Re: Scanner Software -- long, referring to Epson
- From: tomm42 <tmonego@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 07:02:32 -0700 (PDT)
On May 21, 2:14 pm, P. Taine <u...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I recently purchased the Epson V700, and am, in general quite happy with it.
There are, however some (to my mind) rough edges. I have seen references here
to non-Epson software, such as SilverFast and ViewScan, and wonder if one of
these would answer at least some of my wishes. I am including a list of
questions which I have tried to get answered by Epson, with most resulting in
"that's the way things are". Could some of the experts here comment, in
particular with regard to third party software?
<query>
Questions for Epson
Hardware: V700 Photo
Software: Epson Scan, WinXP Pro
1. Thumbnail creation for 35mm slides. The algorithm sometimes fails, in any
one of several ways, e.g. it mistakes a portrait orientation for a landscape or
vice versa, it mistakes a dark area at one side (either horizontally or
vertically) for the edge of the image. I have found only one way to correct
these errors, and that involves repeating the preview scan with "thumbnails"
un-checked, and then setting the marquee manually. This is a great waste of
time. Given that the definition of a thumbnail is equivalent to the definition
of a marquee, it should be simple to allow the user to request an enlarged
"zoom" for a specific thumbnail, set to include the entire scannable area, as
defined by the aperture in the slide holder. Then, even though the user must
still manually set the final marquee, the excess time needed for a full area
repeat of the preview scan (and the concomitant loss of the remaining, correctly
defined thumbnails) would be avoided.
2. Handling of non-35mm 2 inch by 2 inch slides. I have a number of color
transparencies mounted in 2 inch by 2 inch cardboard slide holders which are not
35mm film. Two of the sizes cannot be scanned using the slide holder, the image
areas being square and having the corners masked by the aperture. My only
recourse is to scan them without a holder. But this places the film in an
intermediate position, not directly on the glass, as is assumed when a hold is
not used, nor as high at the slide holder would place it. Because of this I
have two sub-questions:
2a. Depth of field. What is the depth of field of the scanner when using the
transparency mode?
2b. Film height when using a holder. What is the expected distance between the
glass (below the film) and the film when a holder is used? I have asked this
question a number of times already, and been promised an answer, but I have
never received the promised response. Note that this is also of interest when
scanning negatives which do not fit any of the supplied holders, as it is stated
that the Digital ICE will not work without a holder.
3. Color restoration. The color restoration, for old slides, does a remarkably
good job in most cases, although it almost always requires a bit of hand
adjustment to tone-down a tendency to redden images. However, is some case it
does a terrible job. In particular, images with large areas of blue (such as
sea-scapes or sky-scapes) are always turned to muddy browns, while large areas
of yellows (grain fields and such) are brightened garishly. Is there any way to
select an area (e.g. using a marquee), applying the color restoration algorithm
to that, and then expanding that correction to the entire image? Or must I
chose between complete manual adjusting and noting the values of all the color
channels for the small area and then manually setting them for the image? Again,
this would seem to be a simple addition to the current set of options (as in the
thumbnail selection, previously discussed).
4. Color restoration again. I note that the color restoration "lumps" the upper
and lower values in the channels. This has the unfortunate result of
obliterating detail in the darkest and lightest areas of the images. Is there
any way to control this when it is desirable, or must the results be manually
worked with?
5. Poor interactions between backlight and color restorations. I find that if I
apply both of these adjustments to an image I invariably must manually adjust,
usually the red channel, to obtain a decent image. Can these two features be
taught to play well together?
<\query>
Perhaps I should split this into a number of individual posts, but I really
would like a discussion of them as a group with respect to third party software.
Thank you for any help.
I found the auto set up of the thumbnails to be worthless, for slides
I do a prescan and set the scanning area on the thumbnails by hand,
much faster than doing the auto set and adjusting. I like my outlines
to include the edge of the slides which the auto select didn't, this
is very quick when you get used to it. This also give the opportunity
to fine tune each slide, I mostly use the curves function (save some
presets). I just use the "Professional" section of the Epson
software. If you take time to understand the controls they are decent
(certainly not perfect) for getting very good scans. I have scanned
35mm to 4x5, color and b&w, on mine and have very little complaints.
Oh yes another thing, I put all slides in landscape, so once I set the
outlines on the thumbnails I don't have to change them. Rotate
vertical images after the scan.
The autocolor correct won't correct everything, it is an algorithm
just to correct the basics, can't expect it to handle everything, use
this to get a start then use your image editor to finish. Don't over
set the color correction as that may get your slide into a situation
where you can't correct it. There is going to be hand work with any
restoration project.
Tom
.
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