Which icons you can see will depend on your version of the software. Finally in area 3 there are other common tools and filters that you may want to use. I personally like to think of this as a checklist although there is a better tool for this which we will discuss below. Then below this are a series of tools you can use to control the colours and tones in the scanned image.Īlong the top of the interface in area 2 are icons to access the main features of the tools in area 1. You can also use this to set the resolution and size of the image. Here you can set the name, format, and location of the file the scanner will create. The scanner settings are in area 1 of the interface on the left. Here you can see an initial preview scan of the same test strip of images used with Epson Scan. The downside is that the interface can feel overwhelming at first, especially if you don’t have a lot of scanning experience and are using the advanced version of the software. You can learn more about the different SilverFast versions on this page of the company’s website ( ).Īs with the Epson Scan software, SilverFast 9 has everything you can image you will need when scanning and gives access to every feature of your scanner. I personally use SilverFast SE Plus with my Minolta film scanner and the results are excellent. If you don’t scan much or don’t require a high degree of control, the SilverFast Se or SE Plus versions of the software may be more than sufficient. SilverFast Ai Interfaceīefore we look at the SilverFast Ai Studio interface it’s worth mentioning that this is the most advanced version of SilverFast. Where it may suffer is in the limited adjustment control so you may find yourself doing additional work in a photo editor after scanning. It’s also very quick to learn and use, and it’s easy to navigate the different features. Overall, the controls in Epson Scan should cover almost everything you might want to do when scanning film. Here you can select different colour management options but the most useful is probably being able to set a profile for the scanner (Source) and Target profile for the image that’s produced. The software then calculates and sets the scanning resolution. Alternatively, you can specify the output size of the image at the bottom of the preview area by ticking the “Output Image” option. The resolution is set to 2400dpi which will produce a reasonable sized test image when converted to 300dpi. I’ve also set the quality to high and the data to 48-bit for the best results. The other options are then set to scan “Colour Positive Film” using the “Transparency Unit”. In the screenshot above you can see that I have the software set to scan in the “Photo Mode” rather than “Document Mode”. This makes setting up the software a second time much quicker and easier. But once you’ve configured the Epson Scan software for scanning your slides or negatives you can save the settings as a new preset. By default, you will find Photograph, Magazine, Newspaper and Document but these only seem to relate to reflective scanning rather than film scanning. This contains a list of presets which you can select from to configure the software. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show everything a photographer might want to use when making high quality scans.Īt the top of the interface, you can select the scanner you want to use and below this is a “Scan Settings” dropdown. The default interface is quite basic but shows everything you need to perform a reasonable scan. Click the Preview button at the bottom of the frame and the scanner makes a full scan across its surface. The Epson Scan interface is quite simple and when first loaded only shows a dialog with scanner settings. Let’s start with the Epson Scan software. I have the SilverFast Ai Studio which provides access to the most features, but you can achieve pretty much the same results with the basic SE version. There are various versions of SilverFast available, each with different levels of features. I’m testing with the latest version of the Epson Scan 2 software on a Mac running Big Sur and this with SilverFast v9 also on the Mac. After all, what good is great scanning performance if you can never achieve it because the software is too difficult to use? As well as checking the quality of the scans, I’ll be sharing my thoughts about the usability of each. I’ll be using the packages with my Epson V700 scanner to scan slide, B&W, and colour negatives, all shot with a Hasselblad XPan. In SilverFast vs Epson Scan, I’ll be putting both to the test from a user perspective. Given you’re reading this article I’m going to assume you own an Epson scanner and are wondering which software to use SilverFast or Epson Scan.
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