LASERSOFT SILVERFAST Ai for the Minolta Dimage Scan Multi PRO scanner
This is a
hands-on test of the new Silverfast Ai 6 software for the Minolta Dimage Scan Multi PRO scanner. The software versions being tested here are v6.1.0r5 and r8 for PC. Although the sw was tested on the Minolta Dimage Scan Multi PRO scanner, I
anticipate that most of my comments also apply to Silverfast for the Dimage Scan Elite 5400 scanner. A description and test of the Multi PRO scanner can be found Information about related sw updates is available
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The approach
A foreword about the scope and priorities of this test. You will not find here a thorough list and description of the functionalities of the Silverfast software. I am only going to give a brief overview of the product and its functions.
Rather, my main interest is to answer the following questions : 1 - Does Silverfast represent a valuable alternative to the Minolta Dimage Scan software? 2 - How does the workflow compare with the Dimage Scan software?
3 - How does the overall image quality compare with the original Dimage Scan software in terms of detail, gradients, colour?
4 - does it allow to use the scanhancer, a device that I consider indispensable with the Multi Pro? You can find a detailed description of the Silverfast software and download a trial version at the address
Overview
Silverfast comes in several versions : Ai, SE, DC and HDR. The Ai version reviewed here is specifically designed to
operate with scanners. The HDR version is designed to work with scanned images in raw format, and can thus be used in conjunction with any other scanner / scanning sw combination. Silverfast can be installed as a Twain resource or a Photoshop import plug-in. It can also be used as a stand-alone
application thanks to a "Silverfast Launcher" module. The user interface includes several windows which can be freely arranged on screen:
main window containing a toolbar (to activate the major editing functions), tabs and a few buttons (prescan, scan, options) prescan window including a preview image and a palette of buttons
scanpilot window to guide the user through the scanning workflow (can be disabled) densitometer window negafix window
The quantity of functions and settings available within Silverfast is huge. The user interface is sometimes a little
confusing and in my opinion could benefit from some redesign effort. I agree with Peter Wolff of Photographical.net that the growing number of functionalities packed in the sw along the years have made it difficult for the designers
to keep the user interface simple and easy to read (a link to Wolff's review can be found at the bottom of this page). In particular, there are many small buttons distributed in several palettes and it is not always easy to
understand where to look at for a specific command, and which settings are currently selected. For
This means that in the first period of use you may have to turn to the user manual more often than you would desire. After a while, however, everything will be under control.
Apart from these issues, the documentation and help available is relevant. Silverfast also incorporates, along with the usual help buttons, Quicktime movies in each dialog to guide the user with tutorials. But what matters more to all of us is how the software works. Here are some relevant features of the product :
example, the
button to select the sampling rate between 1x, 2x, 4x, 16x (see image : the button on the left shows an 8x sampling, while the one on the right shows a 4x sampling) is small and difficult to read. As
another example, it took me some time before I managed to find the button to select the frame number within the transparency holder for prescan. 
Silverfast is colour-management (ICC) aware. It allows users to generate specific ICC color profiles on any scanner supported. Using this feature, you can calibrate your scanner using a standard color target (a standard IT8 target is supplied with the product). SilverFast will not only generate a profile, it will also generate its own internal calibration based on the target.
Silverfast includes an impressive quantity of image correction controls, whose intervention can be verified immediately in the pre-scan window. These include : exposure auto-adjust, histogram edit (including adjustable cast removal), curves, global and selective colour correction, a colour neutralization tool (MidPip4). What is most important, all these functions work in 16bit, which will guarantee lossless editing of the images.
Additional tools such as infrared-based dust removal (dICE), other grain, noise, dust and scratch removal tools (GANE and SRD), descreening, sharpening (which I recommend not to use at this stage, however, and leave for a subsequent editing stage. Those who prefer to do some unsharp masking within the scanning software, however, will appreciate that Silverfast uses a "virtual" LAB colour space. This will apply the sharpening only within the luminance channel and avoid affecting colours).
