VUESCAN - WHY ?

[nicholas_bellamy]

What is and whats the advantage of having Vuescan software over the minolta software

which came with my 5400 elite ?

[steven_clark]

It's designed differently and can allow a quicker workflow of images once you learn to use it. Also it has settings for some different types of film so you can choose one to match your situation. It also has multiple ways to do the color balancing so you can get the colors as accurate as possible before going into the editor.

[ketchemr]

Download a trial version and find out! VueScan is powerful, fast, robust, and updated VERY often. Also, it is a single interface for whatever scanners you might have.

[mendel_leisk]

If you try Vuescan, Minolta Scan Utility's 16bit linear output can be substituted for Vuescan Raw File. This is my workflow for any scanning involving ICE, which I've found to superior to Vuescan's cleaning.

 

The Vuescan Raw File (or sub'd Minolta 16 bit linear file) is a simple but powerful concept. It allows you to scan once, retain this raw file, then use it for subsequent scan-from-disk. In this way you can experiment with various settings without needing to commit to them, if you retain the unaltered raw file. This not possible with the Minolta Scan Utility.

[nicholas_bellamy]

Fanx guys... was also going to ask about how to adjust scan settings without re-scan and

Mendel has answered my question.

[jtk]

I just downloaded Vuescan...I like the interface Vs Laserfast etc.

 

WHAT is "scan from disc?"

 

And WHY does Vuescan offer multiple-pass-scanning..what's that for?

I did it (or think I did) and got a B&W file from a color negative...

musta' done sumthin' wrong?

[steven_clark]

Scan from disc is the option used to produce new images from previously scanned raw files. Multi-pass scanning when it works (it apparently isn't woring for you) scans the image multiple times and averages the results together. This helps decrease noise by taking the samples multiple times. It can also in some ways sorta increase the bit-depth (or useful bit-depth) of the scanner essentially one more bit for each doubling of the number of samples.

[wayne_yoshida1]

Ed Hamrick's software, Vuescan, is usually less pretty but much more powerful than manufacturer's included software. I bought Vuescan and have enjoyed many free upgrades, whereas in my experience scanner manufacturers have no interest in giving me new features once I have handed over my money for their hardware. Ed also listens to his audience and actually fixes bugs.

 

One particular advantage was that when I shifted from Minolta Scan Dual II to Canon FS4000, I got to keep the same interface (Vuescan apparently has its own scanner drivers and doesn't "call" the manufacturer's twain driver). No need to learn new software, and support for new scanners are added constantly.

 

I also appreciate that Vuescan activated single pass multiscanning on my Minolta (which took longer but greatly reduced dark noise). This was a "feature" which was included in hardware but there was no way to activate it in Minolta's software.

 

When I used Canon's and Minolta's software, it gave reasonably good automatic results, but with no way to do any better. The manufacturer's software is not bad. However, if you like to push your scanner capability, you will probably need something else.

 

wy

[alexandru_petrescu]

<em>[muti-pass scanning] can also in some ways sorta increase the bit-depth (or useful bit-depth) of the scanner essentially one more bit for each doubling of the number of samples</em>

<p>

Oh, I didn't know that, is it so? I think I can multi-pass up to 16 times; this implies it can become a 20bit bit-depth (instead of 16bit)? Or is it that the practical bit-depth is 12bit and multi-pass increases it up to the theoretical 16bit?

<p>

Besides, when I multi-pass the ouptut file is not bigger than the single-pass.

<p>

I thought the multi-pass is just a way of averaging cell reading errors so the value averaged is much closer to the real.

[rob_sronce]

"[muti-pass scanning] can also in some ways sorta increase the bit-depth"

 

Multiple sampling does not in any way effect the bit depth. If you will remeber from "intro to PCs" there are eight bits in a byte. A bit is the smallest unit of memory that can be manipulated. It has a binary value of 0 or 1.

 

Generally when referring to a "bit depth" of "x" what we really mean is "bits/color channel." In the RGB world an "8 bit" scan actually has 24 bits or 3 bytes that make up the information each pixel holds, one byte/channel or "24 bit color." With a "bit depth" of 16 you are getting "48 bit color."

 

Why care about bit depth? Each bit/pixel can represent two values -- "on" and "off." Each addition bit doubles the number of values. So follow me along 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and we are up to 8 bits being able to hold 256 different values. We keep going and with 16 bits, 65,000 possible values; with 24, 16,777,216.

 

Some will tell you that going beyond 48 bit colr is a bit silly since the human eye can't see much better than that. Others will surely disagree. I won't argue since I still say I can hear a difference between an analog recording on vinyl and a CD even though the audiologists say I can't.

 

Bit depth is driven by the device that made the original image. If your device (camera, scanner) does not convert the analog light value into a digital value using 16 bits/channel you are not going to get there using software.

 

On many scanners you can choose the bit depth of the resulting image, but you are not going to exceed the maximum depth of the device. Why you ask? Because some image-editing software (PSE 2 for example) cannot handle 48 bit images.

 

"I thought the multi-pass is just a way of averaging cell reading errors so the value averaged is much closer to the real."

 

You are exactly correct. Its a way of averaging values. The scanner takes a few readings and "decides" which one is "best" using some really cool math no doubt. This is a way to reduce "noise" in the image.

[wes_baker1]

With the multi-scan, sometimes you can knock back the noise so far that you can tease a little more detail out of the shadows before the noise becomes objectionable. So it can't increase bit depth, but in the end, if you work carefully, you can achieve a result better than the hardware manufacturer's own software. It can be a time-consuming process, but VueScan is almost always cheaper than a new scanner.

[rob_sronce]

Minolta's software does support multi-pass scanning.