[filmscanners] Scanner Software Workflow Integration

["" <HMSDOC@aol.com>]

I am trying to figure out a 'happy medium' for the integration of scanner
software settings and manipulations in the workflow of scanning slides.  I would
like something that gives a bit better results and has a bit more control than
the Polaroid scanning software that came with my SS4000+, as it seems to me
that the histograms don't match all that perfectly with the image histograms
that I get in Photoshop and I don't always like the color reneditioin of the
scan.  I very much liked the degree of control I could get with Vuescan except
that it is very frequently crashing my system and when it does I can't turn the
system off except by holding in the power button.  This has happened on 2
different XP systems and with different Firewire cards, so I have given up on
Vuescan.  The scanner came with Silverfast Ai which I have upgraded to the 
current
version.

My concern with Ai is that it is almost like a mini-Photoshop and one could
spend a great deal of time with all the tools before scanning....and I have
learned Photoshop and would rather do the vast majority of my image editing in
Photoshop.  I realize that getting the most data right during the scan process
is best in terms of data manipulation but I do not want to basically learn
"Two" versions of Photoshop and now with PS CS allowing 16 bit manipulation it
seems to me like perhaps there is not too much of a detriment to doing
essentially all the manipulation in PS except for gross adjustments.  So, what 
would a
happy medium be, and how can it be integrated into a Photoshop workflow?

I am thinking that perhaps the best option might be to perform the scan in 48
bit color, use the histogram sliders to pretty much just set the entire data
range from 0 to 256 scan to make sure I capture all the info there is and do
the rest of the manipulation and adjustments in PS using layers.  Does this
make sense or am I doing myself a disservice by not doing more image 
manipulation
in the Silverfast software?

Also, if one uses IT8 calibration with Silverfast, is this helpful with the
scan alone or is the benefit only seen with the application of the Auto Correct
with Calibration tool?

Howard

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