Vuescan preview sharper than final scan

[Captain Kidd]

I recently downloaded a trial of vuescan to give it a try, have been using Silverfast, or at least trying to with varying degrees of success.

Im liking vuescan, it seems at least to be more successful with colours but I noticed something this evening that I thought id ask.

When creating a preview, and setting both the 'Preview resolution' and 'Scan resolution' to 2400dpi, when i compare a screen grab of the preview with the final scan, the preview is ever so slightly sharper, ive attached two images to show. You might have to download both and flick between to see what I mean. The areas would be the droplets just to the left of the red light, and also the lines running across the clear plastic part of the light.

I dont think this is because its a trial version that only allows a certain resolution. Are additional settings applied that might affect tones and this is just a slight optical illusion, or possibly related to final scan being a tiff and the preview in vuescan obviously something else?

Any help would be great,

Thanks

 

[michaelwj]

Hi Captain,

I notice this too, but I preview at 900 and scan at 3600. I think the the preview has increased contrast, and some sharpening applied, and the final scan is essentially a raw scan. That's just my guess, but I'm sure you could email them directly with your question? I've always got a response within a day when I emailed them, they're very helpful.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

My guess is the preview has sharpening applied, as Michael mentioned, but that you had sharpening turned off for the final scan, or set to a lower value than Vuescan uses for the preview.

 

[Captain Kidd]

Thanks, though on the Vuescan trial I have, theres only a box to click for 'Sharpen', which I had clicked for the final scan, how do you go about increasing the value? maybe the trial has limited options? Im in professional mode.

 

[Captain Kidd]

Concerning the increase sharpening, I may have downloaded a trial of the basic Vuescan though I can't see how to download a trial of the professional version even though its mentioned on the site that a trial exists.

 

[Captain Kidd]

If somebody could give me a screen grab of the 'color' tab options on their Vuescan that would be fantastic, the website only tells me that 'advanced features' are available with the Pro version, Id like an idea of what those advanced features are. Ive attached the features I have under colour, im pretty sure this is a trial of the basic.

 

[md2008]

If somebody could give me a screen grab of the 'color' tab options on their Vuescan that would be fantastic, the website only tells me that 'advanced features' are available with the Pro version, Id like an idea of what those advanced features are. Ive attached the features I have under colour, im pretty sure this is a trial of the basic.

Here is screen capture from version 9.5.55. x.x.57 is available, updated Oct 13/16, but the link on the website still takes me to x.x.55 so I haven't updated. I can't imagine it would be all that different though.

 

[michaelwj]

Also keep in mind that some features are scanner specific, and will only show up when the correct scanner is connected.

 

[Captain Kidd]

Thanks md2008, thats great and thanks for that pointer michaelwj, that makes sense. The show IT8 outline, whats that exactly?

 

[rogue_designer]

IT8 is a calibration target and standard for optical scanners. They can be used to build custom profiles for a specific scanner and printer.

The preview does have sharpening applied. In my opinion, it is better to scan without sharpening, then add the appropriate amount of sharpening at the end, for a given output size. (After it has been resized to the final).

E.g. a web resolution image will have different sharpening requirements, than a file set up to print an 11x14.

 

[Captain Kidd]

add the appropriate amount of sharpening at the end, for a given output size. (After it has been resized to the final).

I never thought of this, thanks

 

[rogue_designer]

Sure thing. I end up preserving the original scan/master as a sort of RAW/Negative. Then I have 2-3 output files from it, for different sizes/uses. Burns through Hard-drive space, but that's relatively cheap these days.