what is vuescan

i just purchased a scandual IV and have been pretty happy with the

results. Something i read all the time on these forums is the

importance of vuescan, i just read a thread where some one aid you

absolutely need vuescan. what i dont understand is what exactly

vuescan does that the scanning software or photoshop does not. is it

really essential to get the best results from film scanners? thanks

Hi Alec, Vuescan is simply 3rd party scanning software. You can have a look at it and download a free evaluation copy from http://www.hamrick.com/ . No, it's not necessary; it's just that many scanner manufacturers make good scanners but lousy software. Best wishes . . .

It's not really essential, i.e., ofcourse you can also use the software that came with your scanner, but <a href="http://www.hamrick.com/vsm.html">VueScan</a> is a very popular program that gives you a lot of control for scanning. For many scanners it's also faster than the software that came with the scanner. What I particularly like about it are its color management features. I have a Minolta Scan Dual III.

I like it's b/w scans over Minolta software. Also, I believe it's "scan from disk" capapbility is unique, but not sure about that. Scan from disk is definitely not included with Minolta software.

 

Maybe check out my first posting here.

I tried Vuescan. It seems to be slower than Minolta Dualscan III's software and the interface is not as sleek. May be I'm not doing it right, but I could not discern any advantage in Vuescan whatsoever.

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The downloadable evaluation version puts big dollar signs all over the image in a tight grid fashion to prevent you from making use of any part of the image until you pay to get the proper version. But this makes it very difficult to judge the scanned image from the evaluation copy. I would think a single sign in one quadrant should be adequate, or may be just some inconvenience in usage. Who can seriously use such a version anyways? A hundred dollar signs in the image is too much an overkill. Such an attitude is difficult to appreciate. I deleted it from my harddisk pretty quick. But if some one can point out a specific advantage over Minolta's program in terms of image quality, then I may be tempted to try again. BTW, I do a lot of B&W.

I have used nothing but Vuescan for years on several different scanners. But it's a Ford vs Chevy or Windows vs Mac kind of thing. You can make good scans with the Minolta s/w as well. ditto, Nikon.

 

I find it to be simple to use, no adjustments needed. Just use the defaults and get great scans. But I'm familiar with the user interface. A real bonus is if you get a new scanner. It works just like the old one.

 

I also find a big advantage is scanning outside of PS directly to a TIF. You don't have to remember to make sure you save the original scan file. Plus, I have enough CPU horsepower and memory to be able to scan, work up a photo in PS and print at the same time. I believe the Minolta s/w ties up PS while you are scanning since it only works well usign the TWAIN interface.

 

Lastly, I just like to support an individual who's come up with good s/w and sells it very inexpesively. The free trial is very nice (in spite of a previous post) Download it from www.hamrick.com and give it a shot. If you like it, buy it. If not, just delete it.

 

Bob

ok i downloaded the trial version today and it does seem to be slower the minoltas software. what i dont yet understand is when you making a change in exposure (or anything else for that matter) in vuescan or the scandual's software is it effecting the wasy the film is scanned or is it simply doing what programs like photoshop does. As an example in minolta's software there is an exposure control option, what i change the exposure is it scanning any differently then if i didn't make a change. thanks.

Alec

 

The exposure control in Minolta S/W is not found in Vuescan. But you can get more or less the same result by changing the brightness setting under the color tab.

 

To me Vuescan gives more accurate color. But if you are happy with the colour produced by the Minolta S/W, then you may not need to buy it. Otherwise, spend some time with it and you will love it.

 

I got Vuescan about 2 years ago, at a much cheaper rate. The best thing is that it gets updated very often and will be there for (hopefully) all the new scanners you are going to get in the future, all for free. Look at how the other S/W vendors are doing with their expensive updates and you have to love Vuescan. There may be slightly better S/W somewhere but none more cost-effective.