The Vuescan discussion thread...

When I first started scanning, I had both EpsonScan and Silverfast SE bundled with the scanner, and I tried both. I found the Silverfast interface overly complex, and (as far I can recall) EpsonScan simpler but limited. What made me go to VueScan was a killer feature that neither Silverfast nor EpsonScan had - the ability to save the scan data as a raw file, and reprocess it as many times as I liked with different settings.

I think there is an even more expensive version of Silverfast that supports this (the Archive suite)...
 
The Vuescan scanner pages for the Plustek 7500i and 8200i have not been upgraded since Catalina was released (not surprising), but both still suggest using the 32-bit version of Vuescan, which won't run on Catalina.

I'm trying to work out how we put pressure on Plustek to upgrade their drivers, given their strange attitude above...

There's nothing said about 32-bit on the Vuescan page about the Epson V500, so it's possible the issue referred to above was actually Epson Scan being 32-bit, rather than the driver? Has anyone who uses Epson Scan had warnings when using it on 10.14 Mojave?

DPReview has a post today that says Vuescan has been updated to 9.7, to include reverse-engineered drivers for many scanners with 32-bit drivers:

"VueScan was upgraded this week to version 9.7. With it, Mac users can use their older 32-bit scanner with their Apple desktop or laptop even if they're running macOS Catalina. The third-party software is made possible by reverse-engineering drivers for more than 6,000 older scanners from 42 manufacturers, including film scanner and flatbed models.

Manufacturers include Ricoh, Canon, Fujitsu, Kodak, Nikon, Panasonic, Polaroid, Samsung, Mitsubishi, and Epson, among others; a full list of supported models can be found here. Overall, VueScan supports around 2,400 scanner models on Windows, 2,100 models on Mac, and 1,900 models on Linux."

The page for my scanner (Plustek 7500i) on the Vuescan site now says:

"You need to install the Plustek driver to use this scanner on Windows x86.

You can use this scanner on Mac OS X and Linux without installing any other software."

I have not yet actually tried this...
 
Well in case it hasn't been mentioned a minus for silverfast is it only works for one type\model of scanner, so if you change your scanner for another one (even the same make) you have to buy another copy of silverfast.
 
Last edited:
Well I have silverfast and viewscan but Epson software is so easy to use...as many agree that silverfast has a steeper learning curve, what is needed is proof that you get better results using silverfast compared to viewscan...... or even Epson software.
Well also an expert setting up the scanner and just using Epson software would probably get better results than I (or others) using silverfast or viewscan if they are better software. :D
I haven't used Epson software since getting Vuescan many years ago, but was a bit surprised at the control seen in the video below. The first 10 minutes is basic, but from 10 mins onward shows what can be done with Epsonscan software scanning on a V700.
 
I haven't used Epson software since getting Vuescan many years ago, but was a bit surprised at the control seen in the video below. The first 10 minutes is basic, but from 10 mins onward shows what can be done with Epsonscan software scanning on a V700.

I always use those settings when scanning on my V550 (which I still use for medium format scans). You get a far better result.
 
I always use those settings when scanning on my V550 (which I still use for medium format scans). You get a far better result.
Thanks Nige, since I've always been impressed by your MF scan results. The Epson support page has updates for the software, so I guess I'll have to dig out the original software disc and load it first.
 
Apparently my V500 is incompatible with their software on Catalina. Fortunately Image Capture and Vuescan are quite happy with it. Doubt I'll buy a new scanner just to please Epson!
 
Yes it seems Epson San 2 works for the V550 in Mojave and Catalina but apparently not the V500 (which I have). Happily Vuescan apparently does work.
 
Well yesterday played with the latest version of Viewscan and Silverfast ver 6.5 and think both are confusing compared to Epscan, and after spending about 20mins on each couldn't get a decent scan or even past the prescan. So they both might be better than epscan? but just couldn't be bothered to learn how they work..

epscan(y)(y)(y)(y)
 
Yes it seems Epson San 2 works for the V550 in Mojave and Catalina but apparently not the V500 (which I have). Happily Vuescan apparently does work.
I thought the only difference between the 500 & 550 was the inclusion of Silverfast. That’s the only difference between the 700 & 750 I think.
 
I thought the only difference between the 500 & 550 was the inclusion of Silverfast. That’s the only difference between the 700 & 750 I think.
Hmm. I shall try to pretend it’s a 550 later and see if it will allow me to download.
 
well I've just found out that there is an update for Epscan using the V750......it says for win 10 although I never had any problems before the update. Nice to know Epson are still interested in their scanner software side.
 