The Negafix tool, coming with a huge database of correction curves for almost every negative film available. Besides this, the user can fine-tune / create profiles through an "expert-dialog" which is not only powerful but also a great fun to use. When the desired result is achieved, the new profile can be saved in the database of profiles.
Silverfast meets the Scanhancer
The first question I want to answer is : does Silverfast work with the Scanhancer (you can find a review of the Scanhancer and the reasons why I consider it so important here) ? The main problem with the Scanhancer is that it partly absorbs light. Being placed between the scanner lamp and
the film, the scanned images become darker, i.e. the histograms shift to the left and shadow detail can be lost. This issue can be managed in the latest versions of the Minolta Dimage Scan software thanks to the introduction of an
exposure tab (a lucky coincidence, as the two things are certainly not related to each other). By properly increasing the exposure, the scanhancer can be used without limitations in the density range that the Multi Pro is capable of scanning. How does Silverfast cope with the darker image when the scanhancer is in place? Two options are available :
an "auto-exposure", a manually controlled exposure slider.
In both cases the software is able to retrieve the full density range of the images being scanned. To summarize this point : yes, Silverfast can be used with the Scanhancer, and they work together very well.
In particular, the auto-exposure function (the related button on the prescan window button palette is
illustrated on the left) works well, thus eliminating in most cases the need to fine-tune the exposure manually. This is very practical and a time saver. The auto-exposure seems to interpret correctly the
lower illumination of images and increases the exposure accordingly. An additional feature I would like to have : an indication of which exposure correction is being applied by Silverfast, with the option to
use it as a starting point for further manual adjustments.
CCD Calibration
The Dimage Scan sw comes with a command to calibrate the CCD / lamp sensitivity ("shift-ctrl-i" on Windows systems). This accounts for the differences in CCD elements' sensitivity and lamp illumination as the scanner and
CCD warm up (a process that usually takes at least 20/30 minutes). Starting from v6.1.0r7, a "re-initialize" command is available in Silverfast, located in Options menu -> Special panel.
If you have an older release I recommend to download the update from the SIlverfast website. Unfortunately, however, the re-initialize operation automatically ejects any film holders, so the calibration does not account for the
eventual presence of the Scanhancer.
Image quality (slides)
A foreword is necessary here. In my opinion the Multi Pro scanner should as a general rule be used with dICE on. Not using it not only makes the workflow longer due to dust and scratches, but it also tends to emphasize the tendency
of the scanner to show grain. Below is a sample image (Fuji provia 100 slide, medium format) scanned with Silverfast and Dimage Scan, dICE on,
with and without the scanhancer, magnified at 150% to better illustrate the scan results. The images have undergone some processing, but no sharpening was applied. I tried my best to obtain similar luminosity and contrast
for the different scans. My comments :
The combination Dimage Scan / ICE / no Scanhancer tends to produce artifacts with many images and slide types. This combination is NOT recommended, i.e. the dICE should as far as possible be always used with the
Scanhancer in place. The combination Silverfast / dICE / no Scanhancer tends to produce much lesser artifacts. Please consider
that the above image is a very tough benchmark in this respect. Most other images are less problematic. Therefore this combination can be used without major issues in many cases, although the Scanhancer will help
achieve a better quality in any case. The results with the Scanhancer in place are similar. No artifacts are produced with either sw. I am not able to
say if any of the sw produces better results than the other, we are talking of personal preferences here.
The Dimage Scan exposure was adjusted manually to render the whole density range of the slide being scanned, while Silverfast adjusted (correctly) the exposure automatically.
Image quality (negatives)
Comparing the quality of negative scans was not very straightforward, due to the limitations and peculiar workflow of the Dimage Scan software. Actually, the workflow I currently use (and recommend) when using the Dimage Scan sw
is as follows :
1 Scan the negative image as positive. Disable all controls. Adjust exposure to compensate for the orange mask (example : R +0, G +1,1, B +2, see related discussions on the
2 Invert the image and adjust gamma, contrast and colour in an external image editing sw.
With Silverfast, the workflow is definitely more intuitive : all corrections are made at the pre-scan stage and the results can be immediately verified on the pre-scan window.
