t._storm_halvorsen

Well, so far my conclusion is to drop tethered shooting altogether. It seems very limited and I can see how it will probably

just slow me down. It seemed like a brilliant idea but is probably a bit more useful for something like product photography

than for my general needs and moving locations.

Control My Nikon is very advanced and I spent a lot of time watching instruction videos for different features but the

software is too unstable and crashes on my computer with the latest Windows on it. Perhaps when it is updated. Smart

Shooter seems a bit cumbersome to use for zooming and navigation and DigiCam Control would have been my favorite

for its simplicity, except that the images it displays aren't sharply focused for some reason, and so in other words useless

for checking focus. It doesn't help that the computer in question has a horrible screen for determining anything accurately.

I think I will focus on the moment and contact with a model instead of tinkering with more cables and buggy software. I

simply get too angry with computers that slow me down.

But thanks again anyway for brilliant help and suggestions! :)

Lots of great advice here, thanks!! I will check out every one of these options and see which solution is best for me.

Perhaps even more than one depending on the situation.

I like the remote control idea. For my Fujifilm camera I have an app for my iPad. Never tried such a solution for Nikon but

I could have used it yesterday when the model didn't show up and I shot corny 'selfies' for an hour and a half and then

went home. I was running back and forth adjusting focus and clicking off timed releases. But it was fun and I need the

excercise. :)

Thanks again everyone for excellent tips!

Yes, I basically just want to see if I nailed focus so Lightroom isn't neccessary I suppose. The computer in question is a

Microsoft Surface Pro 2, which is a device I deeply hate. Bought it for editing on the go and have found it horrible in nearly

every way. Still it has Lightroom which people say is handy for shooting tethered, so it simply didn't occurr to me to use

anything else. No Hdmi, only USB. But since the answer is that I would have to change the software, then yes, I'll have to

try one of the other solutions suggested.

I don't thing Camera Control Pro supports my camera. At least it isn't listed among the supported models. But now I know

that it isn't a question of a camera setting or something else I have done wrong, so new software it is. :)

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi guys,

I tried tethered shooting in a studio yesterday and found it easy to set up with my Nikon DF and Lightroom 5.6. However I was surprised

that no images were being recorded to the memory card. They all went into the computer only.

The studio computer is not used for editing so it would be a lot better for me to have a copy on my camera's memory card as always. I

figure that since you can buy memory cards with built in WiFi (I use a cable) and these cards come in various sizes, then something is

supposed to be written to the card. But how?

Also Live View didn't work which I would have liked but I suppose that's normal under these circumstances.

My camera store here in Oslo has this listed as producing extremely crisp and detailed images at f1.4.

My impression after buying it is that it simply isn't an f1.4 lens in reality as it is unusably muddy at that aperture. I haven't

been able to produce any image even under test conditions that give any evidence that the lens can Render anything

clear wide open. Nothing like for instance that test image with half an eyebrow in focus. It's not even pleasingly soft, just

muddy and riddled with chromatic aberations.

At f2 you get very soft details but absurdly the autofocus can't seem to nail it more than once in a while.

Tried tuning AF but there really isn't enough detail to work from.

At f2.8 you have a usable lens with nice soft falloff. I would have labled it as a 58mm/2.0 and bundled it with a coin since

it is a coin toss if something will be in focus or not at f2. But it can never be used wide open, unlike for instance the

85mm/1.4G which is supreme wide open.

I wanted a soft 50+ lens but I think the marketing claims of this was down right false. If I had lived in the States I suppose

I could have returned it. Here, if you buy it over the counter it is yours forever. So be it. I'm sure I will get some pleasing

results with it. But not wide or nearly wide open.

Yes I know. I used to have the biggest Power Mac but that one is of course outdated and gone years ago. The Mac Mini

is perfect for my simple use now that I don't render 3D or edit video anymore. Also it is nice and quiet since it is next to

my bed and I rarely turn it off. :)

Yes, expanding my memory solved my constant crashes. This was following that advice from SilverFast support. But too

bad that they list a system requirement that just isn't true. I had enough memory for all other uses so it was an extra

expense. But oh well. I'm sure if I scanned at full res and applied dust removal and other things then I would need more

memory still. But there are no more memory slots and I'm not buying a new Mac just yet. Also the screens on the iMacs,

which are the next step up in power, are not as good as the one I have now with my Mini.

No, I haven't timed it. I only scanned a few photos at 5300dpi because the Mac Mini is struggeling with files that big. For

instance, when you zoom and then drag the image sideways in Lightroom to look at details, there is a delay of meny

seconds each time before anything happens. Those files are huge and I think the grain looks sharper at the lower

resolution anyway. I would be surprised if the actual optical resolution isn't in fact a bit lower than 5300dpi. But I don't

know, it just doesn't look quite right to me.