I thought the only difference between the 500 & 550 was the inclusion of Silverfast. That’s the only difference between the 700 & 750 I think.

I haven't checked, but I think that there was also a different optical arrangement claimed. I also recall someone saying that they thought that the V700 was actually preferrable in that respect.
 
Yes it seems Epson San 2 works for the V550 in Mojave and Catalina but apparently not the V500 (which I have). Happily Vuescan apparently does work.
I thought the only difference between the 500 & 550 was the inclusion of Silverfast.

Looks like you might be right, Nick... on Epson's support site the V600 suggests a download of Epson Scan 2, while both the V500 and V550 say "No available software for your OS (Mojave)". I don't remember where I got the idea that the V550 was supported!
 
Just picked up a copy of Vuescan to give it a try, but I'm confused by a setting somewhere. Any power Vuescan users here that maybe able to help....

The preview that pops up looks fine, but when I go to scan I end up with a cropped image. Crop Size has been left on auto, haven't touched anything in crop.... any ideas why previews show up as full size but scans go to a random crop!

Cheers
 
Just picked up a copy of Vuescan to give it a try, but I'm confused by a setting somewhere. Any power Vuescan users here that maybe able to help....

The preview that pops up looks fine, but when I go to scan I end up with a cropped image. Crop Size has been left on auto, haven't touched anything in crop.... any ideas why previews show up as full size but scans go to a random crop!

Cheers

I always use the crop lines to mark out the area of the negative. It seems to vary slightly from frame to frame, particularly the first and last frames of a strip. My guess is that by not setting it you've picked up a random crop somehow. Try setting it manually and see if that works. (BTW I've never succeeded in getting the multiframe scanning to work.)

Oh, it might also be helpful to know the scanner you're using...
 
Thanks @ChrisR, not sure where I've picked up any random settings... just downloaded and bought it this afternoon. I'll try auto crop and default preview settings and see how that works.

I'm using a Plustek 8100 scanner by the way!
 
Thanks @ChrisR, not sure where I've picked up any random settings... just downloaded and bought it this afternoon. I'll try auto crop and default preview settings and see how that works.

I'm using a Plustek 8100 scanner by the way!

As it's a Plustek, it's a single frame at a time, so the multi-frame issue doesn't arise. I have an older Plustek, and as I said, I manually set the crop for each frame (sometimes no adjustment is needed from the previous frame, but it's surprising how often it does need a tweak).
 
Just had the Newsletter arrive, and passing on the update piece about Mac Catalina for info.
Update on macOS Catalina

We’ve seen a lot of new customers for VueScan since Apple released macOS 10.15 (Catalina). The reason for this is that a lot of vendor-provided scanner software was 32-bit, and Catalina only supports 64-bit Mac apps. In addition, Catalina only runs apps that have been ‘Notarized’ by Apple.

We’ve had the x64 version of VueScan since 2010, and it works well on Catalina. We’ve also notarized all newer versions of VueScan.

The main types of scanners that don’t work with vendor-provided software are from Fujitsu, Canon, Brother, HP and Epson. We’re especially seeing a lot of new users who use Fujitsu document scanners. Fujitsu sells $1B of document scanners per year, and their older document scanners still work very well. Many of these were only supported on Windows, and they can be used with VueScan on macOS and Linux.

We expect a similar surge in business when (if?) Apple release MacBooks using ARM chips. We already support Windows computers with ARM chips, and it will be easy to add support for these potential new MacBooks using ARM chips.
 
I have a number of boxes about the house and loft and garage full of envelopes returned from film labs, over the past... 50+ years. I have a medium term project to transfer all of these old negatives into the folders I've been using in recent years. Just yesterday I was going through a box from 2013; there were a dozen or so where the negatives were already in sheets that could be filed (the rest will have to be re-sleeved). While labelling these easy ones, I found a sheet with a roll of Provia 400X, taken on the Llandudno meet (was that really 7 years ago?). I remembered the roll, as it's the only roll of Provia 400X I've shot, and remembered it as a film much past its best. I had a look in my archive and yes, very faded and rather greenish would be my assessment. Imagine my shock when I held the strips up to the light and saw what appear to be lovely, natural colours! EDIT: Don't rely on Chris' memory, it was actually expired Ektachrome E200, and on closer examination the greenish scans came from experimenting with the fade setting in Vuescan!

