What is your favorite scanning software?

What is your favorite scanning software?

  • Vuescan

    Votes: 168 50.8%

  • Silverfast

    Votes: 67 20.2%

  • Epson Scan

    Votes: 65 19.6%

  • Other (please state)

    Votes: 31 9.4%
  • Total voters
    331
VueScan seems to be compatible with far more scanners than Silverfast. There is just one, continuously updated build. Super simple, and seemingly stable. Silverfast was a mess and poorly written, but when it worked it was fine. I just like the design, stability, pricing structure, and results better with VueScan.
 
I just want the simplest way to scan with the maximum amount of data - all fiilters off. Vuescan makes this easy. If there is a way to do this in Silverfast, they've certainly made it as hard as possible to achieve.
 
I like the epsonscan I get with b&w with my V500. Color is ok. I should shoot more color to learn the curves to get better scans. Or maybe it's not the scans I'm getting but the editing. I find editing from PS6 more difficult to tweak color than b&w.
 
Since a couple of weeks I'm trying to learn Vuescan but I find it complicated and it is not yet under my control, as consequence I find terrible colors. Therefore for my 5000ed I still prefer to use Nikonscan and for the Epson V600 I get better esults with the Epson Scan software.
robert
 
robert blu said:
Since a couple of weeks I'm trying to learn Vuescan but I find it complicated and it is not yet under my control, as consequence I find terrible colors. Therefore for my 5000ed I still prefer to use Nikonscan and for the Epson V600 I get better esults with the Epson Scan software.
robert
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Same for me. I keep an old macbook running os 10.6.8 just for NikonScan4 for CS50 scanning.
The latest Epson Scan is pretty good with the V700.

Vuescan is good for results but frame spacing and framing issues make it clunky :(
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
For Coolscan 5000: Silverfast. The IR channel when using VueScan is effectively useless.
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This is true, but with VueScan you can just turn it off when scanning black and white.

Otherwise, I recommend VueScan Professional because:

1.) It gives great "raw" DNG scans that can be easily manipulated in Lightroom (or Aperture)
2.) In one piece of software, I can use all my current (and future) scanners that I own (3 currently, including one Nikon 5000 and another an Epson 750)
3.) It is easy to manage software, because it is free upgrades and all old versions are easily available

Honestly speaking, I have never seen a better value in software programs. The only downside is it takes a while to find the right scanning process and the interface is a little difficult. When reading Chris' notes, I see that I basically came to a very similar workflow.
 
JohnP1 said:
I voted "other". If there had been an option to vote "none" I would have chosen that. We can argue forever which software & technique produces the best scan, however from a usability point of view, especially for batch scans, they are all awfull.

I have a V750. Epson Scan looks and behaves like something from the early '90's. Vuescan: life is too short. I have never ever managed to get it to reliably and consistently batch scan. Silverfast: probably the best of a bad bunch. Had it not been bundled with the scanner I doubt I would have paid that much for a piece of software that is tied to one piece of hardware. As for their upgrage policy...

These days I use a Nikon DSLR, a macro lens, a slide holder and a light source. Much better, much, much faster and no clunky software :)

John
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I find it very easy to set VueScan up for batch scans. What is true is that for some few film rolls it doesn't center the film right. Usually, though, I am washing dishes the same time I am scanning... because it does work.
 
Rangefinder 35 said:
Vuescan, which allows me to do RAW scans on Minolta Multipro.
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Just for your information:
The software that comes with your Minolta Multipro also allows you to do raw scans. You have to go into preferences and choose "16bit linear" to get a raw scan; you should then also turn off the color matching options.

I have been using Vuescan for a while, but found it to tedious to setup and it had a few bugs where it would reset some settings in between sessions... now I just use my Macbook and make raw scans with the Minolta Software. Much simpler and quicker.
 
I haved used epson scan, silverfast and vuescan.
Vuescan is the most versatile because I can use it with almost any scanner also, I really like the ability to lock exposure and remove the real orange mask from the colour negs I am scanning. What I don´t like from Vuescan is the lack of negative profiles for the most important films like Tri X.
The Silverfast interface is just horrible and got worse from version 6 to version 8.
Epson software is good for b&w scanning but for color negs it doesn´t work well in removing the orange color mask.
 
Ronald M said:
Minolta that came with my 5400.

Tried to down grade computers to handle it with no luck.
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Yes, I wish they would upgrade their software. I kept an old Macbook, from back when they made the black and white versions, and never went beyond the Leopard version just so that I can use my Minolta scanning software.

I like it better than Vuescan... I just need raw scans, Vuescan has way too many options, and kept forgetting my settings...
 
Vuescan worked very well so far on my very old Thinkpad and atixscan.
I can do batch scans on the 135 b&w film. 120 takes me a little longer and I don' t always remember how to switch from 6x6 to 6x4.5.
Now I have to scan few rolls of Porta 160 that I shot with the Bessa R2 during the Summer vacation.
I never scanned color film, I usually do slides.
I hope I will find good settings on Vuescan to scan 35mm color film. That's the task for the weekend
 
Vuescan works on my Epson 4990, which I primarily use for LF, and my Canoscan 8800f, which I use for 35mm and 120. It also runs on Windows, Mac, or Linux, which is a big plus, and has the best interface I've used.
 
Epson scan. Simple, people who wrote it seems to use it as well. VueScan is much more crapier. Silverfast is after VueScan. All I need from those applications is correctly scanned .tiff file which is edited in LR. Epson Scan does it perfectly and on auto with any kind of the film.
 
I've used Vuescan heavily at times, but since I got a "new" scanner with ICE I've reverted back to EpsonScan since Vuescan doesn't support ICE.
 
Nikon scan for coolscan 5000. Never happy with Vuescan and always curious why people pay extra bucks for that instead of solid bundle software coming with the scanner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Epson scan for my Epson flatbed.

Original KM software for my KM5400. No bug, no trouble. I wish I had no upgraded the Mac OS that would run it

Old Silverfast was garbage. Tried a new version and was beautiful. However $500 for a 10 year old scanner with no repair support is not a good investment. Silverfast is scanner specific so I can not use it on another machine. Tried plustec SE on the 5400 and no go.

That leaves Vuescan. I do not like results so the scanner sits unused for years. Shame because the 5400 is a really nice scanner.
 
Put me in the Vuescan camp. Why? Because it works adequately-to-excellent with a very, very wide range of scanners.

I've moved through a few scanners over the years, so its been nice to have Vuescan (Professional, by the way). Currently a Minolta Dualscan IV and an Epson 4490. I keep trying to grab a recent Epson flatbed for all my MF and LF negs. I might even start shooting MF and LF again if that happens. I'm confident Vuescan will be ready for that scanner when I get it.
 
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