LaserSoft Imaging

Hi:
I mainly use my Epson v700 for scanning black and white negatives.

I have been comparing the scans produced by the Epson Sofware with Silverfast SE that came with the scanner. In my opinion, the SilverFast scans look grainier and the shadow detail seems softer. So far, I am just using SilverFast to create quick contact sheets.

I have tried playing with the software, but can't seem to get the results I hoped for. SilverFast has many great features and I would love to use the product. Any thoughts are comments about this? Could I be doing something wrong.

Thank you.

Have you tried modifying the "NegaFix" settings?

Don't just try to match the film profile that you are using but experiment with some of the others. I have had some good results trying this.

The other factor is multiple sampling. I have found that sampling an image more than once softens it.

Good luck

I would like to update my previous comments about 35mm black and white scans. After spending a lot of time experimenting with both SilverFast SE and Epson software I will share the following observation: The Epson software appears to create the best looking scans "right out of the box" -- meaning without any adjustments and tweaking on my part. I suspect the "right out of the box" SilverFast negatives are overly sharpened for my personal taste, so I think that left me with the impression the scans were grainy or noisy. Now that I have been playing with the GANE feature in SilverFast, I can appreciate the software a lot more. I think it really does a good job of capturing tonal range and shadow details. At least this is how it looks to me after about 4 hours of experimentation. I am new to this so still learning.

The epson software is very nice for BW.

Use the professional mode to have the best control about the scan process. Unfortunately 'unsharp mask' is always activated. Be shure that you switch it off. In 'default' mode Epson croppes the highlights to much. Get familiar with the curve and settings of the black and white points. Than you can get very good results.

Tom