No, I have a Mac Mini and it doesn't fully meet the actual system requirements of Silverfast. For instance, the required memory is listed

as 3GB, I think it was, and SilverFast simply won't run with that. Constant crashes. I have expanded the memory to 8GB, which is the

Mini's maximum amount. That is to say, on two of Apple's pages I visited, the maximum amount of RAM for my model is listed differently,

as either 8GB or 16GB. But in any case they don't sell bigger memory modules than a pair of 4GB.

So 8GB I have which is juuuust enough. I scan medium format at the default resolution of 2650dpi and leave all of the tools off except for

double exposure. That is as good as it gets.

Will be interesting to see what a future VueScan version will be like when it arrives. SilverFast is simply too primitive and outdated.

I've been away from this type of work for a few years but I would assume that the offset printing standard is still 300dpi. At

least that should be good enough. My question is really if two finished exported images in the same size and resolution

will be different if one was scanned at the default setting of 2.650dpi and one was scanned at a higher resolution? And

they are both sized down in the end?

I too have reached the conclusion that it is better to sharpen afterwards. Or rather that SilverFast's sharpening is applied

afterwards anyway, so it doesn't do anything optically and different from Lightroom.

But was I was wondering is if it's an OK procedure to apply sharpening in Lightroom until it looks about right and then

export the final image, or if it would be better to export the image at the final size and resolution first and then reimport it

and apply sharpening? I'm aware also that material intended for printing can take a bit more sharpening than material

intended for screen viewing.

Thanks. :)

I have a few basic amateurish scanning questions concerning 120 film scanning on my new Plustek OpticFilm 120:

SilverFast defaults to 2.650 dpi and so I thought this was the optical resolution of the scanner. But apparently that is four times higher, so

for scans that are destined for say a vinyl LP cover, should I scan at the full optical resolution and then output reduced files in Lightroom,

or will this quarter resolution of 2.650 yield equally sharp scans for my intended use?

Also regarding sharpening for offset printing, I have learned earlier that extra sharpness should only be applied when exporting a final

downsized image for printing. But that was before Lightroom which doesn't seem to have any option for applying extra sharpen when

outputting an image.

So am I correct in assuming that sharpening normally in Lightroom will not give an inferior result if I export a smaller image file in 300dpi?

If not I suppose I would have to reimport the reduced file and then apply sharpening and save/export a second copy?

I have to say that I find resolution and sharpening confusing for scanning. I didn't even think the new scanner was very sharp until I

realized that you can apply a lot more sharpening for a scan than for a digital camera file. Being afraid of oversharpening, it makes me

nervous to apply a sharpening setting of maybe 85 for a scan but it does look OK on my screen at least.

<p>Thanks but unfortunately that only somewhat helps. I was able to select the second frame once but Silverfast crashed instead of performing the scan (it crashes a LOT) and I was never able to select that frame again. THat is to say, I select it, but the first frame is prescanned instead.</p>

<p>I finally scanned that frame just to see the result and it was nothing like the prescan. It comes out a negative and upon inverting it you find that the originally dark image is extremely overexposed and washed out white. It is also as soft as a flatbed scan.</p>

<p>I need to know if there is any hope of getting this to work or if I need to take it back. Here in Norway it is doubtful that I will even get my money back but they had one left in stock today and I may be able to get that one instead.</p>

<p>That is to say if this isn't all some incompability with OSX 10.8.3</p>

<p >Thanks, that worked fine! So far I haven't been able to scan a single negative tho. Is there a manual anywhere explaining how you choose which part of the film strip to scan?</p>

<p > </p>

<p >In the WorkflowPilot I choose Negative and it only prescans the left half of the 120 mm film strip. Scan mode is greyed out until this is done. When completed I have the incomplete film strip and the red selection frame cannot be moved or resized. Now I can choose scan mode Transparent 6x6, but I only get a preview image of the full first negative and there is no way to choose other frames of the film strip.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Tried a dozen times now. If I choose prescan outside of the Pilot the negative holder just goes all the way through and nothing is scanned. It prescans to 99% but nothing comes of it.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >There has to be a proper manual somewhere? Because simply clicking start like the small bundled manual says doesn't let me choose what to scan.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Feel like an idiot here. Have been working with Photoshop and other digital stuff for 19 years (even older versions of Silverfast) but I cannot even get a simple preview going here. :(</p>

<p>Just picked up mine today in Oslo, Norway.</p>

<p>A bit disappointed because it isn't true that you need a DVD drive on your computer OR an internet connection like their flyer said. You cannot activate Silverfast without the disc, so since new Macs don't have DVD drives I guess I will have to buy one just for this registration.</p>

<p>Annoying because it is $100 extra but mostly because I don't get to use this new toy today.</p>

<p>Also there is no Mac driver on the Plustek site nor through software update and I assume you need one since there is a DVD bundled for that as well.</p>