Sharpening setting used in Silverfast

[AusDLK]

What sharpening setting do you use when scanning using Silverfast and a flatbed scanner when scanning film.

I have a Epson V750.

I have always heard the there should be no sharpening done at scan time but I have also heard a different opinion when using the V750.

What works for y'all?

 

[Keith]

Hi Dave,

I just got an Epson the other day so have only just started using it but Silverfast doesn't impress me ... I use the Epson scanning software. I do sharpen as I scan though and am very happy with the results I am getting.

The negative carriers are dinky and don't match the qualityof the rest of the kit though!

keith

 

[Jamie123]

I use Silverfast with an Epson 4990 and do mainly medium format. I scan in 48bit HDR (16bit for monochrome) with no sharpening and then process the files in Silverfast HDR before I bring them into Photoshop for final processing. I rarely sharpen at all unless I print and I also rarely use digital ICE because IMO the scans come out sharper without it.

 

[Keith]

I have just discovered that the version of silverfast that came with my Epson is outdated ... the joys of living in the colonies. We still don't get the V750 here ... only the 700 which comes with an earlier version that has no thumbnail prescan ... after the prescan you have to manually create the scanning paramaters for each frame. Ok if you're scanning med format but ridiculous for twenty four 35mm frames ... does this annoy anyone else or is it just me?:bang:

Oh yes and when I logged on to their website the upgrade would cost me another $50.00! 🙁

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

When i'm scanning with the V750 I turn off sharpening in Silverfast then in CS2 use the Focal Blade sharpener plug-in at the very last stage once the image has been resized to it's final output size. I sometimes use the sharpening plug-in software from Pixel Genius for "capture sharpening" at the initial stage of the post production in CS2 but usually when i'm working with 35mm negs scanned on the Nikon Coolscan 5000.

Slightly OT I have also found the adjustable MF holder made by Doug Fisher allows you to get a much better scan in the first place which for me means less need for sharpening later on.

 

[AusDLK]

>the adjustable MF holder made by Doug Fisher

I own Doug's MF holder also but haven't done much with it yet.

I have been doing focus testing with the Epson 35mm holder and my XpanScan prototype.

I've found that my sharpest scans come at the lowest film suspension height. And scans from my XpanScan holder were significantly sharper -- probably because the film must slightly closer to the glass.

But according to Doug, all scanners are different and each requires focus testing to obtain best results.

The Epson film holders have three possible heights. Mine is best with the little feet removed completely. Your results may vary.