Good scan software

[andreas_holmstr_m]

Hi!

 

I have a Minolta Scan dual III. I like the scanner, but I've been reading that

the provided software is rubbish.

 

What other scanning softwares should I consider for better scans?

 

Thanks!

Andreas

[William Kahn]

I have two Minolta scanners, and I have to agree that the Minolta software is crap. I hear that Vuescan is good, but I know nothing about it. I've used Silverfast AI6 for years and it's excellent...

[ronald_moravec1]

People think it is rubbish because they never took the time to learn it.

 

I have a 5400 film scanner and operate with the provided software and the manual that is for all their scanners.

 

It has the the ability to set up and store programs for scanning black/white, color neg, slides, batch scanning. I have programed work for black/white and each of the different color neg films I use. The color neg is prescanned, then I call up the film type from the job registry, hit apply and the corrections I programmed into exposure control tab change the image prescan to something very close to acceptable. There is an exposure slider, and also one each for RGB to correct color balance in exposure.

 

Next you fine tune using the image correction tab. Starting with the histograms, master and individual RGB. There is a curves function built in also. Next in immage correction is a second exposure control, color saturation, and individual color control tabs. Then you do the final scan.

 

I almost don`t need Photoshop anymore for basic global image corrections and you are far better off getting a good scan rather than adjusting a bad one in PS.

 

If you do not know how to correctly balance colors with levels and do slight curve adjustments from photoshop, no software will help. What you have to learn is what can be improved in the image and how to go about doing it. This software will accomplish all corrections required.

 

What is it you want the software to do it does not accomplish? I find it to be better suited for global corrections than Photoshop. If you want to change a sky or apply a gradient, then PS is required.

 

The whole problem with the software is the instruction book. There are too many ways to do the same thing and you need to establish a sophisticated profesional work flow like I outlined or some amateur self corrected automatic one. My manual has them intermixed and it is difficult to separate the steps. It took two days time to figure out the above. It should not be that difficult.

 

Send a PM if you need more help.

[godfrey]

I use Vuescan to drive Minolta Scan Dual II, Nikon Coolscan IV ED and Epson 2450 scanners.

Works great, plenty of adjustability and feedback, does the job I want. The Minolta software

was always rubbish, never even bothered installing the Nikon or Epson software.

 

Godfrey

[jtk]

The only "rubbish" I've run into, using Vuescan, Nikonscan, Epson, and Minolta, is Silverfast SE (which works OK but is only a marketing ploy). The others have all been fine with all films, though I prefer Vuescan. They each have strengths and weaknesses but they're all capable of beauty.

[mendel_leisk]

I like Vuescan, *except* for it's cleaning, so use a combo wherever ICE is possible: scan everything as slides through Minolta Scan Utility, outputting 16 bit linear tiff, and then use this file Scan-From-Disk through Vuescan.

[steven_clark]

I sue Vuescan essentially exclusively with my Scan Dual III. I've been using it for years and I really like the fine control over things like color balance, exposure, clipping, and color management. With the new "Curve high" and "Curve low" sliders in the color tab it's much easier to get good unclipped output for editting and have it look pretty decent too than it used to be.

[AaronFalkenberg]

I have this scanner, and I have never needed or wanted to use any other software. I'm not biased towards it (I have an Epson V750 with which I use VueScan), but the Minolta software offers everything I need to get a good robust scan with a quick and logical workflow: multisampling, focus control, accurate levels adjustment and curves. Instead of reading whether something is good or bad, use it so you can judge for yourself.

[robert_k1]

I tend to agree with Ronald and Aaron regarding learning to use a tool available to you well, instead of searching for the *best* tool that you don't have.

 

I scan raw from my Minolta 5400 with its native MSU sw, and make all corrections in PS. I have yet to find the need for a third party sw. Minolta's documentation is not the best (but neither is VS' or Silverfast's), and it takes some interpretation and experimentation to get my workflow right. What helps is to understand that a scanner's hw is pretty crude, and much is done by the sw. But a scanner's sw capability is far inferior to PS'. Once you know what is done by a scanner's hw, reading the documentation is much easier. Here's a related link on how to separate a scanner's hw and sw:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00IUe6

[k5083]

I agree. Minolta's software is fine. I was an old Vuescan user from my previous unit, but Hamrick never got Vuescan to handle ICE correctly with the Minoltas and the added control wasn't worth the need to retouch manually.