Also in this case I have tried my best to obtain similar luminosity, contrast and colour with the two scanning softwares. The image being illustrated below is taken from a
DSMP user group for details on this topic).
The practical differences are rather subtle. I observe that the Silverfast scan seems to have more contrast, and
grain is slightly more visible in the highlights. These two characteristics may well be related to each other. Therefore, these differences may be simply due to the greatly different workflow used in the two cases.
A similar situation is illustrated in the second detail : the Silverfast scan is a little more "punchy" and also a little more grainy in the highlights and medium tones. The situation however is reversed in the shadows : here the
Silverfast scan is definitely to be preferred, because the Dimage Scan has some sort of "random noise". Again we are talking fine differences, which I believe would hardly translate into visible differences when printed.
An interesting issue is that apparently Silverfast does not adjust the exposure to account for the orange mask. Apparently the R, G, B exposures are not compensated, and all corrections are made at sw level after the scanning is
made. At the current stage, I cannot say if this has any impact on the quality of the final image. Judging from my own scans I do not see any negative evidence. For sure the density of negatives is not a particularly difficult task to
handle, but in any case I would feel more comfortable if the exposures of the R-G-B channels were fine-tuned to begin with.
While the final results of the Silverfast scans do not differ dramatically from the results that can be achieved with the Dimage Scan software, the difference in the workflow is relevant. The Silverfast workflow is more complete and
flexible. The availability of the Negafix functionality (illustrated below in "expert mode") allows to fine-tune the corrections to be applied at the pre-scan stage, taking into account the characteristics of the specific negative film
being scanned. It is a huge amount of information made available by the sw.
Dynamic range and histograms
One of the worst and well known issues of the Dimage Scan software is represented by the clipping of histograms, especially with negative film (see my original test here, as well as an update). Clipping is represented e.g. by RGB values which fall outside the 0-255 range. These values are automatically set to 0 or 255, thus losing information
and producing "walls" at the edge of our histograms. Silverfast does rather well in this respect. The following figure illustrates the histogram dialogue applied to a slide.
Current settings and dynamic range are displayed. Each histogram can be adjusted manually (brightest / darkest / midtone point). The degree of colour cast removal (0 - 100%) can also be defined. Auto-adjust working mode can be user-defined within the "Auto" tab of the Options window (see picture below) :
both the threshold and offset for the highlights and shadows can be adjusted. In setting the thresholds to 0 all image data should be maintained within the 0-255 range of the RGB histograms. Increasing these values will allow
some clipping of image data.
The histograms obtained using the auto-adjust function are usually fine, although they tend to have a very slight clipping which can be eliminated, if desired, by working on the auto / options and histograms. According to your style
of editing however, you may find these additional steps unnecessary. All above editing commands are disabled if you select HDR format output.
With negatives, the Negafix application takes care of controlling the dynamic range (see figures below). Again, I found that standard settings do tend to clip some values. By accessing the "expert dialogue", however, you have full
access and control on the histograms.
The histograms on the left show some very slight clipping (many will consider it quite normal). The situation can be changed by playing wth the "auto-tolerance" slider and the luminance bars (left - shadow, right - highlight) in the
L-H-S (luminance / hue / saturation) diagrams. The window on the right illustrates how the dynamic range was expanded to reduce clipping.
Focusing
Silverfast provides the following focusing options :
disabled, automatic focus with selectable focusing point, manual focusing.
