CoolscanIV on Mac: Vuescan vs Silverfast

<p>Recently I upgraded from an older Windows XP-based to an iMac with Snow Leopard OS. Nikon furnishes no software upgrade for my Coolscan IV which thus now is inoperative.<br>

I have read many threads on the web, mostly older ones from 2002-2007 though, on the two software options above.<br>

Conventional wisdom seems to be that Vuescan is somewhat akward with an old-fashioned interface but pretty reliable. With good but not outstanding quality of the scans. Silverfast on the other hand is purported to be more flexible, considerably expensive and perhaps liable to crash now and again. I found one (!) entry where the author shows image samples where the Silverfast image is much sharper than Vuescan? Balderdash?<br>

Now I mostly use to scan slides but also plan to scan some BW negs from the 70´s, many never enlarged before.<br>

What´s the latest from the users of this forum?</p>

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<p>Conventional wisdom seems to be that Vuescan is somewhat akward with an old-fashioned interface</p>

</blockquote>

<p>What's conventional wisdom???<br /> <br /> Vuescan is very straight forward and well laid out. It offers a lot of setting options which translates to control not old-fashioned. Do realise that scanning software is not about image processing and all scan results will show a little softness before sharpening and there are much better tools around for that than the scanning software.</p>

<p>Ive scanned thousands of images with Nikon scanners and Vuescan and would highly recommend Vuescan - awkward certainly is not a word I would use to describe it. You just need to realise that its only part of the process and scanning should really only focus on extracting as much information as possible and not producing a finished image.</p>

<p>I have used both software packages on a Mac system with Nikon, Minolta and Epson scanners.Most of my scans are color transparencies. Vuescan is really a bargain, given that one license let's you run many different scanners and even the professional edition is quite inexpensive. If you add, say, a flatbed scanner at a later time, you won't need to buy another version of software. I find it's interface to be more basic than Silverfast and not as visual/graphical, but still easy to use once you become familiar with it. It doesn't have all the editing capabilities of Silverfast, which you don't need anyway if you work in Photoshop, Aperture, etc. post-scan. I have also experienced operational quirks with Silverfast, such as a scanner refusing to initialize or to launch, but none with Vuescan. In my experience, if you use the Pro version of Vuescan set to Advanced Options, and properly set up and color calibrate the system, the scans of either software product are comparable.<br /> I used to be exclusively a Silverfast user. Now, I'd go with Vuescan Pro.</p>

<p>You could boot to Widows using Boot Camp and run NikonScan.</p>

<p>Vuescan is logically laid out, efficient, vastly customizable, with raw file capability. One Pro license is good forever, and will work with any current or future scanner you're likely to have. The author is an approachable, intelligent responsive guy.</p>

<p>I tried a Silverfast trial once or twice, was completely befuddled by a myriad of unidentified tiny icons in multiple windows. Just could not get going with the program. Bearing in mind that the expensive license is good for a single scanner, I gave it a pass.</p>

<p>I use Nikon Scan v4.03 bootcamp and Vista x64 on my MacBookPro with SL ...</p>

<p>I may at some point try out Viewscan using SL, but boot camp works so well I haven't seen a need for it yet.</p>

<p>"Vuescan is somewhat akward with an old-fashioned interface..."</p>

<p>I would rather say it is a matter of taste.<br>

I personally belong to the group of people who switched the desktop of XP to the "classic view" as first thing after installation :-P I also regret that I do have to use the new flavor of the desktop in WIN7. So in a way I am a dino :-)<br>

So - yes you will not get 3D buttons on mint and purple background. Neverhteless the buttons do their thing irrespective of the shape and the color^^.<br>

And as a bonus I know and can understand what each button does. Not really up to today's ideas is it?<br>

I like this Vuescan and can fully recommend it from its function. (And yes I still own licenses of Silverfast, used it but stopped using it.)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Thanx everybody!<br>

I have downloaded the trial version of Vuescan- the interface looks nice but sadly I have not managed to get my OP to recognize the Coolscan yet. So no chance to try it out as of today.</p>

<p>I would also recommend Nikon Scan under windows. Procure a copy of Windows XP Home for under $100 OEM at newegg.com, and use Boot Camp to boot into windows. I've tried the others and still much prefer Nikon Scan as a good free scanning software package for Nikon scanners. </p>

