LaserSoft Imaging

Please provide an option within SilverFast where you can export files to Photoshop in 48 bit mode, but allowing features such as unsharp masking, Grain reduction and Scratch/Dust removal.

HDR does not take advantage of these features.

Regards,

Simon

On 2002-01-13 13:54, simoncs wrote:
Please provide an option within SilverFast where you can export files to Photoshop in 48 bit mode, but allowing features such as unsharp masking, Grain reduction and Scratch/Dust removal.

HDR does not take advantage of these features.

Regards,

Simon

HDR provides unsharp masking and just about every other non scanner specific feature of Ai.

Dust/scratch, grain etc all functions of the Nikon hardware and so these can't be ported into HDR. It's also the case that for LaserSoft to incorparate them into Ai EXACTLTY as they function in Nikonscan would require a licensing agreement with Applied Science Fiction (VERY expensive). Hence Lasersoft appear to developing their own, at least that's the jist of messages elsewhere on this forum.

Picking up on a point you made elsewhere on the forum:

As for exporting 48bit mode edited images from Ai into Photoshop I think you'll find a few messages on the forum from Lasersoft indicating that this feature is coming.

Will the above obviate the need for HDR - NO WAY! Anyone who thinks that HDR is redundant because Ai can deliver 48 bit mode (not 48 bits of actual image data) into Photoshop has not yet figured the true purpose and flexibility of HDR. heck you don't even need to have Ai if your existing software delivers 48bit mode raw images.

HDR is designed to be scanner independent and and so the RAW scanned images, hundreds of them if necessary, can be scanned by a monkey and saved for later processing by someone with the appropriate skills. It is aimed at a professional environment where in all likelihood the scanner operator and the image processor are separate people or even organisations. Even if it is the same person doing the scanning and processing you will find many occasions when simply scanning raw and arhiving for later processing is a better approach than scan/process/store one image at a time.

To be fair many have expresed the same view as you and later realised that the world does go beyond the simple scanner/editor approach. So HDR has a future - you just haven't yet realised its importance to MANY users!

Ian




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2002-01-13 15:12 ]</font>

Ian,

Many thanks for your feedback.

Regards,

Simon

Ian,

Well said and i agree fully. Unfortunately, many of us who are amatuers trying to use professional tools are not generating a cash stream from our hobby. The pricing structure LSI uses for the HDR + Job Manager combination can be a budget buster. Hence our attempt to squeaze everything we can out of the lowest cost tools (even if they are inadequate).

Frank

On 2002-01-13 20:04, degrub wrote:
Ian,

Well said and i agree fully. Unfortunately, many of us who are amatuers trying to use professional tools are not generating a cash stream from our hobby. The pricing structure LSI uses for the HDR + Job Manager combination can be a budget buster. Hence our attempt to squeaze everything we can out of the lowest cost tools (even if they are inadequate).

Frank

Given that Job Manager is included with the film scanners now and hoping that 48 bit processed scans will come in the near future I think the cash strapped should be reasonably happy.

Ian

hip, hip ...

Now if i can just get the batch workflow i asked for.....

Cheers,
Frank

That bit lies in the hands of Nikon Even if laserSoft wanted to they couldn't reload the ADF unit.

Ian

Ian,

i hope to bypass the Nikon issue altogether. If the Ai Job Manager + Slide feeder software will support manual reloading to do the final scans, then i think i am there. i did some tests on the manual slide adapter (i don't have the bulk feeder yet) and i got position repeatability of about 1% across the narrow part of the slide and under .5 % on the long axis with old kodachrome cardboard mounts. If the autofeeder is similar, i think this would be good enough for me.

LaserSoft: Would you comment on this please ?

Thanks
Frank

Just thought I'd chime in.

HDR should be an optional tool used solely for post-processing batch scans. As it stands, it is a flawed tool because it doesn't export to Photoshop in 48-bit mode for further tweaking without information loss.

Ideally, Ai should have all (or most) of its tools available when scanning in 48-bit mode. We shouldn't have to 48-bit scan in Ai and post-process in HDR ("the Silverfast two-step"). For what we paid, we should be able to adjust 48-bit scans in Ai, and export to Photoshop in 48-bit mode. That way those of us who poke along, working on one image at a time, can have real choices that leave us with 48-bit files optimized pre-scan in SF, and post-scan in Photoshop. Job Manager could be used to set up a very sophisticated batch scan, in which each image is individually optimized, then exported to Photoshop in 48-bit mode.

I hope this is what LS is working towards for SF6. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!