LaserSoft Imaging

Hi,

I have been doing a lot of negative scanning over recent months with my Epson v750 and the bundled Silverfast Ai software (which I have kept updated) and generally I have been very pleased with the results.

I do have one consistent problem though and that is scanning any scenes on the beach. The predominant colours are obviously those of the sand and the sea which are various shades of the normal sand and sea colours basically yellow and blue.

I experience a problem when Siverfast auto exposure is used in that the result is very high contrast over saturated colours. Trying to tweak these using the colour related tools doesn't really work very well as the amount of adjustment required is huge.

The resulting scans can also be noisy and very unnatural.

It isn't the type of film being scanned as this occurs with various types and there is nothing wring with the original exposure as the prints made from these negatives look fine.

Has anyone experienced a similar problem or have any tips on how to optimise such scans?

Dear DaveO,

have you tried different image types?
The standard setting might not be the best for your images.

kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

I did try some of the different scene types but the variation from normal was not that great.

I recently upgraded to the studio version so are there any new settings available to me which may help?

Dave

Dear Dave,

The studio version allows the creation of specially tailored custom image types.
This allows you to create custom presets for the image type.

Otherwise you would use the manual Highlights and Shadows Tool to set the values in the image.
And you can use the mid-grey pipette (between the two highlights and shadows triangles) to neutralize an image.
In case it is necessary to adjust the gradation curve you can save presets for that too (in the gradation curve window at the top).
That way you cab just recall the adjusted curve for this kind of image.


kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn

OK thanks I will have a go. The mid-grey pipette could prove useful. I have already tried it on a scan and it had quite an effect. Is there a way to undo the effect it does have if it is not what is required?