So this film deserves a re-scan, or at least the better frames do. I've had a lot of trouble scanning slide film, so I thought I should refresh my memory on some of the issues. I've recently found my IT.8 target after it had hidden itself away for a few years, so I'll definitely re-profile the scanner.

Has anyone seen any good guides to scanning slide film (specially using Vuescan)? I'm minded to ask prompted by the video in the posts above, showing a whole new workflow for scanning. I've not been able to find anything comparable. I did find a video from a guy called Chis Crawford, but it's mostly the stuff I already know. He skips over profiling without mentioning its significance, so that's a mark against, too. I did get one interesting suggestion from it: set the white point to zero (default is 1)... not a very clear reason why, and he illustrates it by showing problems when its set to 4! There's also a description of batch scanning on his Nikon scanner, which might be useful hints when I want to try batch scanning on the V500. Anyway, the video is here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pfYw1DzHJY


EDIT: Actually I'm rather less sure this guy knows what he's talking about. There were some somewhat dodgy statements in the video above, and even more in the video about Vuescan Raw, in which he seems to go right off the rails. Nevertheless, viewed with some scepticism, it could be useful for folk just starting out with Vuescan. /EDIT

However, I'm looking at something more specifically about the slides. For example, I'm wondering about tackling the dynamic range of transparencies (specially deep shadows) by locking the exposure, and then using the exposure controls that appear to make multiple scans giving a wider exposure range than the standard Vuescan multi-exposure does, then subsequently combining them in PP...
 
Last edited:
I have a number of boxes about the house and loft and garage full of envelopes returned from film labs, over the past... 50+ years. I have a medium term project to transfer all of these old negatives into the folders I've been using in recent years. Just yesterday I was going through a box from 2013; there were a dozen or so where the negatives were already in sheets that could be filed (the rest will have to be re-sleeved). While labelling these easy ones, I found a sheet with a roll of Provia 400X, taken on the Llandudno meet (was that really 7 years ago?). I remembered the roll, as it's the only roll of Provia 400X I've shot, and remembered it as a film much past its best. I had a look in my archive and yes, very faded and rather greenish would be my assessment. Imagine my shock when I held the strips up to the light and saw what appear to be lovely, natural colours!

So this film deserves a re-scan, or at least the better frames do. I've had a lot of trouble scanning slide film, so I thought I should refresh my memory on some of the issues. I've recently found my IT.8 target after it had hidden itself away for a few years, so I'll definitely re-profile the scanner.

Has anyone seen any good guides to scanning slide film (specially using Vuescan)? I'm minded to ask prompted by the video in the posts above, showing a whole new workflow for scanning. I've not been able to find anything comparable. I did find a video from a guy called Chis Crawford, but it's mostly the stuff I already know. He skips over profiling without mentioning its significance, so that's a mark against, too. I did get one interesting suggestion from it: set the white point to zero (default is 1)... not a very clear reason why, and he illustrates it by showing problems when its set to 4! There's also a description of batch scanning on his Nikon scanner, which might be useful hints when I want to try batch scanning on the V500. Anyway, the video is here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pfYw1DzHJY


However, I'm looking at something more specifically about the slides. For example, I'm wondering about tackling the dynamic range of transparencies (specially deep shadows) by locking the exposure, and then using the exposure controls that appear to make multiple scans giving a wider exposure range than the standard Vuescan multi-exposure does, then subsequently combining them in PP...
S
Some scanners do not have the power to penetrate the deepest blacks on transparencies. So in that case multiple scans will not help much. Even some of the top of the range scanners can have problems with maximum density on slides.
 
Last edited:
While fossicking around this topic on Yout*be, I found this video on Vuescan Raw and Negative Lab Pro 2 that I thought was interesting, and produced a good result for a raw scan of a negative...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0aFsNqKjE


AFAICS Negative Lab Pro is $99 plus VAT etc, so comparable to (or possibly a bit dearer than) ColorPerfect. Unlike the latter, NLP runs as a plugin to Lightroom, which I think (CP is a plugin to Photoshop or Photoline, but I believe NOT Affinity Photo). From the video, NLP looked quite a lot easier to use than CP, but that might simply mean it's less configurable. There's another video by someone else that appeared in the recommendations column, but I haven't watched that yet.

Does anyone here use Negative Lab Pro?

