are sales related or simple clarifications of SF operation. There seems (IMHO) to be a lack of responses to technical issues. I?m sure you can point out some but my impression is that LaserSoft seems to just ignore these types of questions.

From personal experience since I started using SF on version 5.2 the response rate to questions sent to LaserSoft, email, private messages and forum posts, is a rate less than 20%. What is do not know is if any of the private message get delivered as there is no way to confirm that. Forum messages are obviously posted. I confirmed that emails where at least being accepted by LaserSoft?s SMTP gateway by initiating a manual SMTP session directly to their gateway and creating and email to posted email addresses.

In the current round of messages I started off asking to confirm if the LS30 version supported 48-bit output or not. This was a simple question and I sent it to the support email address after no response for three days. I then posted a private message to the moderator of the SF Nikon forum. After no response for two days I posted w private message to the moderator of the of the About SilverFast forum. After two days (not counting weekends) with no response I then posted to the public forum. Now we are going on the third day with no response from LaserSoft. At this point I would question whether SF is worth using given the apparent lack of any customer support. What would happen if there were a real technical support issue that I needed an answer to?? No need to answer that as I already know from experience with early versions of 5.2. NOBODY WILL RESPOND; it has happened!

I know there is a tendency on this forum to attack individuals who post message seeming to question LaserSoft. But most of these messages are a result of the lack of response to valid questions and the individuals are frustrated that they cannot get their questions answered. I only keep going with this thread because I think SF is a good product. And I hope that at some point LaserSoft will listen to the criticisms about the lack of customer support and improve. It would have been easier for me to just write off SF and then bad mouth it to friends and on other sites/groups/forums. Valid criticisms are important to aiding the improvement of SF and its support system.

I?m currently looking into upgrading to the Nikon 4000 and just wanted to make sure I had the correct assumptions about what I should expect when I buy SF for it. If the expectations are clearly understood up front there will be less frustration with the product.

Rob

Rob,
I'm not quite sure, but you seem to be asking if the Silverfast will support 48bit output with the LS4000. The answer is "YES". I have been using 5.5.2 with the LS4000 and the 48bit output work flawlessly

Hi Rob,
"What would happen if there were a real technical support issue that I needed an answer to??"
I can tell you,what will happen.You can wait until the end of days to get any help!
Since I have SF (which has great features,I always have to emphasize that),I have endless trouble with it.I keep posting to the forum and the support.Normally you don`t get any response at all,and IF you happen to get one,it normally doesn`t address your problem.
Oh yes,you can also call their hotline,but you will be broke before you will be able to talk about all the bugs.
Sorry Lasersoft(if anyone is listening,what I doubt),but that`s the truth.
BTW the SF version for my scanner costs about 1000$!
Stefan

Dear Stefan,
first of all I want to thank you for you honest opinion.
And I am happy to see that your (above) entry dates from 28th of June - since then we had quite intense e-mail communication.
What I must critizise here is that although you e-mailed me the link to this forum site, you forgot to correct your statement about us not answering any mails. I wrote about 4 e-mail to yourself since yesterday. And I explained the reasons for the effect in SilverFast's feature-range that you had questions about.
Please consider these things:
- your question was NOT put to the right address, if you expect immediate help.
- The forum is not the first point to address current problems to. LaserSoft-Imaging offers a tech support which can be reach by all modern (and conventional) communication methods - 8 hours each day and the following 6 hours also if you address LaserSoft-Imaging USA.
In case of "real" problems (SilverFast does not work to expectation or does not work at all) it is always saver to address the technical support directly.
We have nobody employed for the task to read all fourum sections. Our forum is meant to be a meeting point to exchange ideas and where people can ask other people for help.

The statements about the forum are definitely reasonable, but nevertheless getting any answer from SF tech-support concerning real problems (e.g., SF permanently crashing during negative scans - at least this seems like a problem to me) is somewhere between very unlikely and impossible - sorry to say that, but that's how it is (for me, at least).

Regards,

Bernhard

Another issue in that respect:
is it generally more efficient to write to the support in the US or in Germany (and in this case, in German or English ?

Bernhard