<p>You guys might want to try Nikon Scan anyway, if you're not dead-set on the other software- I've had great luck running it under Snow Leopard with a Coolscan V- I know they say it's not compatible but I swear it runs better than it did on Tiger,</p>

<p>FWIW Nikon Scan works fine on my iMac, which I upgraded to OS 10.6 a couple days ago. I know that doesn't help your computer work, but I would not simply assume that it can't be done.</p>

<p>When I tried to implement the Coolscan software in my iMac I got a response like "this software is no longer supported" or the like, that´s as far as I got. Nikon support in Sweden state that their software is no longer compatible.<br>

So how did you guys get the iMac OS to accept the Coolscan software (Nikon Scan3)?<br>

FWIW, I got the trial version of Vuescan up and running yesterday, not decided yet if this is the way to go. I have no experience with Bootcamp partitioning of the harddisk and running Windows (and Nikon Scan) that way. </p>

<p>To run bootcamp effectively you should have experience with Windows. Which is what BC does quite nicely. Apple has good documentation on it here:<br>

<a href="http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/">Boot Camp Installation Guide</a><br>

And there's this PDF eBook too, but I tend to think it's not worth it unless you have no experience with this process:<br>

<a href="http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/windows-on-mac.html">Take Control of Running Windows on a Mac, v.3.0</a></p>

<p>The only advantage that eBook has is that it covers slightly more complex setups and questions one may be left with after checking out the Apple docs.<br>

Just for kicks last evening I installed NikonScan v4 & the update 4.02 on SL. From briefly reading around, it appears that what works under SL is the NS plugin (that's also installed) in Photoshop, and not the direct application, because I had no easy success trying to run that under SL.<br /> <br /> And like I say, NS under Windows works quite well, and better for me than the plugin under Photoshop Windows.</p>

<p>Borgis, download Nikon Scan 4 from their website here:<br>

http://support.nikontech.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/61#Anchor-7<br>

There is a 4.02 update as well- it will install under SL, but for some reason still says it is 4.0, just ignore it. Good luck-</p>

<p>We just bought a CoolScan 5000 knowing we couldn't use it on our Intel Mac, but thought we'd run it on our Windows 7 laptop. But that didn't work either. So we tried it on our little Acer Netbook running XP and the Atom processor. Wonder of wonder - it works flawlessly. And what a great way to keep it working in the background while we still have use of our regular computers. We're saving to a remote drive that I can easily move over to my Mac for importing into iPhoto.</p>

<p>Trying to download NikonScan 4 from the support page above sadly only renders gibberish once download is completed, in line with prior trials. So its back to either Vuescan or Nikonscan with Boot Camp partition under Windows.</p>

<p>I just set up my new Windows 7 computer and expected to resume scanning my aunt's vast slide collection and using Nikon Scan. (My scanner is a Coolscan V ED.) Immediately I discovered that Nikon Scan doesn't work with Windows 7 -- at least not yet. I contacted Nikon and was told to try either VueScan or Silverfast. From what I've read here it definitely sounds like Vue Scan is the better option. <br>

Is there any way to purchase VueScan other than from creator Ed Hamrick's website? Apparently it's not available at stores such as Best Buy. I presume the program can be downloaded and that a disc can also be purchased. At this point I don't know which version to buy -- regular or Pro, since I don't know if I would need the extra features. At any rate, if it's necessary to buy from Mr. Hamrick's website, I guess it makes sense to start with the 30-day free trial version. <br>

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.</p>

<p>Just want to confirm what Steve Renwick stated, Nikon Scan 3.1.4 works with Mac OS X 10.6. I had installed 10.6 with NS 4.0.2 installed and it failed to run the SA-21 film strip adapter. NS 4.0.2 worked with the MA-20 transparency adapter and the FH-3 adapter OK. I found the NS 3.1.4 on Nikon USA Support and downloaded it and installed after trashing the NS 4.0.2. NS 3.1.4 successfully installed and runs as usual. Still trying to figure out what I lose by going backwards vs. what I gain. Anyone know? I tried VueScan and not use to the UI after more the 6 years with the NS UI. Hey, it works, ain't broke, nothing to fix now. </p>

<p>Not all is well. I am now having problems with NS 3.1.4. Crashes with a major error. However, if I run NS 3.1.4, start a scan (w/SA-21), get the error message, close it down, I can then run NS 4.0.2 with no problems. Go figure, but it works, so far. Just couldn't get my arms around VueScan after so many years of Nikon Scan. Any one have a solution yet?</p>