Opinion Time! Silverfast vs. VueScan

[Rob-F]

I beg to differ and don't like the inference that anyone that uses anything other than the native software doesn't know what they are doing. If that were true, then it would seem that most of the posters to this thread don't know what they are doing. Epson is a hardware manufacturer. Its just possible that software is not their strong point.

I have to agree with the comment about Epson software. The software that came with my Epson 2450 scanner was never a joy to use! It made me reluctant to bother with the scanner. The feeling was, "here we go again, with this dog and pony routine."

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I've always been happy with Epson's software. All I really want the scanner to do is get an image into Photoshop. The Epson does that easily and the interface is intuitive. I've tried both Silverfast and Vuescan, but both are way too complex for my needs.

 

[Trius]

I just purchased VueScan Professional. I tried to use the demo version of Silverfast, but after installing (on XP), neither a shortcut nor an executable was to be found. So if I can't even get the demo to work, that settled it.

I already had the VueScan demo installed, so all I had to do was purchase online and unlock it.

Now my Canon FS2710 is functional again; an XP service pack had rendered the Twain drivers useless, and no amount of fiddling could restore it.

With the Professional version, I get lifetime upgrades and can, I think, run it on multiple platforms. Interface isn't great, but neither is it unapproachable.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I bought the basic Vuescan software a couple of weeks ago, after finally getting fed up with my low-end HP G4050 scanner software (SLOW!!) Vuescan so far has proved to be great for B/W negatives scanning, fast too. Color negatives needs a bit more tweaking on my part.
Still trying to figure out what it all does.
I've heard good things about Silverfast, but haven't tried it.

Vuescan does have some trouble at start-up with the HP scanjet. The warm-up time of the scanner causes something to time-out and the software to lock up. It takes two or three times for me to get the first preview. But once it works it works okay. Though I've had some crash-to-desktops when setting a crop.

For me Vuescan was definitely worth the money. Will have to take a look at Silverfast one of these days.

 

[Fujitsu]

What benefits or limitations might there be with Silverfast?

There is a reason so many people calling it Silverfart.

Better scan with the basic software that comes with your scanner and do everything else in Photoshop.