I recommend the use of the automatic focusing option, which according to my tests works very well. The depth of field of the Multi PRO scanner is rather good, but with some curved slides, if not using a glass carrier, it may be
necessary to pay attention in the selection of the focusing point. The manual focus is quite accurate : a focus preview window allows you to verify a small portion of the transparency
and see if it is perfectly in focus (see image below). The process is not very practical, however, because every time you want to try a different focus position, the portion of transparency needs to be scanned again. This process may
take some time. Since the automatic focus works very well, I recommend to leave manual focus only for extreme cases where you are not satisfied with the automatic focus results.
Workflow comparison
Silverfast workflow The workflow adopted by Silverfast is certainly one of the most powerful and flexible among scanning tools, with
either positive or negative transparencies (see table below). It should be noted, however, that for those who prefer to work with raw data files, all image editing functions become disabled. Dimage Scan workflow Although the Dimage Scan software also provides several editing functionalities, I recommend to bypass them and leave any editing other than manually adjusting the exposure for further processing in an external editor. The
software should be used at its simplest to overcome its bugs and design limitations. Provided you stick with this approach, the results can be very good. The table below summarizes the workflow differences between the two products.
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It includes :
PROs and CONs
PROs
Silverfast is a very good, reliable, well designed, complete scanning software. It makes the scanning process both easy and fun.
It is equally suited for the novice as well as for the expert user. It will be very easy to get near-perfect images even on your first attemps. On the other hand the expert users will find plenty of functions and options
to fine-tune it to their preferences and work style. It is designed to work in a colour-managed environment. It comes with an IT8 colour calibration target,
through which it is possible to produce a colour profile for the scanner. This represent a starting point to correct the colour casts introduced by the scanner in the scanning process. A very important feature.
48bit HDR format output available, with gamma correction. Infrared-based dust and scratch removal is well implemented.
CONs
The user interface could be improved. The scanning operation is a little slower than the Dimage Scan software. Some of the operations are also a little more noisy.
CCD calibration does not account for the eventual use of the Scanhancer Expensive
Conclusions
This package offers some very interesting features, the most notable being in my view the integrated colour calibration process and the Negafix functionality. Silverfast is an excellent choice if you like to have an integrated
approach to image editing within the scanning process. On the downside, I have to say that it is an expensive product (see below. prices are in US Dollars in the U.S. and in Euro in Europe). This may represent a relevant issue
for non-pro users. The cost includes, however, the IT8 calibration targets, which themselves are expensive. I would certainly recommend Silverfast to professional users, for whom the buying price is easily recovered.
I would also recommend it to users (especially novice users) who cannot / do not want to take the hassle of using the original Minolta sw, which is heavily limited by its bugs and by the lack of an integrated colour management approach. A version of Silverfast is also available for the Dimage Scan Elite 5400.
This version is cheaper, a commercial choice of Lasersoft to account for the less expensive hardware : 199 USD / Euro (also includes an IT8 calibration target).
From a final image quality point of view, the results that can be achieved with the original Minolta Dimage Scan software are not that much different, but require you to follow a very precise and less intuitive workflow that is not
for everyone (see table below for a summary). Especially, it is not suited for novices. In fact, I know that some users abandoned the Multi PRO scanner because of the bugs and limitations of its software.
Recommended
Parameter |
Silverfast 6Ai + Scan Multi Pro |
Dimage Scan + Scan Multi Pro |
User Interface |
*** |
**** |
Colour management and handling of individual colour profiles |
***** |
** |
Scanning speed |
*** |
**** |
Workflow speed and batch processing |
****1/2 |
*** |
Auto-exposure and image editing functions |
***** |
* |
Filters (dICE, ...) |
**** |
***1/2 |
Image quality : slides (novice / expert) |
***/**** |
*/**** |
Image quality : slides + scanhancer (novice / expert) |
****/****1/2 |
*/****1/2 |
Image quality : negatives (novice / expert) |
**/*** |
*/*** |
Image quality : negatives + scanhancer (novice / expert) |
****/****1/2 |
*/****1/2 |
Links
Silverfast website :
www.silverfast.com Download demo version :
Photographical.net review and tutorial : Silverfast review