LaserSoft Imaging

Silverfast 8 needs some option for speeding up the processing speed on older computers.
I have got suggestions of using a fast scratch disc and more memory and a faster machine but
I do not want a program that eats all my system resources and still is very slow. What I really
need is a user selectable option in Silverfast 8 for doing faster processing. In my setup scanning
with the Plustek Opticfilm 120 at 5300dpi with a 6x7 frame the actual scanning is very fast, about
3 minutes but thereafter Silverfast 8 is doing processing for 35 minutes, about ten times the
scanning speed. I could compromise on output quality if there was an user selectable option for
faster processing speed. This is a very urgent need because in my example i do not use iSRD,
ME, USM or GANE which would lead to an astronomical increase in processing time.

Dear customer,

The processing speed depends on the chosen options, the scan resolution and the available resources.

Apart from assigning more memory or using a more powerful computer you could only use a lower resolution to speed up the processing.

Kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

Dear Mr Ketelhohn,

I suggested a software option, and a lower resolution seems obvious but I hope
there would be some steps in the image calculations where the programmer
could 'cheat' so the resulting image would be of slightly lower quality - other
than resolution. For example Adobe lets users use old conversion methods
in raw file procession - either the newest method or then any of the older.
In my opinion the processing implemented in Silverfast 6 was faster than
that in Silverfast 8. Would it be possible to offer Silverfast 6 processing
in Silverfast 8 as an option ?

Another option suggestion for the 'savy' old machine user would be to immediately
convert the 48bit input data into 24bits and do all processing in 24bits instead of
the 48->24bit option ?

Dear customer,

No, such a low quality mode is neither supported nor planned.

'The processing speed of SilverFast 8 measured in our testing center was much faster than those of version 6.
SilverFast 8 uses improved versions of the SilverFast 6 algorithms and can use multiprocessor and HyperThreading.
Which features are used depends on the individual filters.


kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.