User guide

DigitDia Troubleshooting and FAQs Page 5 of 6 01-Mar-09
5.4 What are the Best Parameters for Scanning?
It is only possible to make some general comments, because much depends on the purpose
for which the scans are being made. Scanning at 3600 dpi is suitable for all purposes. Most
Image Editors have a function to create a slide show for showing the pictures on a PC or TV.
Recommended settings are as follows:
Pre-Scan See Note 1
Pre-scan Resolution: 300 dpi
Colour Depth: 16 bit
Scan Mode: Quality
Default Scan Resolution: 3600 dpi – scanning at 1800 dpi is hardly any faster, but the quality is
poorer.
Auto Exposure: On
Auto Gamma: Off
Digital Noise Reduction: Off
Default Scanning Area: Off
ICE On - see section 5.5
GEM Off - see section 5.5
ROC Off - see section 5.5
File Type JPG, - see section Error! Reference source not found.
JPEG Quality Best - see Note 2
Notes
1. Pre-scan – if a batch of “similar” slides is to be scanned, then do a Pre-scan on the first 5
and decide if any parameter corrections are necessary
2. JPEG Quality – Approximate typical file sizes are Good = 2.5 MB, Better = 3 MB, Best =
3.5 MB. I could not detect any difference between Better and Best, others advise to always
use Best.
5.5 ICE, ROC and GEM
• ICE (Image Correction and Enhancement) is a hardware feature for recognising dust
and scratches on the slides, and compensating for them. I find it works superbly, and
always have it on. See the User Guide section 6.1.2.4 for some comments about using
ICE with Kodachrome slides.
• ROC - I have found that ROC is not necessary for general landscapes with a range of
colour, but for my transport hobby (bus and train photography), where the bus is a solid
block of colour (particularly a red London bus) using ROC = 25 gives better results (see
User Guide section 6.1.2.4 for an example). If the colours in the scan differ significantly
from the original slide, it is worth experimenting with ROC.
• GEM (Grain Equalisation and Management). In conjunction with ROC, this can produce
excellent results from old faded slides
5.6 Cyberview vs Vuescan or Silverfast
Cyberview V1.15 was better than the current version of Vuescan at the time (needs an update
between current versions of both products)
Despite the claims made for Silverfast elsewhere, JS found the following problems, apart from
the fact that Silverfast is very difficult to master: