Re: filmscanners: SilverFast Upgrade Disaster

[RogerMillerPhoto@aol.com]

I called the SilverFast U.S.A. office and got help.  (They're slow with 
answering e-mail.)  They said you have to pay $45 to upgrade Ai and another 
$45 to upgrade HDR.  Also, they charge to upgrade each scanner you have.  The 
exception is for Polaroid since they use one piece of software for both the 
SS4000 and the SS120.  So a full SilverFast upgrade would cost me $90 and I 
could use it with both scanners.  Of course, the smart thing to do (which is 
what I always try to do) is to upgrade only HDR and not Ai.  Then you can 
make use of the negative profiles in the upgrade to HDR and not use Ai at all 
for image processing.  (If you don't know what Ai and HDR are, see my last 
paragraph.)

SilverFast is having problems with passwords and usernames for the upgrades.  
I was given a new one over the phone (don't know if it works yet) but they 
never answered my e-mail about it.

SilverFast has a problem with doing an IT8 calibration, at least on a PC.  It 
gives an error message that says you haven't aligned the frame correctly 
around the IT8 target.  Ian Lyons says it works OK on his Mac.  SilverFast is 
working on the problem and asked me to send them a screen grab just before 
the error message pops up.

For those of you who don't know what Ai and HDR are, they are two components 
of SilverFast and can be purchased separately, thought they use basically the 
same coding.  Ai talks to your scanner, gets the image, allows you to adjust 
levels and colors, and then stores it as a 24-bit file.  It can also be used 
in "dumb mode" where it gets the image from the scanner and stores it as a 
48-bit "raw" file without doing any modifications to the data at all.  HDR 
doesn't talk to the scanner at all.  The only thing it can do is get the data 
from a file (such as the one Ai created in "dumb mode").  Then you can adjust 
the image in 48-bit mode and, when done, store it as a 24-bit file for use in 
Photoshop or whatever.  So an upgrade (which adds negative profiles) need 
only be done to either Ai or HDR, depending one which one you want to use for 
color correcting, etc.

In a message dated 8/8/2001 12:39:52 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
mail@davidgordon.co.uk writes:


> RogerMillerPhoto@aol.com [RogerMillerPhoto@aol.com] wrote on Tue, 7 Aug
> 2001 18:53:05 -0400
>
> >Does anyone know if the $45US upgrade includes both SilverFast Ai and HDR? 
>  
>
> I think it does but I've always been confused about HDR. My Polaroid 5.5
> upgrade allows me to save raw scans, that's HDR ain't it? (Scan Type: 48
> Bit HDR Color)
>
> I'm confused because when I bought (note, bought, not bundled!)
> SilverFast I received two serial numbers, one for Ai and one for HDR. I
> seem to remember putting the HDR serial number in once, but never since
> I've used an update and 5.5 hasn't asked either.
>
> Of course as HDR is doing a raw scan the NegaFix will be of no importance.
>
> >I don't 
> >want to go through the effort of another IT-8 calibration if the upgrade 
> >destroys the calibration.
>
> Remove your "Polaroid (SilverFast)" folder from your Photoshop Plugins
> folder and put it some where safe. Then install the 5.5 upgrade - which
> is a full version and does not update the old copy. You now have two
> copies, version 5.whatever and 5.5. You will need to calibrate for 5.5
> but it will not have any effect on your old version. Come to think I had
> both versions in my Plugin folder at once, no problem.
>
> >My recommendation would be that no one have anything to do with SilverFast 
> >until they get their house in order.
>
> They sorted my serial number/password problem within two hours of my
> calling. You need to speak to the Florida office. They are helpful,
> despite everything!