LaserSoft Imaging

Having downloaded the latest r11 version of the very clever SF 8SE+, I have been disappointed and confused by its behaviour. First, the Scan Pilot is useless for anything but perfect slides requiring no correction. Second, cancelling Scan Pilot left all the adjustment controls I needed for manual work greyed-out! It took some time to find that changing the bit rates back and forth was needed to restore them. Then Scan Dimensions disappeared. Navigator has the bad habit of jumping into the corner of my photo and has to be removed each time, and I am completely at a loss to understand the zoom tool. It alternates between 89% and 93%, and clicking on the tool also jumps me back to one or more previous images! I cannot understand the Frame tool, and there are no explanations or instructions. Selecting 35mm for example produced a second white frame beside the red masking frame but enlarged the entire photo beyond screen size so that the photo could not be framed. The program seems unstable, and certainly unpredictable and unfathomable. The Quick Start Guide is only a marketing summary – could SilverFast please issue a simple downloadable guide which at least explains all the functions of the program? We may be followers of Luminous Landscape but not all LL experts.

After writing this I return to scanning to find yet another update, r12. Let’s hope it fixes some of the previous bugs.

Dear customer,

The WorkflowPilot is a tutorial tool to learn certain workflows.
If you want to freely access the tools please use the normal scanmode.

A "perfect slide not requiring adjustments" does not exist.
Highlights and shadows always have to be adjusted.
Either using the image auto adjustment or the manual pipette tool or the histogram.

In case you switch the view to a resolution which is not available a new prescan at that resolution is required.
This is often the case when switching from normal to 1:1 Preview mode.

If you chose the frame finding option an algorithm will try to find such frames.
Frames can be zoomed into for individual adjustments.
To zoom out simply use the zoom button.
In 1:1 mode the image will always be displayed at the chosen scan resolution.
In most cases this will not fit on your screen.
In such a case you have to use the navigator to select the part of the image you would like to see.

kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

Dear Arne

Thank you for your reply. First, I cannot accept your statement that highlights and shadows always have to be adjusted. A Kodachrome, Ektachrome or Fujichrome correctly exposed would not require such adjustment unless the scene incorporated high contrast outside the range of the emulsion. Variations requiring correction have been almost entirely in colour representation, apparently due to the program's algorithms. Why else do two photographs taken within a few minutes of each other at the same camera settings and in the same light direction show different colour representation, calling for correction?

That aside, could you please explain the use and working of the Frame tool?
Why does the zoom tool only toggle between 92% and 93%, except when the photo is rotated into portrait mode, when it switches to 61%.
Why does clicking on the little arrow below the zoom tool return me to previous photos?
How can I disable the Navigator?

I appreciate your help

Geoffrey Luck

Dear Geoffrey,

The Highlights and shadow adjustment has nothing to do with the film you are scanning.
This necessity results from the scanner's brightness range being larger than that available in the film.

The devices maximum brightness is set at the value when all the light from the light source hits the sensor.
This is never the case with a film as the emulsion and carrier layer absorb some light.
The devices minimum brightness is set at no light hitting the sensor.
This is also never the case with film as even the darkest parts of the film let through some light.

So the scanner delivers gray values instead of a true white or true black.
Setting the highlights and shadows adjusts this.

Clicking on the zoom button will try to zoom so that the frame fits the view area.
If that is already the case it will only zoom such a little step.
If you need a closer look switch to the 1:1 preview mode which will show the actual resolution.
If a preview does not show the correct image no previewdata at that resolution is available and a ne preview is necessary.

kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.