Epson Scanner Silverfast

[Manric Hock]

Myquestions : does RT read the HDR TIFF format from Silverfast? Or, to put things in another perspective : is there an advantage to scan in HDR 48 bits TIFF instead of 48>24 bit TIFF ? I guess that RT does not read the infrared channel (no tools to use it) - no need for HDRi.

I understand that RT 5.8 does not recognize DNGs coming out of a scanner (will / should be the case in 5.9 with negative inversion of TIFF/DNG). In other words, should I worry about TIFF when DNG is available ? Is there any advantages of DNG over TIFF ?

I do not have answers to your question, but I will be following this post with interest as I have an Epson V850 and I find both the Epson and the Silverfast software really disappointing. Previously I had a Canon 9000F for scanning the film and the software was much nicer and produced good scans capturing the highlights and the shadows. Currently when scanning negatives I scan as positive and use negadoctor in Darktable to invert and fix the image.

I am also following this post with interest because I did a lot of scans both from negative and from dia using an old epson 4870 and a newer epson V600. The old 4870 is much better but also a lot slower. I with the epson software, using properly curves and adjustment layers, I have always obtained quite satisfactory results. Much less with Vuescan who disappointed me deeply. Silverfast was once given with the 4870 in the Se version: unfortunately the version I have no longer works with win 10 so I can no longer use it. I have tried to scan and treat the file with rt but I find it impractical and the results quite mediocre.

does RT read the HDR TIFF format from Silverfast? Or, to put things in another perspective : is there an advantage to scan in HDR 48 bits TIFF instead of 48>24 bit TIFF ? I guess that RT does not read the infrared channel (no tools to use it) - no need for HDRi.

The HDR-formats in SilverFast are just normal TIFs with 3 images (or DNG, see above) but they are linear scans, i.e. without gamma-correction and without any image processing applied. So it is not a proprietary format! The IR-channel is just the third image in this set of 3 (RGB-scan full resolution, preview scan, IR image). However, there is no software around which can use the IR-channel to correct for dust and scratches except for SilverFast HDR (and if you use VueScan, the IR-channel is the 4. channel with each pixel holding 4 values: R, G, B, IR. You have to use VueScan to make use of the IR-channel in this case).

If you use RT for the HDR-images they appear very dark due to the lacking gamma-correction. You should either apply the gamma-correction before opening the image by another software or - better - use an ICC-profile which has the gamma-correction incorporated, i.e. being derived from a target scan in HDR-format.

The HDR format is a 48 bit TIFF that has additional information for Silverfast software. But since it is primarily a TIFF, then Rawtherapee is able to read 3X16 bits and all the other basic information of a TIFF. The other informations are just not read by RT.

Definitively, if you are going to do some image processing. 8bits/channel is at the limit of what the eye can discriminate. So if you work on the image and loose some depth, you will see this in the result. So go with 16bit/channel in TIF and at the very end convert to JPG with 8bit/channel.

@ 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.

3a8082e126