EDIT: https://forums.negativelabpro.com/t/using-negative-lab-pro-with-vuescan-raw-dng-scans/25

EDIT: Another video of the same combination, slightly more informative I thought...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrB3zrPjcH0
 
Last edited:
I had not heard of it before. But it would seem to be an easy way to go if you are still shooting film and converting to digital files.
But for the rest of us perhaps not so necessary.
 
Resurrecting an old thread here, but it seems appropriate... I've just scanned a black and white film on my Plustek 7500i with Vuescan Pro. A month or so ago I upgraded to the 64-bit version when MacOS complained about the 32-bit version, but since then I've only scanned documents on our all-in-one, or some 120 on the Epson V500. This time I couldn't get Vuescan to recognise the Plustek. After replacing all the cables, re-starting etc, I tried the 32-bit version, and it worked. I thought I'd better report the apparent bug to Hamrick, and this morning I got a reply from Ed:

"Yes, the Plustek plugin library for this scanner is a 32-bit library, which is why only the x32 version of VueScan works with it."

I asked him if the plugin would get updated to 64-bit:

"I don't think Plustek will update this, unfortunately. The V500 uses a 64-bit plugin."

I'm on the High Sierra version (10.13) of MacOS-X, yet to upgrade to Mojave. I think the latter is the last version that will accept 32-bit software. So it's looking rather as if my Plustek 7500i will join the growing list of scanners that won't work with modern software! I can delay upgrading for a while (and probably will, as I'm currently worried about Aperture stopping working), but sooner or later it's gonna happen! I really don't like scanning 135 with the Epson. :(

So, I recently saw an announcement somewhere that Vuescan had been updated to include replacement drivers for the Plustek. I've just downloaded the 64-bit version on my Mac (still on Mojave), turned the Plustek on and connected it... and, lo! Vuescan can now see my Plustek!

This is really good news, and yet another example of what a fantastic value proposition Vuescan is! Thanks, Ed Hamrick!!!

Oh, BTW it should remind us that those with Epson V500/V550 which aren't supported by Epson Scan 2, should continue to be able to scan with Vuescan.
 
So, I recently saw an announcement somewhere that Vuescan had been updated to include replacement drivers for the Plustek. I've just downloaded the 64-bit version on my Mac (still on Mojave), turned the Plustek on and connected it... and, lo! Vuescan can now see my Plustek!

This is really good news, and yet another example of what a fantastic value proposition Vuescan is! Thanks, Ed Hamrick!!!

Oh, BTW it should remind us that those with Epson V500/V550 which aren't supported by Epson Scan 2, should continue to be able to scan with Vuescan.

Do you have the 7600i?
 
Mine (7600i) worked with the trial version on Windows, is it a Mac issue that was fixed?
 
Mine (7600i) worked with the trial version on Windows, is it a Mac issue that was fixed?

Yes, to the extent that Apple in its infinite wisdom decided that the next version of MacOS would not run any 32-bit software, and Plustek hadn't bothered to upgrade its drivers. I think Wind*ws is currently a bit more flexible, and there's less of an issue there. The 32-bit version of Vuescan has been working fine on Mojave (the "previous" version that I'm still on), but the 64-bit version used not to see the Plustek. Hamrick has obviously written a Mac driver of some kind for the Plustek. Good man!
 
... this film deserves a re-scan, or at least the better frames do. I've had a lot of trouble scanning slide film, so I thought I should refresh my memory on some of the issues. I've recently found my IT.8 target after it had hidden itself away for a few years, so I'll definitely re-profile the scanner.

... For example, I'm wondering about tackling the dynamic range of transparencies (specially deep shadows) by locking the exposure, and then using the exposure controls that appear to make multiple scans giving a wider exposure range than the standard Vuescan multi-exposure does, then subsequently combining them in PP...

As a follow up on this, I scanned one frame of the E200 with Vuescan at 3600 spi (samples per inch!), saving 48-bit files to JPEG, TIFF and Raw (DNG). The TIFF and Raw files were about 100 MByte each (JPEG 3.5 MByte), so this is something I'm unlikely to adopt as part of my normal workflow!

Anyway, I then tried opening the DNG Raw in the various photo processing tools I happen to have on my Mac. The results were interesting:

Apple Aperture - No
Apple Photos - No
Adobe Elements 9 - No

Capture One Pro 12 - Partly

Affinity Photo - Yes
Iridient Developer - Yes
Luminar 3 - Yes

The processing software marked Yes could open and apparently edit the files. Capture One Pro 12 could open the files and display the image (possibly from a preview in the Raw file), but didn't allow processing. Note, I haven't tried this with Raw files saved as TIFFs.

