The version I use is Ai studio 8, which I bought for 99 dollar, including a calibration target to be used when scanning slide film. With this scanner Silverfast SE 8, the most basic version of their software, is free.
#Epson scanner software disappears software
Here are a few crops from the image above, where you can see the difference between the scans from the lab, my own scan, and a scan with added sharpening in Lightroom. The issue with the scans I got from the lab are, I believe now, due to sharpening. If only to get more experience, and get to the point where I can tell a lab exactly what I want. However the experience with the scans I didn’t like pushed me over the final hurdle, and I decided to go and buy a scanner. But up till now I was afraid that my own scans would never be as good as the scans from the lab, and I felt that it would be a huge frustration spending a lot of time scanning with results that are always second-best. There have been a couple of posts on this site discussing the cons and pros, and I did like the idea of having more control. (Kodak Portra 400)īesides this experience I had been toying with the idea of home scanning earlier. One of the photos from Scotland that led to buying a scanner. I felt I needed more knowledge of the scanning process to have a meaningful discussion with a lab. But here is my problem: I didn’t really know what to tell them. I realised however that it was too soon to blame the lab, it just meant that I would need to start a conversation about how I prefer my scans. However when the scans came back, I was disappointed, I didn’t like the look, and they needed quite a bit of work to get them to my liking. Therefore this time I decided to give Filmdev a try.
After the holiday I sent my film to a new lab, because I had a disappointing experience with spots on scans a while back with Ag photo lab. And this time I would not only shoot digital, but I brought my M2 as well. For some reason we had not been there since I started my photography obsession, so I had been waiting for a chance to shoot there. I had anticipated this trip for quite a while, because Scotland is one of my favourite places to go, it’s just so incredibly beautiful. Last September my man and I visited Scotland for a two-week holiday.
Today I want to share the why, what and how of my scanning adventure.