Silverfast Download Mac

[Kenneth Larson]

Thefirst is the Straight silverfast ai scan using the Kodak Tri-X 400 6x6 negafix profile and auto exposure. There is way to much contrast, no shadow detail and no highlight detail. What's worse is that I can't adjust the sliders/curves in Silverfast to bring back the detail.

The second is a straight silverfast scan using the Tri-x negafix profile without the autoexposure. Still no hightlight detail and little shadow detail. I did a scan with the "other" profile in negafix and it looked identical to this one.

The final picture is a straight scan from the Epson 3200 software with nothing done but the auto exposure. Very flat, but there is a lot of detail to work with. The highlights and shadow detail is there. I can easily add the contrast and maintain the detail in sections that I want the detail.

I've used silverfast ai (5 and then 6)for about 1 1/2 years now. I usually only use negafix to scan color negatives. For b&w negative I scan in full color setting black and white points and then set white at 250 and black at 10. I then scan as 16 bit (really only 12 with my Polaroid scanner)as the highest resolution with a touch of USM at the scanning stage. Once scanned I use photoshop 7 to almost repeat the same steps: 1st reverse image to positive in photoshop, then set a white point and black point, adjust the b&w point using levels or curves [set black at 10, white 250], then use curves adjustment layer to adjust contrast, set print size using image size, then sharpen using USM, then test print, then add an adjustment layer color correction to add neutral or warm color to blacks. Alternatively you could use channel mixer (usually red and green) to adjust b&W to your liking. With your method you are halfway there, follow these steps and you'll see dramatic improvement in your b&W (and color images as well).

I don't use SilverFast, but generally my philosophy is that one should do as little as possible with the scanning software and save the important work for a photoeditor such as Photoshop. I use Vuescan to scan both bw and color, and I primarily make sure neither the shadows nor the highlights are clipped. I do make a stab at reasonable color balance and contrast, which is fairly easy with Vuescan, but I leave the hard parts for my photoeditor, the Gimp.

I'm actually trying to get a straight scan from Silverfast that has enough detail in highlights and shadows to do the rest in photoshop. But as you can see from the samples I posted highlights and shadows are gone without making any adjustments in Silverfast. And, when I go into the curves or levels dialogs to bring the highlights and shadows back, I can't because the sliders are at their respective end points.

It's important to BW negatives scan at full bit-depth: 16-bit gray scale. 8-bit gray scale has only 256 levels, and will be strongly posterized. It also helps to use the multiple-scan option, to capture detail in the dense areas better. Check the histogram and make sure you aren't chopping off highlights or shadows. You can cancel the auto-exposure effects in the histogram menu.

I agree that most of the manipulation should be done in Photoshop. You have much better control than even Silverfast can offer. However, you have to tweak things a little to capture the full dynamic range. With 14-bit resolution (which may be somewhat less in practice) you can capture nearly the full gamut of a BW negative.

The multi-scan feature also averages out the "noise" which seems to afflict flat-bed scanners. This noise is more apparent in BW scans, perhaps because color masks better. Silverfast allows 16 scans, but 4 seems to be adequate.

Negafix has different profiles you select to match your negative. The profile for your film is not always the best profile to use. For example, I've never used the Tri-X profile when scanning a real Tri-X negative. The best profiles for Tri-X I've found are:

For some reason, SilverFast apparently clips the dynamic range when set to scan negatives. When I scan B&W negatives, I usually set to Transparency, **Positive**, Grayscale, 16 bits. I adjust levels in SilverFast (Ai 6) and send to Photoshop where I invert the image and then adjust curves.

@ Pureum. Yes it sure will! This article is applicable for most scanners. Variations will be based on tray holder size and layout, manual focus, multi-exposure and ICE, which is entirely dependant on scanner hardware.

@Johan, thanks for the nice guide. I just bought the 5400 for little money and now I wonder if I need a specific Silverfast software? Is SE 8.8 sufficient or do I need something more fancy? Se Plus? AI Studio? Cheers, Jaroslaw

@Michael. Thanks for the anecdote! I too can confirm that Silverfast is very RAM heavy. When I edit and scan on my 16GB Macbook Pro it dies. When doing the same on my Desktop with 64GB RAM it flies! Again, thanks for pointing that out. I should have mentioned that in my article.

Hi there, I am having some problems with my 5400. On all of my scanned pictures stray light / flares appear on the left and right side. First I thought my Mju is broken but it also appears with my G1 and old slides.

I normally account for that with some gradients in LR but this is getting very annoying lately.Here is how it look before and after adjusting it:

nc.helbaco.de/s/52KoWb6EzdN4eTkAnybody experienced with that?

Johan, please delete this post if you feel like I am misusing your comment section.

@Jaroslaw you have a light leak possibly due to someone opening your scanner before and removing adhesive. Get a guide online how to open the scanner (free) get some gaffer tape and patch up the light leak.@Laine the 5400 II has no downsides. Get it and a cheap old Windows PC or Mac and run the original Minolta software.

@Johan Thanks for your reply. Any idea where to look for the light leak? I opened the scanner and patched up some tape around the plate that covers the lens. No avail. Any ideas are highly appreciated!

silverfast are unclear about which version of 8 actually works with 5400 mark one. does the software use its own driver to see your minolta? you cannot use dimage software on windows 10 32 bit and silverfast stopped 32 bit support so a bit fogged. anyone care to tell me their current setup? or i go mac?

I could use an answer too. I just installed VueScan and Silverfast on macOS. VueScan worked out of the box (except my DiMAGE 5400 seems proper effed). Although SilverFast detected the scanner, it told me to install a driver (without providing one). Where the hell am I supposed to get a driver for a 17-year-old scanner that works on a 64bit ARM CPU? At least VueScan works without an OS driver.

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