I'm pretty sure that @Andysnap has reported previously that he can open and process Vuescan Raws in Lightroom, and the Martin Henson video mentioned above shows Vuescan Raws opened and processed in Photoshop. (I thought I might be able to test this out with a quick download of Camera Raw, but it appears it only works with one of the big boys!)

So in theory I can work on Vuescan Raws in more functional image processors than Vuescan itself. Unfortunately I have not been able to get to grips with Affinity Photo yet; the very mention of layers causes a fog to descend over my brain! Likewise Luminar 3, for different reasons.

I suspect I can probably get most of what I want from processing the TIFF files in Aperture or C1Pro though...
 
Before scanning the frame above, I forgot to re-profile the scanner. Today I found the IT.8 target and accompanying CD, and eventually managed to re-profile the scanner. Then I've re-imported the Raw file into Vuescan, and "scanned" it using the ICC profile created. Imported the TIFFs from both into Aperture, no adjustments other than a bit of Levels...

a) Un-profiled

CS1309PMEE un-profiled 2.jpg

b) Using the ICC profile

CS1309PMEE profiled 1.jpg

The difference looks a bit starker in Aperture, but to me the profiled version looks more natural.

(Pentax ME, unknown lens, Ektachrome E200, Wolf Faust IT.8 target)
 
As a follow up on this, I scanned one frame of the E200 with Vuescan at 3600 spi (samples per inch!), saving 48-bit files to JPEG, TIFF and Raw (DNG). The TIFF and Raw files were about 100 MByte each (JPEG 3.5 MByte), so this is something I'm unlikely to adopt as part of my normal workflow!

Anyway, I then tried opening the DNG Raw in the various photo processing tools I happen to have on my Mac. The results were interesting:

Apple Aperture - No
Apple Photos - No
Adobe Elements 9 - No

Capture One Pro 12 - Partly

Affinity Photo - Yes
Iridient Developer - Yes
Luminar 3 - Yes

The processing software marked Yes could open and apparently edit the files. Capture One Pro 12 could open the files and display the image (possibly from a preview in the Raw file), but didn't allow processing. Note, I haven't tried this with Raw files saved as TIFFs.

I'm pretty sure that @Andysnap has reported previously that he can open and process Vuescan Raws in Lightroom, and the Martin Henson video mentioned above shows Vuescan Raws opened and processed in Photoshop. (I thought I might be able to test this out with a quick download of Camera Raw, but it appears it only works with one of the big boys!)

So in theory I can work on Vuescan Raws in more functional image processors than Vuescan itself. Unfortunately I have not been able to get to grips with Affinity Photo yet; the very mention of layers causes a fog to descend over my brain! Likewise Luminar 3, for different reasons.

I suspect I can probably get most of what I want from processing the TIFF files in Aperture or C1Pro though...

So when scanning my roll of P30, I also got Vuescan Raws for some of the frames, but this time I saved them as TIFFs rather than DNGs. Interesting: the results are

Apple Aperture - Yes
Adobe Elements 9 - Yes

Capture One Pro 12 - No

Affinity Photo - Yes
Luminar 3 - Yes

I was surprised that C1Pro would not even open the Raw/tiff combo, whereas it was happy to open the DNG, though apparently no editing controls work.

The Elements 9 option is quite useful, as it would allow me to open ColorPerfect (which I seem to have, although maybe only as a demo version), so I could try a bit of Martin Henson's workflow!

However, I presume that Elements 9 will be either 32-bit or contain some 32-bit parts, so may not work on the next version of MacOS. Current version isn't complaining about it, though!
 
Sorry to keep posting on this thread, but my idea is to make it a resource thread. To that end, I've started editing the 1st post, aiming to add useful information in there. Are there any external resources that folk think should be referenced?

So far I've mentioned the Hamrick site for buying, etc, the Vuescan guide from that site (which has been updated since I got mine) and the Vuescan Bible (which, though slightly out of date, appears to be very expensive in the UK, £60 or so compared with $40 or so in the US).
 
Just updated to Vuescan 9.7.24 on Mac, and my scans are no longer auto-loading into Preview (the PDF viewer). Has anyone else seen this, and have a workaround? It helps me keep an eye on how the scans look!
 
Has any body noticed (or just a one off problem on my computer):- if you have epscan already installed, then install either Viewscan or Silverfast it deletes epscan....i.e. epscan can not exist with one of them..h'mm which one is the culprit. :rolleyes:
 
Back
Top