Experience with 3rd party scanner software ?

[DickK Profile Private messageWebsite]

After a number of years I've replaced my MircroTek scanner with a new Canon9000F scanner which I've just gotten started figuring out. So, far I like it, it certainly produces better scans than the old one was doing.

However, everything I've read indicates that to get the best out of a good scanner (especially for film or tranparencies), requires better, more flexible software. Two 3rd party packages seem to be in pretty common use:

-- Vuescan
-- Silverfast

Reading about them I think both would work for my needs but I'm leaning towards Vuescan largely because the software is much cheaper and supports nearly any good scanner now and for the future.

Anyone here have any experience with Vuescan, or with Silverfast if not?

Likes or dislikes?

Thanks,
Dick

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

I own Vuescan but haven't used it for quite a while since having bought a scanner that came with excellent software. However, I can vouch for it, the quality it produces being excellent. You won't go wrong with it.

Barbara

[briancbb Profile Private message]

I'm also using Vuescan, with no problems on W7 64 bit. I had to change after I could not find W7 drivers for my Epson 3200. Does everything that I need.

[silverfox Profile Private message]

We use VueScan Professional Edition. Highly recommend it.

S

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

I have Vuescan, have not used it for a while, but it worked well and was updated on a fairly regular basis. I do need to update it for my Nikon Coolscan 5000 that I have not had much time to play with, but it worked well.

mikey

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Dick, it looks like Vuescan is batting a thousand so far. You might as well go for it.

Barbara

[tronm Profile Private message]

I have been using Vuescan for about 2 years now, with excellent results. It supports many legacy scanners
for which the original manufacturers have dropped support for the latest drivers that work with Windows 7, for instance. I currently am running a Nikon Coolscan V, and Epson 3170 scanners with Vuescan. As I recall, it will support 100's of scanners, and the list gets longer. The menus are very easy to use, and it can guide you along, or
you can use a more advanced level of interface if you like tweaking things like filters, etc.
-Ron

[DickK Profile Private messageWebsite]

All -- thanks for the input.

Interesting that the comments on Vuescan are unanimous. Sold me, I downloaded and purchased the Pro version this morning and just started working with it. It will take a bit to get used to it and get the most out of it but I like what I see both in the software and the scans.

Not surprisingly there are features from the MicroTek software that I like better than either the Canon software or Vuescan but what counts is the quality of the output and that looks good. I'm not using Vuescan for what it excels at (film stock and transparencies) but I notice that Vuescan gets better scans than either of the other ones before any tweaking. That's good because these old prints need help for sure, most of the ones I'm doing right now are 30-40 years old. Some are in excellent shape and some show major fading and color shift--variation in the processing quality and/or paper used I guess.

Mikey -- I've got a Nikon filmscanner, too, but it has to be an exceptional shot before I'll invest the time that one requires. But it will be interesting to see what Vuescan does with that.

Anyone purchased the IT8 target for Kodak reflective or Kodachrome and used it to calibrate a scanner?

Dick

[DickK Profile Private messageWebsite]

Just an update based on a week (and ~600 scans) worth of experience. Almost everything I've done so far has been prints, most negatives and all the slides are a much later part of the project mountain.

The quick version is that I like both the scanner and Vuescan. I can recommend either or both.

Good
* For the difficult scans it does a better job than the Canon software by far.
* For all scans I like the fact that I can set some metadata items and it inserts them.

Neutral
* Documentation with Vuescan is adequate but not great. You'll need to play with things to see what they do and even then you may not always be sure.
* Has a number of scan batch options but they work a bit odd and aren't aimed at doing prints. I found an option set and workflow that's okay but it was a lot of trial-and-error.

Bad
<empty> Can't think of anything I'd call bad (so far).

If want to launch into this work don't make the mistake of thinking the speed of the scanner has anything to do with how long it takes. Much, much longer is required to remove pictures from albums, clean everything, align the scans, type comments and metadata, etc., etc. The time spent waiting for the scanner is trivial in comparison (for prints, the story with negatives/slides is quite different).

The time is also very dependent on the quality of the pictures--the better they are, the better Vuescan can get it right the 1st time and the less tweaking is needed from picture-to-picture and batch-to-batch.

The magnitude of the task made it easy to put off for years and it's huge. But it's kinda fun and it's satisfying as the digital library of these old pictures grows.

Dick

[debngar Profile Private message]

I have to do something to get my Epson 2580 scanner to work with my Windows 7 64-bit computer.

My choices:

Purchase VueScan for $39.95/$79.95 to have a driver to make the old scanner work.

Buy a new scanner for about the same amount of money as the pro version of Vuescan and have a better product that will presumably work right out of the box with less hassle.

I hate that I have to replace my inkjet printer too because it doesn't have a driver for W7 64-bit either. Grr....

I already know what I'm leaning toward but would like some further input first.

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

A few years ago, I bought a refurbished Epson scanner from Epson, which essentially means it was a brand-new scanner someone returned, Epson went through it to make sure it was all right, then sold it for a drastically reduced price. I haven't been at all disappointed, not in the scanner nor in the software packaged with it. That's one avenue you might walk down to see what's available.

Barbara

[debngar Profile Private message]

A few years ago, I bought a refurbished Epson scanner from Epson, which essentially means it was a brand-new scanner someone returned, Epson went through it to make sure it was all right, then sold it for a drastically reduced price. I haven't been at all disappointed, not in the scanner nor in the software packaged with it. That's one avenue you might walk down to see what's available.

Barbara

That's another idea I didn't think of. I can currently get an Epson V300 for $79 at Frys. Normal retail is $99. The Epson site says a refurbished V300 is $69. Since there is probably shipping to add to that, it would seem better to buy one from Frys and have it the same day.

I like that the V300 has the transparency feature. I used it on my 2580 in the past and it came in handy.

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

A difference of only $10 in the basic cost means there's really no difference at all, not unless you wouldn't be charged sales tax at Epson, which I'm sure is just me dreaming.

Mine has the ability to do transparencies too, and though I haven't used it very often, it's been a boon when necessary. It was the way I could got photos from some unprinted negatives, my darkroom having been turned into a laundry room.

Barbara

[debngar Profile Private message]

Thanks....

[cinderellen Profile Private message]

If want to launch into this work don't make the mistake of thinking the speed of the scanner has anything to do with how long it takes. Much, much longer is required to remove pictures from albums, clean everything, align the scans, type comments and metadata, etc., etc. The time spent waiting for the scanner is trivial in comparison (for prints, the story with negatives/slides is quite different).

I feel your pain. I'm in the midst of a major project that entails more than twenty albums plus a great assortment of loose pictures and slides from over thirty years. Almost makes me want to never take another picture!

Question on resolution - when I'm scanning documents such as diplomas, postcards, newspaper clippings, what's your opinion on resolution for these documents. I'm having difficulty getting clear images. I've experienced with lower resolution but still am not satisfied with the results.